With his aim of making Mavin Records a production “power house of African music,” he has set up a highly professional structure of business hotshots as well as musical mavericks. Buoyed by his army of Twitter followers and fans all over the globe who hinge on his every word, the prodigious 33-year-old has carved a niche for himself in the pantheon of musical greats! It was a thrilling and hilarious session with D.J last week at the board room of Nigeria’s leading celebrity magazine, CITY PEOPLE.
How does it feel running the biggest and the most successful record label in Nigeria today?
I will say it’s been God, it handwork, a good team and a dedicated
staff, when everyone’s hand is on deck, there is absolutely no problem
running a successful company, I feel very blessed because I didn’t think
it was going to be easy as it has been, am not saying that it was easy,
but then I didn’t think it was going to be that easy to be able to
maintain balance and to be at the fore front of the game and I must say
thank you to god, my fans, because my fans are very stubborn, they have
been there to make sure that we get the love, like you guys we know that
you deserve the best, we know that you are putting in your best, and we
will not let you down as long as we don’t let them down, so I don’t see
anything stopping us.
People also say you have the Midas Touch, that any artistes you touch becomes a star?
- I don’t know about the Midas touch, but I think what it is, is that, I understand the market first, I also understand people to a large extent, the common problem with people in the industry is not really understanding the individuals they deal with, either the artiste of their staffs, I run a very beautiful organization where everyone is friends. We are family, I don’t come and start using veto power, because I am the boss, the greatest idea might come from the little guy there. So I listen to everybody and it works. As for music I try to experiment sometimes, but I don’t go out of the box to say I want to over experiment in a way that it is not what people want. If it is akara that you want to sell, it’s the akara that you will sell. You don’t have to start putting jam inside akara. Then it’s not akara anymore, it is something else, the least you can do is to put small pepper to taste, you cannot now go over outside the box and say you want to put your name on top of the akara and stuffs like that. Over the years there has been the kind of music Nigerians like. This is the kind of music my mother and my father dances to and their friends too, then we just stick to the formula and it works for us.
Do you see you and D Banj working together?
It is not impossible, it is not something we will say o, lets sort it
out, I keep saying that, the problem you guys think we had was caused
by both the press and our fans, because we are alright, D Banj is
working, I am working, we can meet up. We can gist, laugh and whatever,
but I can’t pause my own work and he pause his own work too and say we
want to do something, he is doing something different, I am doing
something different, but coming together and working the possibility is
of right now is what I don’t know, because my roaster is huge, I have
more than six artistes and I have to make sure my new boys blow, not to
talk of the old ones, you know we are all upcoming, we like to dey grow
and grow, up and coming.
Do you miss D Banj sometimes?
Yes and No, I am not losing anything, I have many artistes at hand
now, am a producer, my work is to look for artistes. If I want to sign
more I will. There is no doubt that he is a huge and successful
entertainer, but then there is no glory in actually working with huge
people, I like bringing up people is it. I like going to random places
and say ok this person will make it, if this person becomes this, this
person will do something for his family like me. I take a lot of
responsibilities for my family, and I know where I came from to become
that. It is always a thing of joy to see another man from where I come
from. There was no hope, then I became someone taking care of things in
my family, D Banj has done well, he is a grown man. He can go to any
studio in the world and pick any producer he wants and it will work.
The performances you had with him recently was it planned?
Not at all, I was invited as a guest, at his sister’s wedding, and he
was performing and he invited me on stage, I came up and perform at
Aremo Oniru’s birthday, I went as a guest too and obviously I saw them
performing and it was songs I featured in, so it doesn’t make any sense
for me not to join them.
What are you working on presently?
A lot of things.
What inspired Dorobucci?
