Singer and entertainment entrepreneur, Dapo Oyebanji otherwise known as D’banj turned 35 a few weeks back. The “Koko Master”, as he also loves to be addressed, would rather not comment on the celebrated split from his ex-label mate, Don Jazzy and a few other controversies. He opens up about approaching mid-life, accomplishments and heartache.

You turned 35 recently; what sort of emotion does that evoke?

To be 35 with all God has done, makes me so happy. I think this is the first birthday that I’ll be celebrating myself unlike the past years when people would throw surprised parties for me. There was one in Mauritius where some people felt like, “wait, let’s celebrate you” and stuffs like that.

In a long time, I’ve not really settled down to count the blessings because every day is like Christmas for us, every day is like a birthday and turn-ups for us especially for my brand and the kind of stuff I do for a living. I came back to the country when I was 24 and since then there’s so much to count and be grateful for because you also know that we find relaxation in what we do to earn money.

But ‘Tongolo’ was your debut song after your return…

That’s correct. I sang it when I was 24 and now I’m 35. So much has happened in 11 years. The song was done at the same time with ‘Mo Bo Lowo Won’ but it was accepted more than ‘Tongolo’ by the people in the UK because of the immigration palaver then.

Did you plan to achieve something different from what you have now?

The expectations are higher but what God has done has been tremendous. Like I said, I’d achieved some feats, though some are yet to materialize. I still have some plans.

Which of the plans are yet to materialize?

Chief of all that hasn’t materialized is marriage. I actually wanted to have a child before I turned 30. When that didn’t happen I had to channel my energy into fortifying my brand and ensuring that it’s very strong. I also wanted to make sure that the direction we’re going was right. As a child, we would crawl, walk and then run.

I was trying to do everything that was okay at every given time. I wanted to achieve all these so that I could concentrate on my family. Aside from that, I think another thing I should get is Grammy and that’s already in the pipeline. I didn’t know that I was going to meet Kanye West when I was growing up and dreaming.

I’d dreamed that I would go abroad and play songs the whites will dance to and my music would be heard across the world and all that has happened. I dreamed that I was on the stage entertaining thousands of people and it has come to pass. A few months ago, I was on stage performing for the World Bank.

Are there things you’d have to stop doing because you’ve turned 35?

For me, it’s not about age because I’ve been exposed to a lot of things much larger than my age. Before I was 30, I was already dining with kings and queens. I won’t say that I’ve grown out of anything because my music and my lifestyle don’t revolve round my age but the time.

In the last two years, I just found myself more in the corporate, humanitarian and business circuits. I just found myself more involved in standing as a brand and the confidence that I can do things on my own without any stress opens the window for some great deals and people who are calling me now.

The kinds of projects I’m handling now and stuffs that I’m doing are what I would have said I would be expecting when I’m 40 but they’ve started coming already. I won’t say this and that is what I would stop doing, in fact, I got my Ciroc deal when I was 34.

Your 10th anniversary celebration started in January and you’ve had appearances in Dubai, USA and Nigeria. Do you have plans to roll out anything for the rest of the year?

The year started well for me. I wanted to kick-start the parties around the world and still do my annual concert, Koko Concert, in specific places but a lot has happened this year. We had the elections, it was between change and transformation and before then when I was in the US, Ebola virus broke out and West Africa was adversely affected.

There are places where I have huge fans but I’ve been unable to visit. I’m talking about Gambia, Uganda and other places on the continent. Most people say that they cannot afford D’banj, he’s too big and I told my team, “let’s go on promotional shows”. That was why I thought that by six months I would have touched everywhere this year. So we’ve done shows in Dubai, Switzerland, Texas Houston, Washington DC and so on. There was a plan for the 10th anniversary album.

When will you drop the album?

In a couple of weeks people will see what they’ve not seen before. It won’t be a surprised release of the album but all the songs will be released with their videos ready. It’s coming a little late because I’m also working on the visual album as well. The album will be titled “The Epic Journey”.

Many have criticized your promotion strategy lately; they argue that your music shouldn’t just drop online and end there. What would you be doing differently?

Most people have to understand why certain things are done certain ways. The good thing is that I’m also considering global impact of the album. The buzz is beyond Nigeria, though I’m focusing on its release locally.

Your sudden involvement in agriculture has sparked off the story that you will soon retire from music. How do you find this?

First of all, music is not football and except you kill me, I will never retire. I’ve kept quiet and watched a lot of people say things about me in the industry, but to call me an entertainer is better than to address me as D’banj. In my time, if I take a break, I’ll return again. Remember when I joined the industry, I didn’t tell you I was a singer, a rapper or anything else; I told you I’m an entertainer.