Oluwatobiloba Daniel Anidugbe aka Kizz Daniel have over the past five years built a very good status as a force in the Nigerian music industry. He has done this by releasing Hits records all the time with some of the best lyrical content that Nigerian Dance hall music has experienced. His deliveries can be regarded as legendary turning out an album without featuring any proven star in the track list. He made music with sense and is respected by most music lovers in Nigeria for that. Together with G-worldwide record they were making a star who would compete with Davido and Wizkid. However the release of Kizz Daniel one ticket featuring Nigerian Afrobeats heavy weight “Davido”; one can regard it to be a bad blow to his brand. Music as a profession is not just about the talent singing on the mic but also has the issue of branding. Some people like Wizkid and Davido understand the dynamics of this part of music and people sometimes regard it as pride or elevated ego.
In music, achieving new status is all about setting some kind of bars and goals for yourself and who you aspire to become. Kizz should never have done a music featuring Davido because it makes him come into the long list of Davido’s disciples. Kizz Daniel has every ability to make music and attain the status that Davido has attained because he has all the talents and platforms-making friends and networking with Davido was not a bad move but featuring him in his music destroys a profile which he has already been building for himself. If anyone is in doubt about bypassing the Davido feature; then you can ask music Veterans like Dbanj and 2Baba why they did not featured each other in a songs especially when they were still building their brand. Everyone can agree that they are wonderful friends but when it comes to the music game; friendship on the mic is not the wise choice especially to the musician who owns the set track. Normally DBanj should be the one featuring 2Baba since he met him in the game but he never did. Instead he grew his music and went international while keeping a good relationship 2Baba
Looking at it from an angle of promotion; one can argue that Kizz Daniel wanted to have an end of year hit especially after leaving G-worldwide Records. But to be honest, there are better ways to go about this without featuring Davido in the music. Davido could have easily made a video dancing to the song announcing to the world that he wants to make a cover of the song. He being a good friend to Kizz Daniel will do a one minute cover and upload it for free. What happens is that he promotes the song for Kizz but still protect the status of Kizz Daniel as a musician who made an album without featuring a Star.
In conclusion, it can be postulated that Kizz might have just put a bar on his brand with this song. This song will be a Hit no doubt; but the leprous effect on it will be that Davido was featured on it. This puts him and Tekno on same level of big aspiring faces of Nigerian Music who fell under the influence of the Wizkid/Davido fever.
Please note this article is not of the notion that affiliating with stars that have gone ahead of you is bad. It is just stating the fact that attention should be given to ones personal brand as it grows because that’s how big names and heavyweight are made in all sectors of life. “Know your competition and never become their disciple but their friend”.
