Before going to the heart of the matter let’s first analyze Davido’s Controversial Statement “The only people I know in Cameroon are Samuel Eto’o and STANLEY ENOW”. I know a lot of people are asking themselves right now “Why this peri di bring we this old gist?” Well, that statement happens to be the very raison d’être of this article. Davido seems to have struck a sensitive chord when he made that statement given the way the general public took it, in fact , I even heard someone in my neighbourhood this morning express his disgruntlement at this statement by asking in a very angry tone “Weti Davido tok so for that Video,that means sey ei no know all this our star dem, that man think sey ei be who?”But the question here is not who Davido thinks he is, the question should be on what basis does he say he knows only Samuel Eto’o and STANLEY ENOW in Cameroon .
I know in Eto’o’s case the answer is quite obvious and so we shall not belabour that point. But most people wonder why STANLEY ENOW is mentioned (and many more should be wondering why his name is in bold) ,while all of us know that in terms of lyrics and public acclamation of Cameroonian Urban Music,his ratings will not be anywhere close. Some stipulated that Davido said his name because they collaborated together on “Caramel” and that seems to be quite salient and obvious but I say NO!We have a lot of great artists who established great connection with the public with their songs such as Daphne,Jovi,Magasco ,Locko ,Mr Leo, Reniss and many others and that is why they all are household names and that is the term that will best suite a lot of our Cameroonian artists “Household Names”.
Their music have a hard time going above national boundaries and even their tours in Africa and Europe for the most part in a recent years haven’t been of much help in imposing them at the international level. But, one way or the other STANLEY ENOW who hasn’t as much connection with the public as the aforementioned artists is as at now perceived as the flag bearer of Cameroonian music at the international level. I mean he was invited to talk on BBC’s show African Voices that is definitely something to reckon. So what are the rest missing or what is he getting right over the others? We could quickly earmark his Label’s knack for getting him top notch collaborations with renowned international artists such as Davido as earlier mentioned,Mr Eazi,Ice Prince, Fuse ODG,Olamide and 2face Idibia as the main reason for his presence at the international level and that alone is where he beats the rest.
I know a lot of people don’t really appreciate his art and music, But he is a Communicator and the International Collaborations might not have given him the biggest hit yet, but it is expanding his wings to other countries.
Now the Question is, should everyone shoot for the International Scene? When is it okay to go International? Should Daphne, Locko, Mr Leo, Magasco, Salatiel, Dynastie Need to do collaborations in other to attain international recognition?.
No two ways are thesame, People have different paths to success but in as much as our artists need international recognition. I think it is more reasonable to start at home first. Artists need to have a heavy strong and loyal fanbase at home before going international.
And it is not only a thing of the artists in the industry,but a responsibility shared by all those who love music ,to show some support to these artists by atleast just purchasing their music the right way and engaging into positive criticism as concerns their music and personality ,because truth be told the business of entertainment in Cameroon in general and urban music in particular is still in its infant days and while we raise our expectations as to what our artists should be delivering we could reduce our level of ranting and unnecessary complaining and indulge in giving worthwhile suggestions as to how our artists can better represent us out there.That way we will be giving more mearning to this new trend I have been seeing lately on social media.What is it again?..Ohh! Now I remember it is #Support YourOwn.
How Can you Support? By Liking, Commenting and sharing. #SupportYourOwn #TheTakeOver
It’s a perfect article bro. But I think Stanley lost his local fan base after his issues with dynasty. Also the lack of investment on some local artists after their hit songs is another explanation. Did Daphne’s management really capitalised on the success of Calee to take her international? I don’t think so. Most of our artist lack the guts to go out there n do it the way Stanley is doing
Good topic, but is there