That is long, anytime I wear a suit am always feeling fly, and I
normally refer to myself as one of those Italian in the movies, if you
go back to my instagram page, you will see some post that I have posted
long ago, if I am a wearing a suit, I will just tweet about it and say,
say hello to Belladuch, or any Italian name that comes to my mind, so
when we went for Tiwa’s wedding in Dubai, I was introducing myself to
everyone as don dorobucci, I will be like, hello how are you am don
Dorobucci, everyone was like, why are you calling yourself that kind of
name, what kind of name is that, I said it’s my name and it started
becoming funny to them, and I decided to use it to annoy them more, so I
went to instagram and I did a video with just the don Dorobucci line,
and immediately I put it there just for laughs, one guy just sang the
line too and I reposted it, and another person did on and on, so I said
to myself, what’s happening here, let’s go to Lagos and record this
song, before I knew it, it was more than a thousand video on instagram
already, so I said let us run back to Lagos, everybody, Tiwa did not
even go to honeymoon, I don’t know who am going to give this one to, so
let’s just give everybody and it was like a joke and it came out huge.
It seems your dad is your number one fan, has he been in support of your music from day one?
Yes, it is not a mistake, it has been destined from when time, I have
pictures of myself when I was in the studio at three years old, I have
footages from days, I have a video of when I was performing at age ten,
and my dad keeps all those things.
There is this story on line that Wikipedia claims you’re 46?
Wikipedia is not one man. If you go today now you can go and edit it.
Immediately I put the thing on instagram in the space of thirty
minutes, they changed the age from 46 to 58 to 164 and back to 4. But I
am 32, I will be 33 in November. If you people like they should go and
do their digging research, I have people like Okechuckwu, we went to
school together and he is 34. He is a year older than I am. Go and ask
him, am ugly and I look old that’s the problem.
When are you planning to get married?
That one I don’t know ooo. It depends, when God gives me the right woman, I don’t know yet, I have a girlfriend though.
How serious is the relationship with your girlfriend?
As serious as serious can be.
What does it takes to sweep don jazzy off his feet?
Just be real with me, I don’t like lies, if you are real with me, we
can blend, because I have trust issues, so it depends on the weirdest
kind of truth you can tell me, I don’t what to be thinking there must be
something behind, just be real, but physical wise sha, I like lepa to
bad.
How do you cope with female fans?
Well they are there, but I don’t think they are that clingy, I think
women are too conservative when it comes to social media, like if you
check my fan base on Facebook and you look at the analysis you will see
that all of us has more male fans, including Wizkid, Korede Bello and
the rest, our women are still very shy, reserved, they don’t want
anything to obstruct their husband and homes, like my best friend just
joined twitter last month, they are there but they don’t really talk
like that, it’s only people that are very outgoing and a few of them.
With all your busy schedule and making songs, how do you unwind?
I am relaxing as I am making music. It won’t look as if I am
stressing myself or anything, it is fun for me, I am having a time of my
life, it is really fun, I keep making music, as I dey release one, I
dey do more, I have music for years.
With all these, how do you have time for social media, because you are very active on all social media?
Social media for me is work too, it is fun and it is work, you don’t
know you people are very funny, Nigerians are the most funny people,
anytime I am online like this I cannot be sad, it is not possible, I
just need to say hello, and they will hit me back to whatever will make
my day.
How do you feel when people abuse you on social media or use a funny picture of you with funny words?
Na me dey even do the follow up myself, like that picture on from
Collabo, na me take my hand plan am, even as they were shooting the
video.
Do you see yourself doing something else apart from music?
I have investments in different kind of things you don’t even expect,
I fit dey sell bread like this and you wont know, I wont just put my
name on it, because I have to protect my brand. But I have different
kinds of business, like Mavin Energy. We sell fuel, diesel, that is what
it is right now, I don’t have an Oil block yet. From here we can
expand. For now we just have bunch of tankers. I put my immediate
younger brother in charge of that, because I don’t really know anything
about it.
How was your growing up years like?
It was fun, like I didn’t really know that we were poor until now,
because for me, I am really contented and alright. Like okay, you wake
up, you see food, from there you follow your papa go farm and in the
night you follow your mum to sell akara. But it felt normal. It was when
I grew up and at some point my uncle took me to London, then it was
clear to me that, that life was the other side of life, other than that,
it was what it was.
