Wande Coal's son looks every inch like him.

‎Who knew Wande Coal had an 8 year-old son? The bumper to bumper crooner has finally showed off his lad. He gave his mini-me a birthday shout out yesterday.

“Happy birthday lil man… I do it all 4 u. Keep Shining”  He wrote‎

The resemblance is sooo uncanny.

Photo: Wizkid's son hangs out with celebrities

It isn’t easy to have a celebrity as a Dad. Boluwatife Balogun, son of Nigerian A-list singer, Ayo ‘Wizkid’ Balogun who turned three few days back is pictured hanging out with celebrities like Ice Prince, May D, Wande Coal, Sound Sultan.

THE MISUNDERSTOOD BUSINESS OF NIGERIAN MUSIC: THE WANDE COAL CASESTUDY

Wande Coal
 
  Written by : Temi Babatunde.
 
There is no gainsaying that the Nigerian music industry is nowhere close to having structures like its counterparts in the US, UK or other developed countries. However, one could argue that the ‘haphazard’ structures record labels have here have produced some of the most successful artistes Africa, and indeed the world, has seen in recent times. Despite that, there seems to be a common trend of artistes being raised from obscurity by record labels, groomed to success, and then same turning around to desert those labels under the most unamicable circumstances. Alliances are key in any business, especially in one as harsh as the entertainment industry where who you know often determines how far you go, regardless of your talent (or lack of it). There is quite a lengthy list of musicians that have broken away from producers or labels and whose musical careers are yet to recover – artistes who have been unable to score follow up hits since breaking away from a winning relationship. 

One of such that keeps coming to mind is 9ice. Regardless of the factors that might have played a part in fracturing his relationship with ID Cabasa, his career is yet to recover from the break with the producer who helped birth the debut album that shot him to limelight. There are others like Chuddy K and GT tha Guitarman, to mention a few.  This leads to two trains of thought, the first of which is: Why kill a working chemistry? Is it because of greed? A lost sense of progress? What exactly is responsible for the prevailing trend of artistes dishonouring contracts or wanting out of arrangements that have spurned hits upon hits for reasons fuelled by a desire to earn more money? The second train of thought is: Should an artiste not ‘move forward’? To this, I say, everyone should take steps necessary for their progress. However, things must be done the right way. None of those aforementioned artistes have really moved forward.
 
Wizkid, on the other hand, has laid the ground on how to ‘move forward.’ Bad blood would haunt any career, so Wizkid achieved a new paradigm in his relationship with EME. He wanted more, but he or his advisers understood that there’s a time, place for everything, and things, if done properly, will achieve the best results. The artiste is honouring his contract with EME, while building his own record label by the side. The biggest problem facing artistes who want to break away from their hitherto winning formulae is that they take their inexperienced selves into the business of music – not just creating music, as they are gifted at, but becoming their own record executives, and producers amongst other things.

A recent example of this is Wande Coal, who is on a quest to be his own label executive. An artiste, in the course of his career, could get to that point but the question is: Is Wande ready? His debut album, which was entirely produced and largely co-written by Don Jazzy, comfortably sits as one of the top Nigerian albums of the decade. Wande is an artiste who, as he says himself, got signed from Mushin. He moved into an apartment in a high brow area of Lagos, drives a choice car and released over a dozen hits during what he now chooses to describe as a 10-year servitude to Don Jazzy. If that’s the definition of serving Don Jazzy, I bet a lot of artistes would choose to serve him for life! Yes, some of the blame lies with the record labels. And here is where I fault them primarily – on the issue of contracts. A press statement released by Mavin Records hinted at the fact that there wasn’t a signed contract between Wande Coal and the label.

This is certainly a recipe for disaster. But then again, not that contracts have ever stopped Nigerian artists from displaying a culture of impunity – case in point: Brymo, who recently released an album in violation of his contract with Chocolate City Record Label. Wande Coal, however, one upped Brymo by allegedly releasing without permission or credit, a song originally written and arranged by Don Jazzy. Unlike the rest of the world where grave career consequences follow walking out of a binding contract or intellectual property theft, such is not the case here. Nigerian acts do these things at free will and earn sentiments from fans, public.

