Outside the foreign exploits and social media buzz enjoyed by today’s artists, the success story of Mad Melon and Mountain Black of the ‘Danfo Driver’ fame had a resemblance to the superstardom tale of the Wizkid, Davido, Tiwa Savage, Olamide and the Phynos of today’s industry. Their music crossed borderlines, resonates with age grades and unites genders on the dance floor.

They had the fame, generated the frenzy, toured several states singing to a huge audience, and as well, they had their fair share of controversies that comes with the territory. Who will forget when the rumor of the group being captured by police for robbery made prime-time news? Bonkers, that story was later debunked but that is what you get for being famous.

Words By Sesan Adeniji

At the tail end of the dominance of Ajegunle music, Mad Melon(Oghene Mario) and Mountain Black (Olotu Jimoh) were the biggest music group from that zone. Arguably, within 2003 -2005, they dominated the Nigerian music scene. Like wildfire, their music spread fast as they had everyone spellbound. Although artists like Marvelous Bengy later surfaced on the scene but it was had not just for him but for any other artists at that time to capture the high level relevance created by this duo considering the success of their songs like ‘Danfo Driver’ and ‘Sensimila‘.

It will be criminal to curate the history of the Nigerian music industry without the mention of the massive impacts of artists from Ajegunle. The likes of Daddy Showkey, Baba Fryo, Daddy Fresh and the duo of Mad Melon and Mountain Black signed to Cornerstone Record owned by Desmond Okenwa were game-changers.

At a point in time in Nigeria, the sovereign power of the music industry resides in Ajegunle. The biggest music market (Nasamu) was also located there. This was way before the Alaba music market was created. With the obvious negligence by the government, AJ city was a place where only the strong survive, the wise excel and the lonely dies slowly. Music was the only route for most of the young lads. The musicians created the buzz for that community and captured the attention of every media house that went there to report. It was artists live Mad Melon & Mountain Black that made the positive impact.

Although the Nigerian music industry keeps evolving but the dynamics remain the same with different players at the helm. Every artist must choose to be different, give his or her best and history will remember. It’s never about how premium or #razz the artists are, it’s about original content and the impact it had on the audience. Artists should just play their part – “you won’t be in this industry forever but your content will if you are unique enough”.

Words By Sesan Adeniji