Mohbad: K-Solo Reveals Dark Reality of Record Labels in Nigeria

Since the sad and very untimely death of Nigerian rapper, Mohbad, a lot of reports have been coming out now about the horrific state of the Nigerian music industry especially in the relationship between artistes and record label owners, especially when the artiste wants to leave.

A Nigerian veteran K-Solo in a new interview with Channels Televison talks more about the current state of the music industry and explains the slave-like nature of many record labels and the cabal-style way they use to blacklist artistes. Here's what K-Solo had to say.

**Before reading on, please make sure to sign up for my newsletter below so you don't miss out on any new and interesting lists, articles, and stories that I post every single day. At the end of each week, I'll compile all the best stories from the week and send them right to your inbox, so you don't miss out on any of the hottest things that have happened throughout the week. Sign up now so you always get alerted!

During his interview, K-Solo was asked "What is the picture of the Nigerian music industry when it comes to record labels and their artistes?" to which he responded:

K-SOLO: It's actually deep and it's actually a major issue we have been facing for years. A lot of people want to do music because they have the talent. A lot of people want to do music because they feel they're actually broke. Now, most record label owners are businessmen and they just want to make money. You see some contracts are terrible contracts that for people who have been in the industry, if they go through it or get a lawyer to go through it, you will ask yourself why would you sign this? This is slavery. So it's been like that. So there's always been a problem with record labels and artistes from the foundation because you look at it like okay, I'm putting the money down, I'm doing this, I'm doing that, so because of that they have to be on that slavery contract. It's sad. It's terrible.

Most of these boys they are hungry. They just want to show. They just want to put food on the table, they wanna make their families proud. A lot of things are attached to signing these deals and they don't take time to get a legal representative to look over it. They're carried away with the razzmatazz. In the long run, when you want to leave, they show you this contract - there's one clause there that you didn't see because you were so much in a haste. It has always been like that. So that legal representation have been thrown away from every of these artistes. That's when they find themselves in this position. Most times, it's always a clause they never read through.

"There are also issues of artistes who have left a record label blaming the record label for their stagnation."

K-SOLO: There's no lies. There's this cabal I've always talked about for a long time. It's like for example, I own a label, then I have somebody in this channel, I have somebody in this station - like the network where you spread your song through. So if an artiste leaves your label, text message goes - that artiste song, don't play it. You blacklist the artiste. They've done it severally! They've killed talent. They finish talent everyday in this country!

Speaking on the death of Mohbad, K-Solo said:

K-SOLO: Naira Marley is involved. Naira Marley cannot tell me he's not involved. He has a hand in his death. Somebody can't be under your label and is being bullied everyday and you never came out to say anything. And now you say you don't know anything, you're coming to put up statement. Naira Marley has an involvement in it! If I were Naira Marley, he should turn up himself. Come into this country. Come and defend yourself. Naira Marley needs to come out!

Hmmm. What do you think about what K-Solo said? Let me know your thoughts by leaving a comment either below or on my Jide Okonjo Facebook post.

That's All.

Btw, I earn money writing on Vocal. If you also want to earn money writing, here's a beginner's guide I made to help you get started

I hope you’ve had fun. Don’t forget to subscribe to my newsletter if you don’t already for more stories like this - collated every week and sent right to your inbox so you don't miss out on anything.

In addition to running a blogging page, I also run a gaming Facebook group called "Jide's Games" where you can play real games right now to win big naira. To join the JIDE'S GAMES Facebook group, click here.

To catch up on other content you might have missed, click here.

Until next time, have a wonderful rest of your day