No artiste, not even a Wande Coal or Brymo, should be able to carry on with a music career if he/she decides to walk out of his/her recording contract or ‘steal’ a song over flimsy excuses like “I served you for 10 years”.  If there is to be true progress, there must be an overhaul of the Nigerian music industry, both in terms of structure and mind set. Standard contracts must be signed and artistes and record labels must be held accountable for any breaches of such contracts.

(Temi Babatunde is a music producer turned trained entertainment lawyer of Nigerian descent but based in South Africa)

MAVIN RECORDS ISSUES OFFICIAL STATEMENT ON WANDE COAL'S EXIT

 
It is with deep regret that we officially announce the departure of recording artist Wande Ojosipe, popularly known as Wande Coal, from Mavin Records due to irreconcilable differences. Over the past few months, Mavin Records has made a concerted move to consolidate its position in the Nigerian music industry. Mavin has pursued a renewed ethos to raise its standards of quality and professionalism to a world-class level. 

Wande’s vision has not aligned with ours and a few months ago all parties mutually agreed that a separation would be the best course of action. Legal parties on both sides have spent the past six months trying to reach an amicable solution in terms of musical property rights. However the decision by Wande Coal to release ‘Baby Face’ purportedly as his own material is a direct breach of intellectual property law and compelled an immediate clarification on our part.
Both Mavin Records and Wande Coal have enjoyed a remarkable run in the course of their working relationship. It is unfortunate that conflicting priorities contributed to the premature curtailment of a hitherto fruitful accord.
Mavin Records reaffirms its goal to constantly provide high quality music to our fans and introduce new and exciting talent into the industry.
We wish Wande Coal the best of luck in all his future endeavours.
Signed
Management
Mavin Records Ltd

DON JAZZY LAUNCHES MAVIN RECORDS LABEL, ENLISTS WANDE COAL, TIWA SAVAGE, DR SID& D PRINCE.

The news isn't that Mo'hits is now a past, the gist is that the children&one of the parents from the broken marriage have decided to forge ahead&break new grounds. Thus, famed producer, Michael Collins has unveiled his new label, 'Mavin Records'.

The newest label on bloc which trended worldwide on social network site, 'Twitter' early this morning features the likes of Wande Coal, Tiwa Savage, Dr Sid and D Prince.
They have already recorded a compilation album titled 'Solar Plexus' which of course is produced exclusively by Don Jazzy. It would be unveiled on 8th of May 2012.

This is business!!!

 

D'BANJ SET TO STORM NYC

Acknowledged as one of the biggest music acts in the country, Dapo Oyebanjo popularly called D'banj who was recently signed to Kanye West's G.O.O.D. Music label, will perform for the first time in New York City on February 19, 2012.
Tagged 'D'banj LIVE in NYC' and presented by LiveNation at Irving Plaza, the concert will also feature his Mo'hits label mates, Dr. Sid, D'Prince, K-Switch and Wande Coal, all as well as some of Nigeria's top music artistes and special guests.

WANDE COAL BOUNCES BACK.

Bumper to bumper crooner, Ojosipe Wande, also known as Wande Coal is the most talked about celebrity at the moment. The issue this time around isn’t that he has finally thrown cautions to the wind and left his Mo’hits group, neither has his alleged nude picture story been revisited, rather the ebony black gifted musician has gotten his groove back but this time around with a touch of class, glamour and feat.
It all started yesterday with a tweet from prolific music producer and Mo’hits boss, Michael Collins, popularly called Don Jazzy who after disclosing that Wande and D’banj were in the United States working with American rapper, Kanye West, further brought up the topic of Wande’s three latest singles namely ‘go low’, ‘been long you saw me’ and ‘private trips’, “Thanks for the love guys, God bless, oya early Xmas gift from Mohits. 3 hot singles from Wande.” He revealed.
Few months ago, speculations had risen fron left, right and centre that Wande was leaving the label for being neglected and because no efforts had been made to release new music from him, it was also reported that he was setting up his own record label, ‘Black Diamond, before and after then, he had been largely absent from most Mohits’ engagements. Yesterday however marked a new realm for Wande, not only did fans, colleagues and friends storm the Mohits website to confirm and download the songs, he also trended worldwide .
The Mushin to Mohits star who has an album to his credit is being acclaimed for songs like Bumper to Bumper, You bad, Ololufe, Jehovah and many more.

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