Davido's 'Dami Duro' - 10 Years Later, It Still Packs A Punch
Davido's smash hit that proudly showcased his background, and his ambition is a decade old.
If Daft Punk and Ye West collaborated to make an Afrobeats record, the result would be 'Dami Duro'.
On the decade-old masterpiece, Davido comes out shooting from the hip like a black space ranger thanks to the laser synths provided to him by the architect of the song, Shizzi.
The opening lines (which is also the hook) have gone on to summarize Davido's illustrious career. Davido uses his father's wealth as a battering ram as he seeks a position at the top.
Davido is a hustler, a different type of hustler in Afrobeats culture. While many singers hustle to the top for economic freedom, Davido grinds the opposite way by taking a top-down approach. His end game has always been artistic credibility, not money.
In May 2011, Davido released his debut single 'Back When' featuring Naeto C. In the song, Davido sings about his broke days which sounded odd from the son of a billionaire, and his critics let him know it.
The fact that Naeto C, one of Nigeria's most successful rappers of all time, featured on his debut single did little to stop the belief that Davido was buying his way to the top.
On his famed follow up single, Davido used Eminem's 8-Mile technique of owning his flaws by proudly flaunting his wealthy background.
This strategy made you focus on the music, and no one can front that ‘Dami Duro’ is not a classic ten years after it was released. It is a turbo blast of lamba music packed into four minutes of non-stop frenzy.
It is a feverish anthem, a frenetic wonder, a sweaty-back sensation, an ode to hedonism, and a celebration of the Lagos nightclub culture. It is a fleshy delight.
The ironic thing about Afrobeats is that it is in contrast to the environment that bred it. Excessive individualism and materialism in Afrobeats are opposite of the poor and harsh conditions in Nigeria.
On January 8, 2012, Davido released the Clarence Peters directed visuals for his monster single. It's a celebration of ambition, money and youth. Ironically, when this video was released, Nigeria was in the middle of the Occupy Nigeria protest.
Releasing the video during the protest was brilliant because most Nigerians were at home and had nothing to do but watch TV.
The video starts in a brash away, with Davido spilling drinks when asked if he could afford to pay for them. The video co-opts a lot of Hip-Hop visual staples. It has its fair share of cash, posse shot, video vixens, bling and clips of the money phone.
In the second half of the video, the hottest act on the streets, Wizkid, makes a cameo. As fate would have it, Burna Boy made a quick cameo earlier in the video too. A decade later, these three men will be in their own Game of Thrones.
Ten years after, Dami Duro belongs in the pantheon of classic Nigerian pop records. It is one of the best examples of a ‘lamba’ record, (Davido even leaves a couple of bars where he mumbles, word to D’banj and Terry G), but it is more than a lamba record. It hasn’t been trapped in that era of fast-paced club bangers with loose structures. It has found relevance beyond that time even though it has these features.
Davido’s sheer power to succeed, and prove his doubters wrong (something we all wish to achieve) has made ‘Dami Duro’ an essential Afrobeats record.