How Davido's Record Deal Exit Shaped His Musical Legacy

Afrobeats artist Davido has disclosed the reasons behind Chief Adedeji Adeleke, his rich father, interfering with his initial recording contract.

The crooner of "Omo Baba Olowo" disclosed that he had signed a recording contract with Black Diamond in 2011, but his father terminated the agreement after showing him a teaser for the music video for his popular song "Dami Duro."

He claims that because his father wanted him to own the music masters, he bought him out of the agreement.

He revealed this when Tosin Ashafa, the former head of his record company, talked about how he gave Davido his first professional deal and how his millionaire father responded.

Ashafa responded, "I signed @davido to his 1st Offical contract under Black Diamond promotions with Cecil Hammond/another silent partner, and we hired @GodwinTom to manage him," in response to a trend on X urging users to tweet their "most random music fact."Dr. Adeleke reached out to us and bought us out after realizing how serious David was about promoting his songs without him.

Davido retweeted the tweet, saying, "I'm very grateful to you all for letting me walk! Rest assured that you were a part of something very amazing!

Following a claim by X user @Choiji_ES that the incident occurred in 2019, Davido said, "No, I signed the contract in 2011." wasn't a poor contract; it was good! However, my father wanted me to be completely involved in whatever I did! Particularly when I showed him the initial cut of the Dami Duro film in his workspace! He was aware that it was time to play!

Following his father's purchase of him out of the Black Diamond contract, Davido and a few family members founded HKN Music.

Later, he founded his own musical label, Davido Music Worldwide, or DMW, after leaving HKN Gang.