How come you have not celebrated your many years in the music industry like your colleagues?
Na una dey count am oo, I no dey count am, because I don’t care how
long I have been here, I don’t intend o stop, it is not like it is not
important, but I don’t know, what am I going to do, I will now come out
and start thanking people, am not a show man, even if I want to do the
anniversary that day how am I going to come out and start telling people
thank you very much you have been supporting me for years, I can not
stand in front of the camera and start telling people all this, I am a
very shy person.
Who in the Nigeria music industry do you admire so much?
I like Tuface. He is my all time favorite and idol, but I don’t think anyone inspires me, I inspire people.
How do you see the role of the young rising stars in Nigeria today?
Well they are quite aggressive, it is good but then I have young
generation in my camp. So we are also inline, not that we are old and
because of that we are relaxing.
Where do you see yourself as peak in your career and a fulfilled man?
We never even reach anywhere oo. We get people like Jay Z and he
still dey hustle, and all those big big people like David Gueta, for me
no peak oo.
Speaking of producers, who inspires you as a producer abroad?
There are lots of dope producers, but Timberland has always been my
all time favorite, then artiste its Jay Z, I like his business mind, his
swag is good too.
Do you have any plans of signing a Rap artiste on Mavin?
Yes of course, I actually have one already, I have a lot of artistes
that you people don’t know yet, Mavin is a big factory. There is no
country I go to that people don’t want to give me artiste, like I said I
use to take my time, I don’t promise something I won’t be able to
deliver. There is no artiste that I have worked with from Mohits till
now that is not on the Bill board somewhere for endorsement. Like if I
handle your project you will have to be successful by force, I take it
like is a must, I carry your matter on my head. It is by force, it is
not about magic touch, it is about been passionate about the people.
Most people are just passionate about making money. They don’t know that
is the other side, it comes after been successful. You have to be
passionate about the people that you have. If the person no blow, you
can not be successful, I don’t know how I will be happy when the people I
have presented to the world, that I want to carry them as my children
are not doing well, how will I be happy, what am I happy for.
Who really is Don Jazzy, apart from what we read and see from afar?
As you see me so, na so I dey o, I no pass like this, I spend more
time living in the studio, I have not been to my house in one year, I
live in Nicon Town, but I have an eight bedroom office in Lekki. So am
always there. As I am leaving here now I am going there, I have cloths
there, and everything there, and when my people see that I have achieved
so much this far, I still don’t want to sleep, I still want to work, I
have 2 other producers in my camp. But then most of the music we put out
today, you will still see that it is produced by Don Jazzy, because I
don’t even want to give them chance, I won’t say I want to rest, if they
produced songs that is hot, then fine, but if you dey waste time, when I
am working.
You sing once in a while, do you write your songs yourself?
No one has ever written a line for me in my life.
What inspires your kind of beats?
I think it is from my church background, and I love highlife, that is
my best kind of music, if you leave me I will just dey do highlife,
that is just making sure you are not old school or left behind, I the
music move to this place, I will move too, I can’t come and start giving
you the same thing you have been listening to 10 years ago, if you
don’t move, if they are updating sounds, software, you have to update
yourself. With social media now you can be current with I tunes and the
rest, you will know all the music people are listening to around the
world, you can even listen to radio station all around the world, if you
don’t fit in, plug yourself inside and make that kind of music with
your touch.
Do you see don jazzy rapping one day?
I don’t know how to rap now. How will I rap, I can’t rap to sing in
my life, but I have one dope rapper on my label, coming soon.
Can you share with us your most embarrassing moment?
