It is unsure if the seeming rivalry between Nigerian Afrobeats stars Ayodeji Ibrahim Balogun aka Wizkid and David Adedeji Adeleke aka Davido will come to an end anytime soon.
The two music stars have been at it for almost a decade and no one seems to have had a headway in offering truce.
It is largely believed that both Wizkid and Davido are two of the top tier music stars from Nigeria, who have achieved so much for themselves on the global music scene.
Although it’s uncertain what ignited the feud between Wizkid and Davido, the rivalry is as old as Yemi Alade’s first album, ‘King of Queens,’ which is a decade old.
Davido and Wizkid’s are neither friends nor foes and have had a love-hate relationship fuelled by continued competition that has remained tools in the hands of their respective camps and fan bases.
While Davido leads the camp 30BG on social media, Wizkid has behind him and for him, the Wizkid FC. The two camps regularly await a tweet from each of the singers to begin trolling the other camp.
Wizkid and Davido’s feud recently reached what seemed like its peak on April 29, 2024, with both music stars engaging in name-calling on micro-blogging social media platform, X. The actions of both parties evoked mixed feelings with some getting amused and others in dismay.
“It no longer matters how their quarrel started. They are simply badly behaved adults and parents. But clearly, they are both being handled by poor and immature teams. That’s instructive,” Olawale Olaleye, Deputy Editor, This Day Newspaper reacted. “It’s not a function of age. That would be a lame pretext. It’s much they know. Delusional, in fact! It’s, however, disappointing to watch them relish in the folly of their ignorance. Entertainers in the mud.”
According to some industry watchers, it all began on July 28, 2014, when Wizkid tweeted what was perceived to be a shade at Davido after his show his New York and ahead of his London concert. In the tweet, Wizkid wrote, “I already killed NY!! London 26th Sept!! Manchester 28th sept!!! Big surprise!! Still proper shows!! proper venues!!! #fuckboysuckadick!!”
While Davido believed the tweet was directed at him, Wizkid insisted his tweet was about the bad sound system he had experienced at a previous concert. Both singers both opened up on the tweet to Olisa Dibua in two separate interviews in 2016.
In 2017, Davido had taken to Snapchat where he claimed pon pon sound is the popping sound and all other sounds were less in the industry. The post was alleged, by fans and industry watchers, to be shots at Wizkid after he teased fans with his third album ‘Sound From The Other Side’.
On July 5, 2017, it seemed Wizkid got the alleged shade and responded with a tweet taking an alleged swipe at Davido’s voice. “My people make una remember to say Yankee passport no be baba blue, e no dey cure frog voice.”
This went on to become a trend as Davido took it in his stride and even went on to make a frog diamond pendant.
2018 brought about what many considered as the year of relative peace in their public and private relationship as the singers decided to sheath their swords. In an interview with Native Magazine, Davido disclosed that the tension in their respective camps got physical between their fans and they decided to sheath the sword and move on.
To further announce the relative peace, 2018 recorded the first performance of Davido and Wizkid on the same stage together at their respective shows. Wizkid first performed at Davido’s 30 BG concert and subsequently, Davido performed at Wizkid’s Eko Hotel Concert on Dec 24, 2018.
2019 also saw both music stars enjoying a good relationship as Davido acknowledges Wizkid’s congratulatory message after the birth of his son while also congratulating Wizkid for his O2 Arena concert.
The relative peace continued till 2020 when Davido said he unsuccessfully tried to make an album and go on tour with Wizkid in an interview with Ebuka Obi-Uchendu. Davido claimed Wizkid and his team were being evasive and the idea was literally dead on arrival.
Some of Wizkid’s fans alleged the interview was not taken by Wizkid in good stride as he seemed to have deliberately snubbed Davido while responding to other artists, who congratulated him on the feat on X after he posted the completion of his ‘Made In Lagos’ album.
The action further confirmed both singers have resumed hostilities.
It continued in 2021 when Wizkid collaborated with Burna Boy on the song, ‘Ballon d’Or,’ amidst Burna Boy’s feud with Davido. Many in the 30BG camp believed Wizkid took a side and the hostilities resumed in full swing.
However, in 2022, Davido was hit by a tragic blow when he lost his first son, Ifenayi Adeleke. At the time, Wizkid was planning to release his fifth album ‘More Love, Less Ego’ but after the incident the father of four pushed back the release of the album to commiserate with Davido.
The heartwarming gesture suggested to many that all was well again between both artists and this relative peace was further when in January 2023, Wizkid announced a joint tour with Davido – three years after Davido claimed he tried to make it work without success.
On Wednesday, January 18, 2023, Wizkid took to his Instagram page to announce that he would be going on tour with Davido. “After my ‘MLLE (More Love, Less Ego)’ tour!! Davido and I going on tour! save your coins! I no wan hear pim,” he announced.
Few months later, Wizkid posted Davido’s fourth album ‘Timeless’ and shut everyone up to show that they were both on good terms.
In the same year, Davido granted an interview and blamed the fan bases for sparking most of the issues between him and Wizkid.
And to wrap up the year, Davido and Wizkid both partied at an event in Lagos.
Hostilities resumed in 2024 after fans claimed one of Davido’s tweets on his collaboration with Kizz Daniel on X was a snide remark aimed at Wizkid. It took Wizkid three months to dish the same and this time, he trolled Davido with a viral video of him crying.
Interestingly, both music stars have similar taste in luxurious lifestyle. From choice cars to palatial homes and women, Davido and Wizkid seem to share same taste. Despite the two music stars flaunting their partners, Chioma is to Davido what Jada Pollock is to Wizkid, they both have children from other women.
Similarly, Davido and Wizkid are not both not married to the mothers of their first children.
However, they differ in fun places. Davido prefers hanging out with his team at Cubana night club and few other places when in Nigeria while Quilox is home for Wizkid.
Internationally, both music stars have done well for themselves musically. Winning several notable industry awards and getting nominations at others including Grammys, MOBO awards, BET awards, and others. They have both collaborated with some American music stars including Chris Brown and Akon.
Again, Davido landed a cameo appearance in the sequel to Eddy Murphy’s ‘Coming 2 America’ while Wizkid is yet to get a feature in local or international films.
Outside Nigeria, for fans and support, Davido is to the United States of America what Wizkid is to the United Kingdom.
