Music
BN Music: Are DMW’s Yonda & YBNL’s Davolee the New Kids on the Block? Here’s Our Take on these Two Artistes Signed on Two of Nigeria’s Top Record Labels
The hustle to make it to the top as an artiste in the Nigerian music industry today is as tough as ever. The abundance of musical talent among the upcoming musicians makes it tough to be noticed, therefore it is always intriguing when top labels sign relatively unknowns artistes. As the saying goes, “first impressions matter”, they are often judged by their very first releases upon their sudden thrust into the spotlight.
Last November, YBNL added talented indigenous rapper, Oluwasegun Shokoya (Davolee) to their team after a good year for him which had him impress on covers for Designer’s “Panda” and Olamide’s “Who You Epp” and he has since gone on to impress with a feature on the chart-topper from Olamide’s “The Glory” album, “Pepper Dem Gang”. On the flip side, DMW also signed afro-pop artiste, Adeniran Abayomi (Yonda) last month, another rising artiste in a joint-ownership deal with Lazyboy Entertainment.
Both artistes have released works since the signing; Yonda dropping “Las Vegas” which was produced by DMW in-house producer, Fresh while Davolee dropped the audio and video to “Festival Bar” (Freestyle).
Here’s our take on these two rising artistes and why you need to keep an eye on them!
Davolee – “Festival Bar”
Even though this track is a freestyle, the immense talent Davolee has is evident as he employs the use of storytelling technique in this pure rap song.
He talks about his hood at Ikotun where he was working at a bar called “Festival Bar” to make ends meet. He narrates the story of an overbearing boss who makes life hard for her workers as she sacks them all leaving only him. He then mentions how she employed a girl who was pilfering from the business. The owner finds out and accuses him of teaching the girl to steal from her and he was fired.
The song gives a little insight into Davolee’s life before getting signed by YBNL. Davolee’s delivery is top-notch as he flows seamlessly to the beat, his use of the storytelling makes the track captivating to the very end. Olamide has been known from time to possess a knack for identifying raw talent and I feel he has struck gem in this particular artiste. It’s safe to say that future works from Davolee are highly anticipated and he would do well to impress his teeming fans.
Rating – 4/5
Yonda – “Las Vegas”
DMW had a great 2016 signing Dremo & Mayorkun with the latter striking gold on his first attempt, “Eleko” which gained massive airplay and Youtube views. That being said, it would not be fair to compare Yonda’s “Las Vegas” with “Eleko” as we believe all artistes are unique in their special way. Yonda captivates you in a way that reminds you of when Davido first came on to the scene.
Las Vegas is a song which you will always want to put on repeat as Yonda’s use of popular Yoruba lingua while flowing to the Fresh produced beat just makes you want to bob your head and throw a few dabs along the way. Not every artiste gains massive airplay on their first try but I believe Yonda should be every inch as proud of his attempt as Mayorkun was of his “Eleko” track. With a good job on the upcoming video, Las Vegas should definitely make it into the top charts.
Rating – 3.5/5
