Konshens Sends Condolences To Davido After Death Of His Road Manager, Obama DMW

Konshens Davido

As news of the death of Obama DMW, a close friend and road manager of Davido has emerged, Dancehall artist Konshens has put a pause on promoting his and the Nigerian Afrobeats singer’s new single Boom Bang.

Earlier today Konshens shared his condolences to Davido and his team and the decision to step back on the promotional efforts for the summer banger, which was officially released on YouTube yesterday (June 29).

He took to Twitter and wrote, “Out of respect for @davido and his team i wont be promoting our new single for now. Its a sensitive time in their camp and i offer my condolences. We’ll pick up the summer heat when the time is right.”

Davido’s road manager, Obama DMW, whose real name is Habeeb Ademola Uthman died on Tuesday, June 29. According to Grungecake, Obama drove himself to the Ever Care Hospital in Lekki, Lagos due to breathing complications. He was admitted to the hospital but unfortunately died a few hours later.

The Lagos-born, record-label founder of Obama Music Worldwide (OMW) was a close associate and instrumental figure to Davido and his camp, Davido Music Worldwide (DMW). He was often seen at the Afrobeats singer’s home and several show venues.

In a joint effort with Davido’s DMW label and his own, Obama signed upcoming Nigerian singer, Ayanfe, who found success with the singles Focus and Ori Mi. The young star also expressed his condolences on Instagram today, he wrote;

“Broken and in pains. Almost as if I lost my way. Your teachings has helped me live daily. Will you pick up again if I ever need saving? My Friend, Brother, boss, mentor and my Godfather I will miss you so much😭..I think some nights never turn to morning💔💔😭😭😭..Love you forever Legend🤍🤍… FLY EASY🕊🕊

Others like Nigerian singer Peruzzi, under DMW Record label, took to his Instagram account to share broken heart emojis and wrote, “Lord have mercy.”

Also, his friend, Khloe Oluwabusayo Abiri, popularly known as ‘Kokobykhloe’ mourned his demise on her Instagram story. She wrote, “My whole life just flashed In front of me. God this cannot be true”

Obama DMW will be buried on Thursday according to Muslim rites.

Though the promotion of Konshens and Davido’s single Boom Bang has somewhat been halted, the new music video which was shot in Atlanta, Georgia is already picking up some traction on streaming platforms, accumulating over 28k views on YouTube since yesterday.

The new track will appear on Konshens’ new album, Red Reign, due for release later this year. The coming together of both these artists merges the long-standing cultural exchange of two sounds, Dancehall and Afrobeat on bouncy melodies and pendulous rhythms, to bring a scorching summer banger.

Speaking on how it came together, Konshens told Complex UK: “It’s a summer banger. Its Afrobeats meets Dancehall music and it’s for the ladies globally. We reached out to Davido and he loved it and he killed it, then we flew to Atlanta and got the video done.”

As for the Demarco-directed music video Konshens said, “There is not a storyline to the video, it’s just a fun vibe and that’s what we want going into the summer. The past year has been way too serious, so we’re trying to loosen things up now. Demarco, who is another big, big Dancehall artist himself, directed the video, and we had a good time. It was refreshingly fun. We wanted to hit the clubs after but everybody was too tired and too drunk.”

Even the production of the track converged from opposite sides of the Atlantic. The instrumental, coincidentally too, came from Ricky Blaze and Jonny Blaze (not related). Ricky a veteran Dancehall producer (responsible for Gyptian’s Hold Yuh, among others) and solo artist, Johnny works as Konshens’ Miami-based in-house producer.

In recent years, these cross-Atlantic team-ups have become increasingly common. Take for example Vybz Kartel and Wizkid on the track Wine To The Top, also Popcaan and Davido’s Risky, Kranium and Wizkid, Cant Believe, Popcaan and Runtown’s Oh Oh Oh Lucie, and the Haitian artist Michael Brun and Mr. Eazi on the singles Pa Pale and Akwaaba Ayiti.

Even Major Lazer’s Walshy Fire devoted his entire 2019 album Abeng to collaborations between Caribbean and African artists; the New York-based DJ-producer just aimed to fuse Caribbean sounds (Reggaeton) with African styles (Afrobeats) on La Montamos, a great collaboration with Nino Augustine released earlier this month.

This is also not the first cross-Atlantic rodeo for Konshens, the deejay linked with DJ Neptune and Joeboy on the single Nobody Dancehall and again with Afro B on the track, Vibrate last year. He also appears with Reggaeton acts Justin Quiles and Dalex on the single Real, which is part of the newly released F9-The Fast Saga soundtrack.

Konshens told RollingStone that the “cultures” of Jamaica and Nigeria “have been connected from the get-go.” “Both genres [Dancehall and Afrobeats] are like the little cool street kids that grow up in adversity and then manage to influence the world,” Konshens adds. “I’ve been collaborating with Afrobeats artists for years now, and I’m happy to see the levels it’s reached in recent years.”

Davido also has a new collaboration on the way with American rapper DaBaby.

Speaking during an interview session at the 2021 BET Awards on Sunday, the rap star dropped a major hint regarding his next single and who the guest artist on the single would be, and it’s no other than Nigerian superstar Davido. The visuals for the single will be shot in Nigeria next week.

Watch Konshens and Davido’s new single Boom Bang here –