The West is shopping for stars in Africa

It was without a doubt a shocker when word went round that Nigerian rapper D’Banj was doing a collabo with Hip Hop legend Snoop Doggy Dogg.

Many brushed it off as a mere joke wondering how he may have managed to pull off such a major deal.

But when the video to Mr Endowed (remix) was released, jaws dropped and now people really wanted to know how he did it.

What was impressive was just how “real” D’Banj was when meeting one of Hip Hop’s greatest.

He still maintained his cool, did not adopt a Black American accent and he was not intimidated in the presence of greatness.

That the video was of international status and was reportedly paid for by D’Banj showed that this kid knew what he was doing and raised his status to international and not just Nigerian or African.

That Snoop Dogg was willing to work with an artiste probably not known beyond the continent was telling.

That, plus the two were introduced to each other by a Hollywood jeweller in a 2010 fashion fair, shows that he understands music’s next frontier, Africa.

But it was D’Banj’s next move that had everyone shocked. He announced that he was signing a recording deal with one of the biggest names in music today, Kanye West.

Dapo Daniel Oyebanjo, that is D’Banj to the uninitiated, was now in the big league, he was now hobnobbing with people everyone in the music industry admires and would wish to at least meet if not do a song with.

Kanye made it a big deal signing D’banj into his G.O.O.D. music family that he gave his new artist his G.O.O.D. Music chain in front of the crowd in a moment similar to his own induction to Roc-a-Fella by Jay-Z.

He then told the crowd: “I don’t know if y’all heard or not, but D’banj is a new artist on G.O.O.D. Music.”

That two major artistes, who have no business – or so we think – working with artistes from Africa shows a certain trend.

The global commercial music business is shining it’s light, and money, on Africa.

Everybody else is looking into Africa to further their business from oil to telecommunications and first world nations are scampering to get a slice of the dark continent that is slowly starting to enjoy its time in the sun.

Sony Music, the second-largest global recorded music company is also venturing deeper into Africa market.

Last week, they signed gospel artiste Rose Muhando to its roster of artistes.

That was the first of many deals by Sony Music.