Afrobeats singer, Davido, has opened up about why his billionaire dad, Chief Adedeji Adeleke, interfered in his first professional recording deal. According to Davido, his dad bought him out of the deal with Black Diamond in 2011 after he played him a snippet of his hit song “Dami Duro” video.
Davido revealed that his dad wanted him to own the masters of his music, which led to him being bought out of the deal. This disclosure came after his former record label boss, Tosin Ashafa, shared how he gave Davido his first professional deal and how his billionaire dad reacted to it.
Ashafa had tweeted, “I signed @davido to his 1st Official contract under black diamond promotions with Cecil Hammond/another silent partner, we hired @GodwinTom to manage him .Dr Adeleke realized David was really serious with pushing his music without him, reached out to us and bought us out.”
Davido responded to the tweet, expressing gratitude to Ashafa and his team for allowing him to walk away from the deal. He also clarified that the incident occurred in 2011, not 2019, as claimed by another Twitter user.
After being bought out of the deal, Davido and his family members formed HKN Music. He later left HKN Gang to establish his own record label, Davido Music Worldwide (DMW).