Ojay Milah; Who Says Wizkid Can’t Do Without Banky?

Banky and Wizkid

Call me what you want but I love the beefing and disengagements in the music industry lately, and to be honest, I pray it doesn’t end quick. Once it was D’Banj and Don Jazzy. A quarrel over relocating to the US led to the end of Mo’Hits. Later we heard about May D being dumped by Square records. Now Wizkid leaving Banky W’s Empire Mates Entertainment (EME) to float Star Boy Entertainment is causing uproar.

I hate things being static. I love it when life happenings take their natural, dynamic nature. It was needed that D’Banj left Don Jazzy. May D shouldn’t have waited to be dumped, he should have left the moment he felt the relationship with P Square wasn’t working again. What May D failed to do at the right time, Wizkid has done.

But then one wonders why relationships always produce a cry baby, with one party feeling used, instead of both counting their gains and moving on? In Wizkid and Banky’s case, I would not have expected Banky to be the cry baby. Where Wizkid is the ‘star boy’, bringing the major bulk of the EME money, and the record label taking a 50 per cent chunk off it, it becomes surprising that Banky feels used by Wizkid.

It is also uncalled for that Banky would go public, and like most egocentric Nigerians do, chanting that he ‘made Wizkid what he is today’. What a repulsive comment from someone who has benefited immensely from the relationship as well. I for one think Wizkid has given Banky more money than Banky has given himself as a performing artiste.

Wizkid having the talent nonetheless, a 50-50 sharing formula can be allowed at the early stage of his career, being that he was the only signed artiste to EME at the time. Later when the record label brought the likes of Skales, Niyola, and Shaydee on board, Wizkids 50 per cent take-home should have increased, at the most by 5 or 10 per cent, even if not the 20 per cent as is being alleged he was asking.

The rationale behind the above can be compared to the first-come-first-serve sharing formula. Wizkid for a long time has been part of EME and as expected has paid his dues and brought lots of money for the record label. You would not expect he should be getting the same treatment as Skales, Niyola and Shaydee.

I have heard people say the split would affect Wizkid more, that he cannot do without Banky’s EME. Some have alluded to the D’Banj-Don Jazzy saga and how ‘badly’ the Koko Master is faring. There is no basis for the comparison. The US is not UK, and D’Banj is not Wizkid. While D’Banj still needs Don Jazzy’s magical touch, Banky has nothing more to offer Wizkid.

Also, the US is already saturated with musical heavy weights, so D’Banj will always remain an underdog, but in the UK, Wizkid I think, in no time will be a big shot. Already, the Star boy boasts of a lot of fans there, who are both white and of African descent. For me, if I were Wizkid, my only reply to Banky’s barrage of comments would be: “Agreed you ‘made’ me who I am, I also made you lots of cash.” End of story.

 Ojay Milah is an entertainment writer, a little more critical than your average Nigerian writer. He freelances for both online and print media