"How we sealed the deal with Kanye West" - Don Jazzy

For those who ever wondered how they pulled it off, Don Jazzy explains in an interview with Rasheed Abubakar of Encomium mag.

Don Jazzy: "Sometime in November last year, D'Banj and the crew went for a wedding that had a lot of celebrities and artists in Dubai. And when they finished performing, they were set to come back to Lagos. At the airport, D'Banj was mistaken for Kanye West because of his dressing and swagger, especially the taxi drivers who were displaying their placards with different inscriptions indicating their love and support for Kanye. They rushed at D'Banj and shouted Mr. Kanye West, we love your music. He however made them realise he was not kanye but a singer from Nigeria. After the drama, D'Banj sensed that Kanye West was being expected at the airport which explained why the drivers were waiting for his arrival, so they decided to wait to see if they could talk to him.


When Kanye arrived, a member of D'Banj's entourage, Mr Bankole approached Kanye West in a very respectful manner and introduced himself as D'Banj's manager, one of the greatest artists in Africa and Kanye was willing to listen to what they had to say. D'Banj introduced himself and showered accolades on Kanye West. He played him some of his songs on ipad and told him he just finished an international collaboration with Snoop Dogg. After listening to the songs, Kanye was amazed that the songs were coming from Africa. Kanye asked for the producer of the songs and D'Banj told him it was Don Jazzy but Don Jazzy wasn't there with them in Dubai. Kanye asked D'Banj when he would be coming to the US and D'Banj told him we would be coming to shoot the video with Snoop. Kanye then told D'Banj to meet him in New York before the video shoot. The day we went to New York, we called his manager because Kanye does not use a phone and we met in Wyclef's studio called Platinum in NY around 6pm. We played Kanye more songs and he was really impressed. He proposed to buy us into his record label G.O.O.D Music but told us he would discuss with his management team and get back to us. After six months, we got the news on June 9 that myself and D'Banj have been signed.