Davido had been hyping the imminent release of his single ‘Skelewu’ in August with nothing more than a vague artwork with a young lady knees bent and right arm in front and left arm on her waist.
The song soon leaked unceremoniously online before the due date and looked destined to become an almost hit.
Fast forward a few weeks, in characteristic Davido form, a dance competition was launched with the promise of dollars thrown in, $3,000 to be exact. Not since the ‘Oliver Twist’ dance competition spearheaded by Don Jazzy did a new song whip up such a frenzy: everybody sat up and took note. From young children on the streets of Agege practising Skelewu. To Emmanuel Adebayor stereo blaring out of his car, giving his own brand of justice to the hit song. A full month later, a winner was declared, the fleet footed Kiddy who eventually received his prize money in raw cash from Davido at the airport.
Insiders would tell you that there was an argument on whether to use the ill-fated video as directed by popular director Sesan Ogunro. Davido refused to release the video and rather opted to spend more to get it done right. And in my opinion with good cause. From his first video Dami Duro, to the controversial ‘All of you’ and to the most recent ‘One of a kind’ Davido consistently and consciously attempts to raise the bar and get people ‘TALKING’.
But I digress, let’s get back to Skelewu – Davido was on his way to the brand new video shoot in London when the unthinkable happened. ‘Skelewu’ the official video was leaked. In a few hours, Davido responded to the fiasco by using his most comfortable medium the social networking site ‘Twitter’ to inform his followers that the released video was not the official video and declared Karma on whomever leaked it. There and then he promised the impossible, a new video within 5 days and deliver he did on time on target. The first responses to the video were positive and pleasantly surprised then came the information that disbanded pop-rock group LMFAO used the very same concept in 2011 forgetting that the concept used for both videos is from the 2002 horror film ‘28 Days Later’ which was credited by Mr. Moe Musa. A few bloggers went wild on this tit-bit unleashing vitriol and asking that the director ‘Moe Musa’ be arrested and prosecuted [yeah right, big yawn]
Despite the criticism and naysayers, the truth remains, you cannot help but admire Davido and the respect he has for his craft. Oh and yes obviously, the money and apparently lots of it. But that’s part of the Davido phenomenon, the implied arrogance, the blunt words, the emotions and obviously the hits after hits been churned out. And that’s why he can’t be ignored, that’s why we will talk about the fact that he’s throwing money around to shoot three videos, and that is why we will watch the videos and compare and contrast and go back and Skelewu.
Incase you are still confused; Here are 4 suggestions on how to WATCH the Skelewu video:
If you want to learn how to dance Skelewu. Go here and watch the instructional video. People are still doing it, in fact some people have called it their favourite video of all three.
If you want to know why Davido decided to shoot a new video – Look for someone who downloaded the low resolution version that was leaked by some criminal minds last week. Sorry it is no longer on youtube.
If you want to know why people are asking that Moe Musa be arrested, please watch video no 3 and keep your opinion to yourself.
If you are still unsatisfied, sign the petition to get Clarence Peters to direct the next ‘Skelewu video’ here: Comment
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