Meet the smart, talented and cool Nigerian seasoned musician/ TV presenter, Osayamwen Nosa Donald popularly known as Djinee.
Djinee known for his classic tune, ‘Ego’, started off as a Video Jockey and a TV presenter. A native of Edo state, Djinee grew up in a music environment, his father was a lover of music and this influenced his music career greatly. The R’n’B singer captured the hearts of many with his euphonious voice and his art of making love a beautiful thing through his songs.
Djinee released his debut hit single “Ego” under record label “Westside Inc”. This brought him instant success. His pitch perfect vocal ability on the song brought him accolades amongst which are “Best new artiste ” at the Nigerian Music Awards in London and several nominations.
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In December 2007, he released the second single “I no dey shame” and this established him as a force to reckon with. The video was subsequently aired on major TV stations. In May 2008 at the Nigerian music awards he was presented with the Voice of the year award. In June 2009 He released the self titled album titled “DJINEE”.
Djinee had established himself in the music industry/business without trying to mimic or copy other brands, but suprisingly fizzled out of the music scene at some point.
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Why Djinee stopped singing for sometime
Speaking in an interview with ladies of Your View, DJinee revealed that he has been releasing music but not as regularly as he used to release music. He further explained that he felt his music was lacking at some point and needed to dig deep and put in effort in creating music.
Djinee switched his style of music when he released “Overkilling” in 2009, he wasn’t pleased with the kind of sound.
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I needed to find my sound, I wasn’t exactly happy with the sound I was making at that time, with the success of songs like Over Killing, came much expectations. It’s like what oil did to our nation; sometimes it comes with its curses. Over Killing was a different sound from Ego and other songs; I went on a different tangent entirely so people began to expect a different kind of music I wasn’t comfortable doing; so I needed to find myself and also I needed to do a bit of travelling within and outside Nigeria. He told Vanguard.
Djinee and MI Abaga
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Rumours had it at some point that Nigerian rapper, MI who reportedly came to Lagos through Djinee ran errands for him as his personal assistant and at some point had a beef with him. In 2017, Djinee in an exclusive interview with the Vanguard debunked the news.
“What? Never! There was never a time MI was my personal assistant; even MI cannot sit here and say such a thing. It’s true he and the likes of Ice Prince, Jesse Jagz and the rest came to Lagos through me, but he was never my personal assistant, neither was there a time he used to help me carry my guitar around”, Djinee said.
In other interviews, Djinee maintained that his relationship with the Chocolate City boss was intact.
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Djinee on the Lyrical content of Nigerian music
Djinee in a recent interview with the ladies of YourView, talked about the lyrical content of Nigerian music.
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Q- What are your general views of lyrics today and in the past?
I think like every other business, each brand has their own target audience, so I would not come here and rubbish any kind of music. When I go to the clubs, there are certain kinds of music I want to hear. Different genre of music, different moods. If some people decide to put lyrics in their song, fine – if some people decide to be beat driven, then it works too.
Q- Don’t you see the pressure on the side of those who follow lyrics and don’t make enough money?
When you bring money into it then it changes the conversation. How do you measure the money made? Around the world, pop music is in your face. It looks like your Jay Z’s make a lot of money because they say a lot in their songs. But then, they are the country musicians, if you check their bank accounts, they probably own a lot of money, they own ranches, they have sustainable wealth. Now back home, that translates also, you have to understand Pop music (Popular music) – they make money but then, you have to understand that most artistes have contracts. Some of us are not on our own, we are signed to labels.
Q- Lets break it down, we have live examples, let’s use artistes that you know. From Iyanya and Praiz; these two are lyrically sound, vocally competent, but they had to switch. What happened?
I’m not in Iyanya’s camp so I cannot really talk for him. There’s a whole lot that goes into making a song big, not just the song itself and there are also a lot that goes into the production and it’s mostly driven by songs you feel don’t have content. The sponsors would rather put money where they feel they want to get it back. A lot of TV and radio houses tend to push songs that dont have musical contents.
Q- Help me understand how the mind of an artiste works when you have a one-hit wonder and after a while, you cut off the kind of music we want to listen to, How do you find your feet in the industry.
First and foremost, the question is why did you get into it? I can’t speak for everyone but I got into it to run away from poverty, and this the only job I do easily. I did presenting as well but my first love, my passion is music. Just like Every other brand restructures, musicians and artistes restructure.
Q- How can we ensure our lyrics are impacting on the society, especially our children?
Our children’s brains are like sponges, they absorb things easily. My dad surrounded me with the kind of music he wanted me to hear and that’s how I grew up. So it’s the kind of music you are introduced to that affects you, though you would get something different from the society, but what matters is the foundation, what you were introduced to.
Much respect to those that do not put lyrics in their songs. I mean when I go to the club that’s what I want to listen to, but what I like to do is to tell a story with my song. One of the people that made me stick to my kind of music, his name his Bode. He told me when I did ‘Ego’, he was on a wheel chair and he would crawl to the sitting room to watch the video and crawl back to his room when he was done. You see those kind of people you can’t monetize them. Every brand has their market, it’s left for you to find your own market.
Djinee is known for his love songs. going further, he was asked – with all your love songs, isn’t there any woman out there for you?
Djinee quipped, I’m setting a committee to look into it. *Laughs*
Q- Can you tell us the kind of woman you’re looking for?
To be honest, I don’t have specifications and I will tell you why. Once you put specifications it becomes conditional, it’s about who I connect with though she shouldn’t be under 18, or under 20.
Q- But 18 is young for you?
Hey! Love is love, love is unconditional. But please, the realer the skin colour, the better.
Q- Tell us what to expect from you?
More music and in another two months I should be releasing another single. My latest song, “Find you” is doing so well and I’m enjoying the reviews and feedback I’m getting because they are real.
Djinee has released the official video of his latest song, ‘Find you’. Watch below:
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