The ‘Omo Baba Olowo’ star shared that he had inked a deal with Black Diamond back in 2011, but after his dad heard a preview of his hit song ‘Dami Duro,’ he decided to buy him out of that contract.
Davido explained that his father wanted him to have ownership of his music masters.
He shared this insight after his former label head, Tosin Ashafa, recounted how he landed Davido his first professional deal and how Davido's dad responded to it.
While participating in a trend on X where people were sharing their “most random music fact,” Ashafa chimed in with his story.
“I signed @davido to his 1st Offical 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.”
Reposting the tweet, Davido wrote, “So much respect to you guys for allowing me walk!! Just know u were part of something that turned out to be phenomenal!!”
An X user @Choiji_ES then claimed that the incident happened in 2019, but Davido retorted, “No I signed the contract in 2011 … was a good contract not bad ! But daddy wanted me to have 100 percent of whatever I was doing ! Especially after I played him first cut of Dami duro video in his office ! He knew it was game time!!!”
Following a buyout from Black Diamond Records facilitated by his father, Davido established HKN Music in collaboration with several family members.
Subsequently, he departed HKN Gang to independently launch his own record label, Davido Music Worldwide (DMW).