At his sold-out concert at London’s O2 Arena on Sunday, Nigerian singer Rema paid tribute to Afrobeats veteran D’banj for helping the genre break into the UK music scene.
Rema reminded the crowd that it was D’banj’s 2012 hit “Oliver Twist” that first brought a Nigerian song into the UK Official Charts’ top 10, opening doors for a new generation of Afrobeats artists.
“You were one of the first to bring Afrobeats to the UK,” Rema said as he brought D’banj onstage. “You and Don Jazzy held it down. You opened that door for us.”
He went on to express his heartfelt gratitude: “If you never existed, I would have never existed. I appreciate you for life, and I love you from the bottom of my heart.”
