One of the foremost record labels in the country, Chocolate City Entertainment, has come out to categorically state that they do not have issues with Brymo, who is one of the artistes signed to the label.
This is coming on the heels of widespread reports that Brymo has left the label. It should be recalled that Brymo took to his Twitter page on Monday evening, 27th May, 2013, and announced to the world that he was no longer with the label. He signed with the company back in 2010 and has gone on to record several successful tracks with them.
Audu Maikori, the CEO of Chocolate City, who in the company of MI, held a meeting with a group of journalists, myself included, stressed that the label was not holding any grudges against Brymo and that he was just as surprised as the rest of the world when he heard that Brymo had purportedly left the label.
Audu lamented the recent strings of "desertion" hitting many record labels in the country. According to him, "Some of us have spent over ten years of our lives trying to build the music industry. And I think what's dangerous is the trend that people feel they can go to social media and talk and its law. What this means is that people become scared of investing in the industry as they may see it as unstable where someone can just say because he's upset, he's leaving even after so much money might have been invested in him/her. We have also had cases like this in other labels, but the truth is, if there is an existing contract, the individual has to fulfill all contractual obligations before leaving."
Speaking further, the artiste manager who was quite emotional about the debacle said, "I was trained as a lawyer and I believe in the rule of law. If an artiste feels that he wants to leave for one reason or the other, there's a proper way to do it. It's nothing personal."
Responding to questions about whether there was any sort of feud between Brymo and the executive considering some rumours flying around that the label wasn't given the singer much attention, he said, "Nothing like that. The reason why we don't sign on too many artistes at a time is because we sign them with our blood literarily. We take responsibility for a lot of things. Some of them have grown so big now, but in the beginning, we used to feed them. And so if an artiste feels he no longer wants to continue the relationship, then do it the right way; that's what we're trying to stress."
Jude MI Abaga who also doubles as the label's vice-president corroborated Audu saying, "I'm an artiste so I can also talk from that perspective. I always tell other Nigerian acts that I'm the Nigerian Dream. My journey in Chocolate City started as a PA for Jeremiah Gyang; I was always carrying his guitar around. Today, I'm in charge of everything Chocolate City does with my music. I have shares in the label and I also have my own record label with the blessings of Choc city. I have performed everywhere; won numerous awards and when I look back at how far I've come, I can only attribute it to humility, God's grace and hard work. It's a combination of knowing that when you work as a team, sometimes the team decision will not favour you, but if they're your team and family, their decision is more important than yours. I haven't put out new music in two years. That's because when I was coming up, Iceprince waited for years for me, and so when it got to a point, I also had to relax to allow Jesse Jagz, Iceprince and Brymo get some time. It's really unfortunate what's going on. I know what Choc City stands for, and I know how much they have contributed to the growth of my career.
Audu also re-iterated that the label had tried so many times to discuss with Brymo after they started noticing some sort of rebellion about him but he wasn't forthcoming. He stated that Brymo still has two more albums to deliver before his contract expires as he signed a three album deal with the company. According to him, the industry needs to protect the interest of individuals who have spent so much in building brands. He said, "It's dangerous for the industry; I don't even want to drag issues, I just want to stress that things should be done in the proper and legal way. The Twitter rant that is going on round the nation needs to be quelled. If there's a contract and it has been dissolved, you can tweet all you want; that's all. People just go on the internet and say anything and some people support them; this affects people like us. People seem to forget that this is a business and not a party.
"We are not fighting with Brymo; we just need to sit down and talk things out. It's something that can be resolved."
Audu also used the opportunity to talk about other things that were happening at the label like MI's selection as a judge on X-Factor, Iceprince's BET nomination amongst other things. He also revealed that he was just recently invited to MIT in the United States to talk about entrepreneurship in Africa.
He declared that new acts like Nosa, Pryse and Victoria Kimani
signed to the label were set to take the industry by storm as they’re
presently working round the clock to deliver fresh and mind-blowing
materials.
Culled:E247mag
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