Early on in the week, the news of Iyanya‘s new deal with Don Jazzy‘s Mavin records hit news sites, for the simple reason, two big names are involved here. But precisely, not many of us saw this coming, considering the duo had collaborated only on a track, at least that we know of, in the past.

Iyanya gave his reasons for the unprecedented move to the label and it makes business sense to us, plus he attributed his decision to the “Don Jazzy factor” and it’s only right that we acknowledge that too, since it has registered somewhere in our brains that whatever Don Jazzy touches turns gold – well, most times.

The percentage of Nigerians who are concerned about these music matters did not let it slide without passing comments that later struck a nerve in Iyanya. They said he left MMMG (which he co-owns and we’re still confused about this) because he felt threatened by the fast-rising success and former MMMG co-artiste, Tekno. The “Kukere” singer would not take it so he responded by calling those comments dumb and went on to say that he and Tekno are on separate lanes and should never be compared.

The clapback was sharp, well done Iyanya!

But these public assertions might be true, after all. Iyanya needs to get that when you’re talking lanes on the Nigerian music scene, the most important lane is that on which the audience prefer to stay. And at the moment, all indications show that the larger percentage of us are on Tekno’s lane and for this, Iyanya should be worried.

It’s not rocket science, really. Tekno makes the kind of music that Nigerians crave for and he’s even stylish about it. One-word song titles define the new music era across the globe and Tekno is one of the few Nigerian artistes that have taken advantage of this; Pana, Duro, Wash, Dance, Where, Diana… see the trend? On top of this, his music is getting noticed.

Tekno was nominated in the following categories at the 2016 All Africa Music Awards (AFRIMA): Artiste of the Year, Best Male African artiste in Western Africa, Best Artiste in African Pop, Song of the Year in Africa, Producer of the Year (DJ Coublon) for Duro, all alongside Wizkid. For the purpose of emphasis, these are some of the most important categories of the awards and AFRIMA is an equally important award show in the continent, so we take Tekno’s nominations seriously.

If Iyanya insists that some of us are dumb to say he’s threatened by Tekno’s spiralling success, we’ll just warn him now that the narrative may soon change. We’re not suggesting anything but the almighty Mavin records is where Jantamanta, one of the stupidest not-so-amazing songs of all time came from. And to be quite frank too, besides Tiwa Savage who will forever make hits, with or without the Mavins, nothing exceptionally impressive has come from the Mavins stable in a while.

A layman’s two cents again!

Tolu

Your pop culture/entertainment go-to. Music head. Wallflower. I do not like to write. On a mission to decipher covfefe.