Nigerian singer Davido is one of the biggest artistes today. He is notable not just for his music but also for his slogan “We Rise By Lifting Others”. Recently, he had a collaboration and formed a friendship with controversial American rapper DaBaby, and has also been notably on his recent tour, been wearing nothing but African designers for his performances and appearances.
Clearly, there is a lot to talk to Davido about and so when the good people over at Rolling Stone got the chance to sit down with him for a chat, I knew it was going to be good. Here are some highlights from the conversation and key things that Davido said.
Speaking about his relationship with DaBaby, Davido said:
When he came out, people used to always compare us. It was the energy, the eyes. And then funny enough, everybody around DaBaby is African. Everybody. I like his work ethic. I just see a lot of myself in him; the way he carries people along as well.
Talking about how he deals with being friends with DaBaby after DaBaby’s controversies, Davido said:
I spoke to him about it too. I’ve been in situations where I’ve said the wrong things and then really understand what I said like two days later. I feel like everybody makes mistakes. I’m not approving or saying what he said was right, but I know sometimes being on stage, you might get carried away. We did speak about it.
When asked if he doesn’t think DaBaby’s words are reflective of his character, Davido said:
I personally don’t, because I know him personally. I haven’t seen him being violent or stuff like that. Sometimes I do see it online, but exactly what I was telling you — everybody’s human and people go through stuff.
Speaking about how lifting others has been affected now that he has children, Davido said:
I’ve had friends that [I’ve] gone all out for and maybe I can’t do as much as I used to do before—reason being, I got children, bro. I can understand where you do so much for some people, and then after a while, they forget…But I can’t use that to punish the rest of the people that I still want to help grow, so I don’t look at it as much of a problem.
Speaking about why he stopped wearing Western clothes to perform, Davido said:
Normally, I be putting in a big budget — It could be thousands, hundreds, crazy on clothes. So this year I was like, ‘Yo, why are we celebrating African music and wearing western clothes? Might as well do the whole package. Let’s give people opportunities.
Speaking about advice he gives to other artistes and closing words about his life, Davido said:
I always tell artists, ‘Always have that home love first. Then, you could take over the world. I get more creative when I’m home. Just even having [my] boys around. It was like, ‘What’s going on in town? What are the new slangs? What’s going on? I’ve been away for three months. Update me.
If you read the story of David in the Bible, he overcame a lot. He wasn’t really projected to be a king, and that’s really how my life story has been. I’m the last born of five kids. I wasn’t the best. I didn’t have the best grades. I wasn’t projected to be successful in high school. My whole life has just been me shocking the world, me shocking people, God blessing me. It’s been a lot of grace in my story.
Wow! I have always been a fan but the older Davido gets, the more I’m beginning to love and appreciate him even beyond his music. The boy’s head really seems to be in the right place.
