Afro-pop singer, Dapo Oyebanjo a.k.a D’Banj is undoubtedly one of the most energetic artistes from this climes. The former Don Jazzy partner has recounted how he came about the moniker ‘African Michael Jackson’.
D’Banj who would be celebrating his 25th anniversary later this month stated that Wyclef Jean gave him that name.
Speaking in a chat with Joey Akan, he said:”I knew I was talented. But I was in the midst of people I felt were more talented than me. What I thought then was I was going to be like Usher. But when I saw my true aura was maybe after we released the first album, which was March 2, 2005. The “No Long Thing” album. I think it was between 2006 and 2007, that whole time. The Hip-Hop Awards with the towel, there was something just different that I felt then. I now went to the first MTV Road to the MAMAs in Kenya and I was in the Tribe hotel, I remember. Sound Sultan was there, quite a lot of people were there, and Wyclef Jean was there. And I looked up to Wyclef a lot because of what he’s done with the Fugees. And so we were all in the same hotel, but one way or another, everybody always ended up in my room. People wanted to be in my own room.
“ And I didn’t have to try to do anything different from what I did. I just found that that day, everybody just came into the room. And Wyclef looked at me before he left and said ‘I’ve met Micheal Jackson, I worked with him on this project. I can’t remember the project. He held me and said, ‘you are African Micheal Jackson.’ That was where the name came from. I was going to perform at MTV the next day, so I quickly had them give me this white head bandana and I told them to write “AMJ” on it. And if you check the pictures, Road to Mamas was where it started me singing. It was like when you’re a beacon of hope. A vessel of hope. That’s how it was”.