Entertainers struggling to maintain their relevance (3)

As E-News’ spotlight returns this week to the entertainers who are struggling to maintain their relevance, Maga Don Pay singer Kelly Hansome, 4kasibe singer DJ Zeez, Originality singer Faze and Kukere singer Iyanya are the entertainers spotlighted.

Without a doubt, these four, who were once well celebrated, are no longer really relevant in the scheme of the entertainment game.

Of the four of them, Faze, a former member of the Plantashun Boiz alongside 2face and Blackface, was definitely the most successful. He became an household name as a Plantashun Boi, and after their infamous breakup, he became a recognized celebrity in his own right with his first single, Faze Alone.

An emotional song in which he declared that he intended to be successful as a solo artist, he walked his talk with the critical and commercial success of Faze Alone and its followup, Angel Gabriella, from his debut album.

He proved himself further still with a slew of hit songs, Tattoo Girls, Kpo Kpo Di Kpo Kpo, Kolomental and others from his second album and he became the singer you needed to make your show rock.

And when Originality from his third album became another smash hit, his star soared higher still. Then just like D’Banj, he tried to break into the international scene with his next single, ????????, and it was after then that his relevance began to wane.

Nowadays, he’s not really spoken of again, and even though he keeps dropping songs, they don’t really connect with the public again, the way his earlier songs that made people used to say he was a better singer than 2face.

Though Kelly Hansome didn’t achieve as much as Faze, he nevertheless was very hot when his song, Maga Don Pay, became the most popular song in Nigeria. Maga Don Pay’s astronomical success came after years of Hansome trying to break through in music, years in which he released his debut album, Simply Kelly, which contained very good songs but didn’t make the expected impact.

And since he followed Maga Don Pay with other huge songs like Like Play Like Play, True Love and E No Easy, he was seen as the next really big thing. And for some time, it seemed it would be so.

But what mitigated against the success of his debut album, contractual issues with his record label, arose again to mitigate against his career as a whole.

When he released his debut album, he was signed on to Myke Records, and they fell apart shortly after the album’s release, so the album suffered. In the same vein, at the height of his rise with his sophomore album released by Kennis Music, he fell out with the label and his career suffered from all the negativity that ensued.

Currently, he’s trying his best to revive his career. He keeps releasing songs and they are noted, only because of the name he’s made before, but they don’t succeed like his former songs.

Like Kelly Hansome, 4kasibe singer DJ Zeez became known nationwide with his monster hit, 4kasibe. The song was so popular that its title became a slang especially because people could not understand if its meaning was abusive or complimentary or abusive and the continuous debates over which it was aided its popularity greatly.

Then, it was almost as if there was no other artist in town, that it was just DJ Zeez. For every show, he was first choice, and even for featuring, he was on high demand and his appearance on Skuki’s Banger contributed to the song’s immense success.

The sky was thought to be the limit for him, as he was also a producer, so faith in his musical talent and ability was not misplaced.

But he didn’t make the cut and is yet to do so. After 4kasibe eventually died down, he’s yet to release any noteworthy song. And he’s released so many songs that make it apparent that it’s not as if he’s bowed out of the game but he’s actually not able to make any real impact again.

Iyanya, the Kukere master, is definitely one artist that has to be on the list of entertainers struggling to maintain their relevance.

After he won the maiden edition of Project Fame West Africa in 2008, big things were expected of him. But it took him five years to prove that he really had something to offer.

And he did so with Kukere which became a monster hit. And since its follow-ups, Ur Waist, Sexy Mama, Jombolo and Flavour also became major hit, Iyanya became the king of the pack.

But it would seem he made a huge mistake in turning his back thereafter on the producer, D’Tunes, that produced his songs which became successful. He stopped working with D’Tunes but he and all the other producers he went to do not seem to have the working chemistry he and D’Tunes did.

Anyway, his brand is no longer as valued as it was before and it keeps losing value by the day even s he keeps dropping new songs and videos. And one of the last reports about him was that he had swallowed his pride and returned to D’Tunes.

(To be continued)