Editorials: The Evolution Of Davido

The Evolution Of Davido

Davido, (Born David Adeleke) is one Musician who needs no introduction as he has become a household name in Nigeria, and a role model for many African Kids.

The Afro-pop star however did not have instant success due to his father’s affluence as many would believe, he had to work on his talents and skills over the years, and also had to be a ‘rebel’, breaking some rules to be the star he is today. Davido was born on the 21st of November 1992 in Atlanta Georgia, but moved back to Lagos Nigeria in 2003 where he attended the British International school.

He then moved back to the United states of America when he was 16 years old, Enrolling in college to study Business Administration at Oakwood University, Huntsville Alabama, but dropped out without his father’s permission or knowledge when he started getting bad grades. His affinity for music grew during this time in college as he met a roommate who had a few studio equipment.

Davido let him know that he was trying to do music too and also offered to finance their studio expansion, buying more equipment and kicking off his musical adventure as a music producer and songwriter. He then moved to London after dropping out, going AWOL to focus on singing his own music.

Below is one Davido’s earliest tracks ever recorded (if not his first). It is a cover of Chris Brown’s Forever, which was a smash hit in 2008. Davido called this Amala, and trust me it’s a really goofy track, guess he’s always had that in him.

Also, some of Davido’s earliest works as a producer and songwriter was for his cousin who went by the name NPZ, who was also coming up at the time. Davido produced NPZ’s so close which was released in 2009 and also featured on another track titled African Champion released in the same year.

Davido came back to Nigeria for one summer holiday, in 2010 and was intrigued by how much the Nigerian music scene had grown. So he told his father he wanted to move back to Nigeria but his father refused and told him to go back to school in America.

Davido decided to take a leap of faith in 2011, putting out his first single featuring rapper Naeto c titled back when. Apparently, he recorded the track in London and it was supposed to be another demo track for his cousin NPZ, but NPZ didn’t record it, so Davido recorded it himself.

The song ‘Back when’ became a hit, and soon Davido’s Dad who still thought his son was in University at the time, started hearing news about his son killing shows in Nigeria. His dad wasn’t having it and was sending policemen to his shows, even arresting the show promoters just to get through to him.

After the successful release of ‘Back when’, Davido released an even bigger hit in the same year titled ‘Dami Duro’ which was arguably the biggest song in Nigeria in 2012. The success of the song which also had lines that gave kudos to his father, managed to convince his father about the immense potential which Davido had in his music.

Following this, a meeting was set between father and son, and his father offered him a deal to go to school in Nigeria during the weekdays and he could then do his music on the weekends. In addition to that, he would also build Davido a studio and shoot two videos for him. Davido agreed and there was peace once again between both parties. He studied Music at Babcock University after his father paid the university to erect a music department for an inaugural class of one, and he graduated from the university in July 2015.

He released this debut Album titled ‘Omo Baba Olowo the genesis’ in 2012, and this had hits like Dami Duro, Ekuro and Back when. Today Davido is one of the greatest artistes of our time. He owns his label and has international awards and collaborations to his name. He is still in his twenties, and we can only imagine what he would accomplish in years to come. Go Davido! O.B.O baddest!