Ace Music Executive, Don Jazzy, has stated that the discovery and signing of Afrobeats sensation, Ayra Starr, to his record label, Mavin Records, was done to fill a gap in the entertainment industry.
Naijaonpoint reports that Don Jazzy, in an interview with the Echo Room podcast, recalled how he was actively searching for new talent to fill the gap of a teenage Afrobeats superstar.
Don Jazzy, who heads one of Africa’s biggest record labels, explained that he requested the help of some people to scout for promising singers in their universities, and Ayra Starr’s Instagram profile was among the handles sent to him.
According to Don Jazzy, Ayra Starr caught his attention with a freestyle about drug abuse, a theme he noted was particularly relevant to the challenges facing Gen Z.
The talent manager added that the performance convinced him that Ayra Starr was the one he had been looking for.
He said, “I don’t know whether it’s a genius idea or not. It just felt like the industry needed it, you know what I’m saying. For someone like Ayra, there is a space for a young teenage Afrobeat superstar from Nigeria that we want to ensure becomes global. So it was very intentional.
“I saw her, she posted on Instagram, and I saw it. For her, actually, I reached out to one of these young Gen Z Ladies that I follow on the internet. Everybody said I like to follow people, but anyway, I reached out to one of them.
“I said, hello. I might not be able to come to like you people, schools, and things like that, to find some of the talents that people have. In your school or in your circle of friends, you don’t have somebody, people who can sing that you know. All your friends know that the person can sing, and this one, this one, this one, this one. You say that in my school, we have some people, this one, this one, this one.
“She sent a couple of Instagram pages of some people, who, oh, look at them, and you say, ‘I look at them.’ I said, Okay, fine. They’re not bad; I’ll keep watching them to see how they move on in the social media space. And luckily for me, one of those days, she saw a video where I was freestyling and sent it to me.
“I didn’t respond to her before I went to go and approach. Because I saw that video, I understood the context. Yeah, the context was what she was talking about in the video: why did you make me do this? Why did you make me do it? Why did you give me the drug that I took? I thought, ‘This girl looks young.’ Yeah, I was like, we don’t have any Afrobeat song that talks about this Gen Z, what do you call it, experience or whatever. So, I went to her and entered her DM. I said, ‘Hello, how are you?’ Whatever.
“She didn’t answer me first. I saw her brother. I saw a post that she posted with her brother as well. I sent a message as well to her brother”.
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