Can Davido's Career Survive Controversies Connected To His Friend's Deaths?

2017 should be Davido‘s year.

Everything had fallen into place for the singer – he’s had a smooth ride and has dominated the African music space with ease.

This wasn’t the case for singer last year – which saw Davido drowning in his own success. He scored a SONY Music deal that seemingly became bad luck. The singer released an EP ‘Son of Mercy’ which almost took his identity away. Every single track was unlike Davido. He experimented with house music melodies on ‘How Long’ featuring Tinashe and Patwah accentuations on ‘Gbagbe Oshi‘ but recorded a glaring fail.

He tried so hard to maintain his usual energy, but that still didn’t rescue the tape from the claws of music analysts. ‘They (SONY) tried to alter my sound,’ he complained during an interview with Guardian.

‘They tried to fix me up with a producer and I decided to come home, but I’m still signed to them, it’s going good. They have realized how much potential is here because even when I am all over the world it is my African songs that even the oyibo people fuck  with’.

The singer however resolved his differences with the record company, took creative control of his content and attacked 2017 with vigour.

Davido promised to go back to the basics in 2017 and he has done just that. He is credited to have the two hottest African pop songs of 2017 IF and Fall. R&B veteran R Kelly jumped on the former and did a cover. The self described ‘Coolest Kid in Africa’ also collaborated with American rappers Young Thug and Rae Sremmurd on Pere, his third release of the year.

The completion of his 30 Billion World  Tour which took the singer to thirty cities across the world is also a very laudable feat.

However in this tenth month of the glorious year that Davido has had, controversy is now slowly clouding his success.

In the past week, three of his associates Tagbo, DJ Olu and Chime all died in similar mysterious circumstances. While the family of Chime has pretty much removed the noose from Davido’s neck as they say they do not believe it had anything to do with him; police investigations are trailing back to Davido for being complicit in Tagbo’s demise.

According to reports and videos being distributed on social media, Davido was seen partying with Tagbo on the night of his death. Some reports cited that Tagbo’s death was as a result of excessive intake of tequila but new reports making the rounds are saying that the deceased died of ‘asphyxia’.

Asphyxia is a set of conditions where there is an inadequate delivery and intake of oxygen. Hanging, strangulation, drowning and could set of asphyxia.

Davido has been reportedly called in by the police for further questioning and a look at Nigeria’s criminal code reveals that a manslaughter conviction could send an accused person to jail for life.

Even though Davido is refuting all of these reports, the reality still remains that the singer is wrapping up 2017 on a sad note. Scandals of this nature have the potential of marring a persons career if not properly managed.

Revered rapper Jay Z would have lost the opportunity to become a legend for stabbing record producer Lance ‘Un’ Rivera in December 1999.

A smarter move may be hiring a good publicist to counter the bad press instead of sending out responses to these claims through Snapchat and Instagram as well as legal counsel to guide him through this period.

The end of this case remains to be seen but Davido’s hard work in 2017 is in danger of being moot if all fans can remember of this successful year of his are these controversies.