D’Banj

By Nehru Odeh

Oladapo Oyebanjo, aka Dbanj, easily elicits admiration and awe. However, this multiple award-winning superstar known for releasing hits after hits and for his entertaining skills didn’t just arrived at the top by fiat.   He worked tremendously hard for it. Not only did he have a thorny road to success, he almost gave up at a time.

However a chance encounter with Faze changed the entertainer’s life.  As he put it in a recent interview that was reported by Gossip.com, he almost “died“ when Faze gave him N500 after a show.

“There was a show at Maryland. And the biggest artists that came to perform were Olu Maintain and Plantashun Boiz, and I played ‘Redemption Song’ with my mouth organ.

“Faze saw me and just held me. And he said ‘hey, you’re the one that played that harmonica right? That’s a spiritual instrument. Hold it, it’s very good. Let me give you something.’ I think he gave me like 500 naira. I wanted to die. See ehn, now that day was pivotal for me. That day, I got the hope I needed in my life, and so I just went on about it.”

Dbanj, whose signature instrument is the harmonica, went on to release great albums under Mo’Hits Records such as No Long Thing, Rundown Funk U Up.