When Davido was growing up, everybody expected him to go into the family business. His father, Adedeji Adeleke, is the CEO of Pacific Holdings Limited and one of Nigeria’s wealthiest men, with a net worth estimated to be around $700m (£625m). After finishing school, Davido was supposed to take up a seat on the board. “When I went the other route, at the beginning, it was really, really rough,” the 29-year-old says, from his home in Lagos. That was over a decade ago.
His breakthrough hit “Dami Duro” arrived in 2011, a highlight of debut record Omo Baba Olowo. The album’s self-aware title is Yoruba for “son of a rich man”. Even the rich man in question was impressed. “When I started popping out the music and people actually loved it, he became a fan like crazy,” says Davido with evident pride. “I feel like he recognised, ‘He’s gifted, so why stop his dream?’ At the end of the day, every parent wants their child to win.”
For Davido, winning looks like selling out huge shows at arenas like London’s O2 and racking up over a billion streams of his second album, 2019’s A Good Time. The record refined and perfected his buoyant, sun-kissed sound; a dancefloor-ready combination of jubilant party tunes and laidback love songs. The swaying rhythms and irresistible melodies, coupled with Davido’s own easy charisma, captured the world’s attention. Follow-up A Better Time, released 12 months later, drew enjoyable guest appearances from Nicki Minaj, Nas and Young Thug. He’s still working on the next one, saying its release has been pushed back until early next year. Before that there’ll be a single, “Flex My Soul”, in a couple of weeks. It’s another big party song. “You know ‘Livin’ La Vida Loca’?” he asks, referring to the massive hit that made Ricky Martin a global star in 1999. “It’s just like that, but an African version.”
These days, music is just one facet of Davido’s own rapidly expanding business empire. There are a couple of film and TV projects in the works, including a talent-hunt game show designed to give young African footballers an international platform. Then there’s his record label, Davido Music Worldwide, and a new collection with sportswear brand Puma. Oh, and he’s got a birthday to think about. “I’m about to turn 30,” he says. “It’s a lot!”
He briefly feigns an impression of being overwhelmed by it all, but his voice tells another story. A hubristic drive for world domination is all part of Davido’s mogul brand, and he has the ebullience and self-assurance to match. He has the magnetic charm you might associate with a preacher, or a politician. You can imagine him as either. In 2020, when the #EndSars protests against police violence broke out in Nigeria, his song “FEM” (Yoruba for: “Shut Up!”) became an anthem when it was sung in the faces of leaders. Although it hadn’t been intended as a political statement, Davido used his influence to arrange a meeting with the country’s Inspector General of Police. He went there, he said, to convey “the message of the people”.
Outside of Nigeria, Davido has made himself an ambassador for African culture. On 18 November, three days before his birthday, he’s hosting the first annual AWAY (Are We African Yet?) Festival in Atlanta, Georgia. Davido was born in the city and has turned his show at the State Farm Arena into a day-long celebration of African art, clothing and food along with a slate of rising Afrobeats stars. “I can do a Davido arena tour 100 times,” he says. “But what’s gonna make a difference? Let me bring these boys over. For a fresh genre like Afrobeats, you’ve got to be united.”
Atlanta has rapidly become the American home of Afrobeats. Last month, Nigerian music awards show The Headies came to the city, the first time in their 15-year history they were held outside Nigeria. Davido was up for seven awards but ended up taking home just one: Humanitarian of the Year. “That was amazing,” says Davido. “Even growing up, my family have been known to give back to the community. Africa is beautiful, but we obviously don’t have the best leaders handling the economy. God has blessed us, so we try to do what we can to reach out and help people once in a while.”
To illustrate his largesse, Davido tells a story that winds its way through mind-boggling extravagance before arriving at a happy ending. The occasion was his birthday this time last year. He had decided he wanted a Patek Philippe watch and had organised a bank account where his friends were pooling their money to help buy this extravagant gift. “I woke up after a long night,” he remembers. “I think I went to the club, so I was a little bit hungover. I was like, ‘I’m about to tweet my account number.’”
He posted his account number to social media, this time asking fans to help pay to get his Rolls Royce out of customs. “In Nigeria, if a car is like $500,000 and you ship it, to clear it is another $300,000,” he complains. “It’s crazy.” We can all feel his pain. Davido has since claimed he meant the appeal in a playful manner, but fans across the country were only too happy to send some cash his way. He ended up with 250m Naira in the account, which is about £450k. “Everybody sent money,” he says. “Probably the whole country.” Davido called his dad: “Shout out to my Pops, he’s my mentor. He was like, ‘You know we can’t keep that money?’” Instead, he donated it all to Nigerian orphanages. “It took a while because we had so many people sending fake orphanages,” he says. “You know how it is! It took two months to send people to every orphanage to check them out.”
After his festival, Davido will head to Qatar for the World Cup. Earlier this year he collaborated with American singer Trinidad Cardona and Qatari singer Aisha on “Hayya Hayya (Better Together)”, which FIFA says will be just the “first single of the multi-song 2022 FIFA World Cup official soundtrack”. Davido, then, is in line for some prime tickets. He’s far too slickly professional to be drawn on the controversial decision to host the competition there in the first place. “Qatar is a beautiful place, to me,” he says. “I was there to shoot the video. I personally didn’t have a bad experience, so I can’t really speak on that.”
Nigeria won’t be at the World Cup after their failure to beat Ghana in a qualifier in March. “But I’m gonna be there!” Davido jokes. “I qualified!” Who will he be rooting for? “Definitely any African country,” he says. “I’m not gonna choose, but if there’s one African country left I’m definitely gonna support them.” Said like a true politician.
AWAY Festival is at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia on 18 November