Embarrassing, I don’t know how it all happened, but I was upset one
day like that, and I tweeted about it, it was embarrassing that I have
to go back and forte, but then it has happened, it was fast, but then
later I regretted it and I told him sorry. I am very happy good fellow,
a lot of things don’t really bother me like that, but that particular
day I was just upset and I tweeted about it, I shouldn’t have, apart
from that I was embarrassed when some people were telling me, Don Jazzy,
you are old and stuffs like that, other than that nothing again.
With the way you work, do you have time for your family at all?
Actually, this is my life. My music comes first, and my career too,
and some people wonder why I put my family second, but the truth is that
my family puts my music before them, everyone in my house is Mavin
driven. Anyone who follows my dad can testify to that. That’s all we do,
my mother, my father, my sister, brother cousin and everyone. We are
all Mavin driven. So it is Mavin first, they love the music and that’s
all we are, that’s is all we are going to do, we no go thief, we will
keep doing the best we can.
How did you come about the name, Mavin?
Its Google. We were looking for anything that meant Genius, Superstar and all that. We just Googled it and it gave us Mavin.
What inspired your collabo with P Square?
They called me. They were completing their album and they had the
song they think that will be perfect for me, and they have not featured
any Nigeria on the album and they feel I was the only person they
wanted, I was honored, I jumped on it. They sent me beats today and
tomorrow I sent it back to them, and I was already done, because
obviously it is p square, common, it doesn’t get bigger than, P Square,
Tuface, D Banj and the rest.
How true is it that Don Jazzy is a shy person?
Yes I am, in front of a lot of people. I am not always with my sun
glasses, but that is why am wearing it here because people are much.
Despite your Fame and Money, how have you been a scandal free celebrity?
It’s simple, I don’t do stupid shit. Some people don’t think before
doing stuffs, maybe their career is not important to them. Even the
bible said, good name is better than Silver and Gold, your name is all
you have, forget the money, maintain your name and keep it safe, I don’t
do stuffs that will jeopardize or spoil the name, it is very important
in the business.
You dress well. Can you describe your kind of fashion?
Am I? Actually this dress, like what I am wearing now is from POC,
Papa Omisore Clothing. He is good. He thinks of different kinds of
ideas. So I can’t come and be wearing anything, and he will say ore go
and change, this thing you are wearing no go out.
But there is a Don Jazzy look?
I just think cloths fits me, if I wear it and it is nice, people will
say, oh this is nice, my pa here, papa, and her best friend, when they
tell me it’s cool then am good, am not afraid to try anything, I can
wear pyjamas, I don’t care, I didn’t come to the entertainment industry
to be recognized for my fashion, most fashionable and all that, you
can’t have everything, only you wants to be producer, musician and
fashionista, you better leave that one for the fine people.
What is the worst thing you have heard about yourself?
I have heard different kinds of crazy things, like I said to myself
when the issue of age came up, like how can I be 46 years old, it’s
crazy. The Dorobucci thing was ridiculous too. The Illuminati one too,
it didn’t make any sense, I have heard that don jazzy is dead before.
How true is the saying that artiste, producers can’t face the crowd or produce without getting high on drugs?
That does not apply to everyone, like me, I smoke cigarette. But I
can’t smoke igbo. But a lot of people don’t believe me, I tweet about it
all the time still they don’t get. The people that smokes igbo are so
proud of it. They will say it out, either they will take pictures and
code it one way, but they know they want to let people know that they
smoke Igbo. And for my artistes so far in Mavin now, no one does that.
Like Reekado now people see him as someone who smokes igbo. That boy,
his father is a Pastor. When we went to MTV Base and I went to the stage
to talk, Reekado now carry cup follow me, na water dey inside, he
doesn’t drink, I was like how will you explain to people now that you
don’t drink, because he don see dem for video dey carry cup, so he is
doing copy cat, I told him tomorrow you won’t be able to tell people you
don’t drink, and Korede, that one na Micheal Jackson or Justin , even
those people sef dey do drugs and drink, Korede is just a young man.
Since last year, which of your songs do you listen to over and over again?
None, because once I release them I stop listening to them.
Source: City People Magazine
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