Kill Don Jazzy - written by ex-Mo' Hits Publicist, Bayo
Omisore

So to start with, I am not a hater. I do not wish any evil
on Don Jazzy or Michael Collins. If anything, I can be
categorized as an interested onlooker when I want to be
passive or an invested businessman active in the Nigerian
music industry for the past 18 years.

In addition, I am a writer. I have been told I am a very
decent writer. Or maybe I’m living on past glory. Either
way, I had another title I was working with. But I decided
this one would attract the eyeballs I desperately need to
get the attention I so desperately crave.

Finally, I understand the workings of PR. Hell, I handled
the PR of Mo’ Hits in 2006 when the only talent was
D’banj. Back then, Wande was a dancer, Dr. Sid (I plead
the Fifth) and D’Prince was a model. I do not wish death
on Michael Collins.

I however think the Don Jazzy brand is dead. Or should
be rested. I’ll tell you why...

Bayo Omisore

Do you remember Don Jazzy? Remember that Soundcity
advert. I remember the first day I met D’banj and Don
Jazzy. This must have been either late 2004 or sometime

in 2005. I had been in the business as a journo for a few
years by then so I knew them. We had done a story on

Mr. Solek at Hip Hop World in 2003. Jazzy had worked as
the keyboardist of the band but he had moved on to
music production working under JJC. He was very quiet;
never uttered a word. You could have been forgiven for
thinking he was mute.

Back to the Soundcity advert. Don Jazzy didn’t say a
word. Just whispered in D’banj’s ear while D’banj handled
his business. It was brand new. It was refreshing. The
ratings of the newly-established Soundcity music channel
went through the roof. D’banj and Don Jazzy became the
perfect example of a match made in heaven. Cobhams, if
he could see them back then, would have known they
were going places. So much so that Dr. Sid, a University
of Ibadan-trained dentist and self-appointed
administrator of eLDee’s
Trybe Records, was happy to
abandon that project and his album project to work
under the tutelage of these relatively unknowns.

After that, the communication from the Mo’ Hits camp
was that Don Jazzy was the boss. He was being driven
around town by a university graduate who earns an
enviable salary working in an oil company (Fifth). Jazzy
didn’t speak in public. He never granted interviews. He
asked simply that whatever you wanted to offer to him
should be offered to his ‘children’. (Note that he had
been calling his artistes his children since the Mo’ Hits
days. Nobody questioned it then because this is the Don
we’re talking about here.) In fact, once, I was at the crib
of one of the Mo’ Hits people, and he told me I had to
Leave because Jazzy was coming. I was genuinely curious
and somewhat impressed. Impressed because they kept
the charade going even off-camera. Curious because,
well, so could it be it wasn’t a charade after all?

Remember all those award ceremonies where someone
from Mo’ Hits would win an award and spend half the
speech time praise-and-worshipping Don Jazzy? Or when
Don Jazzy himself would win an award for best
production and his wards would mount the stage to
receive on his behalf even while he was seated in the
front row in the same building. Guys, let’s be honest,
these are the images of Don Jazzy that made him the
brand he is today. Those days when he only worked with
his Mo’ Hits people and a literal handful of associates.

In the real world, a don is a crime boss, crime lord, mob
boss, kingpin, criminal mastermind; a person in charge
of a criminal organization. He typically has absolute or
nearly absolute control over his subordinates, is greatly
feared by his subordinates for his ruthlessness and
willingness to take lives in order to exert his influence,
and profits from the criminal endeavours in which his
organization engages. Replace the word ‘crime’ with
music and you have Don Jazzy.

Mo’ Hits was an organized entity. At the head of it all was
Don Jazzy; the Capo di tutt’i capi, the Godfather, the boss
of all bosses. Complete with his staff. D’banj was his
Underboss. Dr. Sid, being the most educated and
exposed of the lot, was the Consigliere. The other artistes
were the Caporegimes. The management and the other
stragglers and hangers-on were the foot soldiers. In the
golden words of Christopher Wallace, “things done
changed!”

Fast forward to January 1 2016. Now I am not interested
in who was right or who was wrong. For me, the
happenings of the early morning January 2 2016 made
the Headies. They set the tone for the year. This is
entertainment dammit. Are you not entertained?!!!

If you ask me, Don Jazzy had no business speaking to
Olamide. I have seen enough Mafia movies to know that
no Don that understands his worth would get so
emotional as to entertain the thought of passing such a
message on a public stage. That job is left to his
Consigliere, in this case Dr. Sid, who is already disliked
intensely for his supposed role in the Mo’ Hits breakup via the leaked tape. People would have talked. But Jazzy
would have maintained his self-respect. He opened
himself to ridicule the minute he opened his mouth on
that stage.

I can trace this handfalling back to when Jazzy decided to
start appearing in songs after the bitter divorce from
D’banj. The Don Jazzy we knew and respected from a
distance fell from heaven and became human. In fact,
the Kokomaster showed his disgust over Jazzy’s features
after their falling out. I very much doubt this would have
happened if they were still together. Not that I think they
knew any better then, but they had one script and they
kept it simple by sticking to that story.

Of course, with the breakup and the subsequent
interviews granted by D’banj, too much information was
shared in the public space that caused irreparable
damage to the carefully-crafted Don Jazzy image. I think
Don Jazzy should have moved on to the next stage. Or
developed a next stage to move to. He certainly should
not have done Loya or Konga or Jantamanta (wtf?) as
Don Jazzy. That’s not the Don Jazzy we were introduced
to.

In truth, while we loved and respected Don Jazzy for his
mystique, his music-making prowess and his relationship
with D’banj, there was only so much he could achieve as
a brand. However, this new guy is fun, is funny, seems to
be humble, is extremely generous and, as such, is an
endorsement magnet getting business from an endless
list of companies. As it should be. As a businessman, it
makes every sense for Michael Collins to be this new guy
with access to millions of advertising dollars. But he
cannot expect to eat his cake and have it. Something has
to give!

In conclusion, I think that as the head writer in this story,
Mr. Collins needs to kill the Don Jazzy character. It has
made him money and fame. But perhaps its time to quit
the ‘mafia’ and live a normal life.
So, on a lighter note...What name should Don Jazzy go
with now?

My Guy Jazzy? That’s your round-the-way friendly
neighborhood guy. Easygoing. No airs whatsoever.

Daddy Jazzy. Re his kids.

Judge Jazzy. Respected by all and lays down the law. Yet
approachable in his manner. A friend to everybody and a
friend to nobody.

Bro Jazzy. The senior brother who opens his door to any
and every.

- Just in case you need to praise me or you take
exception to anything in this article
you can find me on Facebook as Bayo Omisore and
Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat as @ibayoomisore.

My comment here na

1. To me bayo is tribalistic

2. You are a evil person ( why will he want his fellow human dead?)
I think don is having lots of enemy for no reason

Nothing will sound better than Don Jazzy.



pls how is Don Jazzy tribalistic? Are you even from this planet?

REDDEVILS1:
Nothing will sound better than Don Jazzy.



The Poster above me shud try to read besides commenting and pls how is Don Jazzy tribalistic? Are you even from this planet?

don get me wrong I meant bayo I will correct that

I thought we had gone past this and everyone had moved on??!!... You must be a stone aged writer.....
You need to really catch up with the media please!!!!..

Lol oga itk read the topic