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Is Davido Really Worth The MAMA Awards?

Is he the Best African Musician? Amid all the riches, all the sponsorship deals, all the hero worship, was Davido actually worth the MAMA Award? Pulse.ng's music analyst, Joey Akan takes a critical look of the life and talent of Davido.

Davido is 21. Davido has 190k followers on Instagram. Davido has quadruple that and a little more on Twitter. Davido's videos have racked up countless millions of hits on Youtube, his songs have amassed more downloads that can be documented and he has been doing so ever since he was a teenager, long before most people all over the world had the chance to get a taste of his brilliance.

Davido is 21. Davido has signed sponsorship deals with MTN, Guiness, and Teen Y! Magazine among others. Davido has been chosen as one of the single most marketable singers in Africa. His face beams out from billboards all over Nigeria, and as the MAMAs approached, Davido was to be the star.

Davido is 21. Davido has already been the subject of what questionable convention means we must style as great 'scandals and controversies'. Davido has already headlined the greatest shows in the country, continent and beyond, and may yet prove to be one of the greatest performers that walked the face of Africa.

Davido is 21. Davido has already forced cynical fans to change their minds on the question of he is truly gifted in the art of music production with the release of his much-loved and timeless 'Aye'. It was no ordinary feat early this year, but the official video of the song has amassed in excess of 4 million views.

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Davido is 21. He has already brought down a number of artistes in the industry, thanks to his calculated branding and over-competitive talent. It was not his fault but it was arrival on the scene that has made many other artiste shape up, or lose their sponsorship deals.

Davido is 21. Davido has been busy.

There is just one question. Amid all the riches, all the sponsorship deals, all the hero worship, Davido is something like an African Justin Bieber, such is the devotion he inspires in his large teenage fanbase -- and all of the mayhem, it refuses to go away. Was Davido actually worth the MAMA Award?

That is not to say that he is not an elaborately gifted musician. He is. Of course he is. He is one of the best commercial singers from Africa. But that group can be considered moderately large; "world-class," the chosen epithet for anyone who belongs to it, can be applied to a couple of hundred musicians. The true elite, though, can be narrowed down to just a handful.

He has all the trappings of being in that small cadre alongside 2face Idibia, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, and Youssou Ndour. He has the string of model girlfriends; he has the commercial links; he has the ego-boosting money.

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He even, and this is something that a few of his rivals can boast, has a heart for the less privileged. His charity projects carried out on his last birthday when he visited an orphanage, turned him from young, rich, celebrity into softie, benign and sympathetic.

The way he chose to make his gesture added to the impression that he is the celebrity who most truly gets to feel for others. You do not get the impression his life is being operated exclusively by his label colleagues. His feeds on social media aren't quite so cravenly commercial. He is comfortable with Twitter and Instagram and interacting with his fans; his accounts offer a snapshot of his life, his character, his opinions. He is the superstar of the selfie era.

But all of that just adds to the lingering doubt. His talent is not in question. What is up for debate is whether the award he just received - the Twitter frenzy, the sponsorship deals, the top shows, and the bad boy controversy-- has affected our perception of that talent. Does the actual Davido match up to the Davido as he is presented in the media? Does the reality of Davido live up to the concept of the public Davido?

To most people, it does. Many may have been somewhat premature in declaring -- last year-- that the only difference between Davido and Wizkid was that the latter "has more experience" in the art of singing, but his songs and now award for best Male Artiste, did more than enough to hint that here, genuinely, is an elite musician.

The MAMA Award, though, marked a distinct before and after in his career. Prior to last year, Davido was cocooned in the relative obscurity (emphasis on the relative) of Wizkid's shadow. After, he released Gobe, Skelewu, and now Aye, he has become his own man.

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Davido arrived in the entertainment scene as a fresh voice, filling the gap that Mo'Cheddah left vacant in the market after she left Knighthouse. He was the man many had longed for, but Wizkid has remained relevant, to his slight detriment. He was the heir to Mo' Cheddah. He was the third of Nigerian music's holy trinity.

It did not quite work out like that. Davido has had his moments but it felt telling that in the past 3 years, Wizkid has scooped all the awards, but Davido, persevered, had more lovers, sang more songs, and bought more bling.

Again, here, everything is relative. That Davido did not win all available awards consistently does not make him a bad singer. It simply suggests that contrary to people's belief, he was not quite on a par with Wizkid; at least, not yet. As Skales has found, it is all very well standing out among the bulk of your peers, but when you find yourself in the rarefied air of the immortals, even giants can start to look, well, normal-sized.

But with his recent win , this award done much to define Davido's eventual legacy. Davido won the Best Male Artiste at the 2014 MAMA Awards. You get the feeling that this is a history that will be repeated again.

This MAMAs has long been about Wizkid and Davido. Davido has always been seen as his nation's great performer, and it has cemented that. But going further, Is Davido simply a marketing phenomenon? Or is he something more? Is he worth all the fuss and awards?

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He is only 21. It seems awfully young to be asking such existential questions. But then Davido has always been a man in a hurry. This is his chance to get to where he always wanted to be. Next year might be different.

Congratulations to Davido.

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