Artists who ‘killed’ their record labels

2Baba

Some record labels are no longer heard of because they were literally killed by their artists.

This is why the great Don Jazzy disclosed recently that he was quite put down by the exit of the extremely talented singer-songwriter Wande Coal from his label, Mavin, because he invested a lot in him physically, emotionally, financially.

Though Coal’s exit didn’t lead to Mavin going under but seems to have made it stronger as Don Jazzy keeps signing new talented artists to keep Mavin relevant, the same can’t be said of some other labels.

One artist who can be said to have ‘killed’ not one but two labels is Innocent Idibia aka 2face now 2Baba.

He became known through Dove Records which invested a lot in grooming him, Faze and Blackface as a group, Plantashun Boiz.

2face Idibia African Queen lyrics

They weren’t Dove’s only act but they were the lead, the most important to Nelson Brown the label’s founder and when 2Baba decided he was going solo, it seems it was too much for Brown to take considering all he had put into them and the label quietly faded soon after.

2Baba went on to Kennis Music from Dove and he became a global sensation at Kennis which also invested so much in him and he was its star act.

But as usual with him, he decided to leave the label too by not signing a new contract and even though the label huffed and puffed valiantly afterwards, his exit was its death knell and nothing’s heard of it anymore now.

Yet another artist who could be said to have ‘killed’ his record label is Kizz Daniel. The label that brought him out was G Worldwide fronted by Emperor Geezy.

Kizz Daniel

They had so much success together with smash hit singles that included Woju and Laye. He was the label’s star act and he got all the attention. And when he walked away citing being cheated financially, the label soon died after trying its best to retain him through the courts but failing to do so.

And it was his squabbles with G Worldwide that led him to rename himself Kizz Daniel as against the Kiss Daniel he started out with because the label claimed the ownership of the name Kiss Daniel.

Kelly Hansome is yet another artist whose label, Myke Records, lost interest in recording artists after his exit.

Myke Records had successfully pushed two acts, the group Freewindz and the solo act Zion before its founder, Evangelist Myke Ikoku, put all its belief in Kelly Hansome that the talented singer-songwriter-producer was going to be a big thing.

But they had their differences and Kelly Hansome walked away unceremoniously after which his song Maga Don Pay became a nationwide hit, proving that he did have it in him to be an A-list music star.

Myke Records went under shortly after his exit and it’s a no-brainer to realize that these labels died emotionally before physically because they had believed and invested so much in artists who they believed stabbed them in the back and so couldn’t go on.

Kelly Hansome

2Baba, Kizz Daniel and Kelly Hansome aren’t the only artists whose exits killed their labels, though. They are some of the most prominent in this regard but artists can’t be fully blamed for leaving their labels if they didn’t feel okay with them.

Going by the case of Don Jazzy who star acts that include Wande Coal, Tiwa Savage and Reekado Banks have left his label and it’s still thriving, the message here to labels is that they should handle their business professionally and not promise what they can’t do.

Artists will definitely come and go on a label but the label will only survive when it sticks to best business practices.

 Music chases away the women I love -JJC