MAVIN Records is unarguably one of the biggest, most popular, and most successful record labels in Nigeria. Don Jazzy is renowned for finding hitmakers, recruiting them, and then turning them into some of the biggest Afrobeats artistes in the world.
The latest project from MAVIN is “Overloading (Overdose)” and it is a musical collaboration between the label’s new roster of talent. The song has everybody from Crayon to Magixx, Ayra Starr, Ladipoe, and Boy Spyce on it. That is the major new gang of MAVIN artistes with a very visible absentee, Rema.
Rema is by far the biggest new act out of MAVIN Records and he is acknowledged in the song through a license plate on a car that appears in the music video. The question on everybody’s mind has been: WHY?
The only time Rema was “seen” in Overloading music video
Well, during a new interview with Cool FM, Mavin CEO Don Jazzy finally answered that question and without further ado, here’s what he had to say.
Don Jazzy, Magixx, Crayon, and Boy Spyce on Cool FM
Speaking on why Rema wasn’t included in Overloading, Don Jazzy said:
When I sign people and I introduce them to you guys like “ah this guy is talented o!”, last last it’s not me that’s going to stream all the music, it’s all of you that are still going to go and stream it. So my own is to just come and be ringing agungu everywhere, “this guy is talented o, go and check it out”. So obviously sometimes the fans maybe they’re suffering from fatigue, listening fatigue, or they’re just engrossed in some other artiste or their fave so they take their time. So for somebody like Crayon, I’ve been like “you people are not hearing this boy o, this boy is dope!” You understand? So I’m very happy that the intentionality we put in a song like Overdose was to actually make sure that people see him as the talented guy that he is which is why he’s the one starting the song and taking the chorus to carry the thing along. He’s the senior in the team so you people must see him now.
So we actually really didn’t want to put Rema on this one because I really wanted you guys to see (the other guys). Normally when we activate people, we try as much as possible to make sure we don’t do collaborations. So when it’s Magixx EP, it’s Magixx EP. You see him for who he is. When it’s Ayra, you see her for her. So everybody has done their EPs now so I felt like okay, they’ve seen them, there’s small acceptance, okay let’s try and amplify that with one of these songs. So this particular song is more like an Adaobi than a Dorobucci. Like Adaobi the other time, I tried to use it for you guys to see the younger guys as opposed to having like Tiwa and the others in there.
But we’re working on album that (Rema) is definitely a part of. It’s like a MAVIN All Star album that’s dropping this year.
Boy Spyce, Ayra Starr, Crayon, Magixx, and Ladipoe in Overloading
So basically in a nutshell, Don Jazzy wanted the focus of Overloading to be on Crayon and the other new kids like Magixx, Boy Spyce, Ayra, and Ladipoe. Rema is already a huge artiste so he doesn’t need as much help with exposure as these other guys do. I understand you Don Jazzy, I get it!
Overall, Overloading even without Rema is still such a dope song and I’m happy to see artistes like Crayon and Boy Spyce especially getting the much-needed attention they need from it. I’ll definitely be keeping my eyes peeled for the joint album they’re all doing and dropping later this year.
