Three top Nigerian artists promise albums in 2016

Following the success of the recent single ‘Emergency,’ D’Banj was invited to the conference as keynote speaker. His address, titled Content is the New Crude’, was well received. The keynote ended with the ‘Oliver Twist’ singer announcing a partnership between his DKM record label and telephone retailer SLOT.  

After the keynote, D’banj spoke to Music in Africa. A new song recoded with South African producer and DJ Oskido will be released soon. “I was going to show clips of the video here,” he said. The singer, however, changed his mind. The video will now premiere in the next few weeks.

“My album will come one in the summer,” he said in response to a question about a new album. “We are looking at some time from July. I have a lot of songs, and we are trying to choose the right ones for the album.” The album will follow D’Kings Men, the 2013 compilation album from artists on DB Records, the label fronted by D’Banj at the time. In between the artist has been busy with endorsements and has shot episodes of a television show on MTV Base.

Like D’Banj, R&B singer Banky W also delivered an address at the conference. Unlike D’Banj he has released several songs in recent times. His own songs ‘Made for You’ and ‘All I want is You’, the duet with Chidinma, will be included on his forthcoming solo album. His 2015 single ‘High Notes’ will also be included on the project.  

Alongside his solo album, the ‘Strong Thing’ crooner said two more projects will be released before the end of the year. One is a “mostly rap mixtape” and the other is the previously announced collaborative album with Iyanya. “We have recorded two or three songs already apart from ‘Baby Mama’ … which is Iyanya’s own song.” [off the Applaudise album].

Asked if he was waiting till the mixtape before he another rap verse, Banky W said he has no restrictions: “I only do what the song requires.”

Timi Dakolo, who won three awards at the last Headies, said he is taking his time, even as several of the songs on his own yet to be released second album are complete. He added that his last song ‘The Vow’, which was released on the last day of March 2016, is actually years old. “It was Cobhams’ wedding song,” he said referring to the six-year old marriage of his producer.

“Too much of a good thing is not too good,” he said. “I don’t believe in releasing music every time because you have to let a good song live its lifespan. We are considering releasing the album towards the end of the year, after September.”