Right now, I don’t have a girlfriend……Don Jazzy

Not many people know him as Michael Collins Ajereh, but at the mention of Don Jazzy, you get a perfect clue of who Michael really is. Don Jazzy, as he is popularly known is one of Nigeria’s multi award-winning record producers, singer-songwriter, musician, former CEO of the defunct MO’ Hit records and the current boss of the leading musical label, Mavin records, host of most of the talented acts including D’Prince, Dr. Sid, Tiwa Savage, Korede Bello, Di’Ja, Reekado Banks amongst others. Having been rated as the 39^th most powerful celebrity in Africa according to Forbes, Don Jazzy is not resting on his oars producing beats after beat and clinching several laurels. The Abia State-born monster producer in this chat revealed why it took three years to stage a concert, his stance on having a foundation and his much talked about relationship with former label mate, D’banj. Excerpts:


How come it took you three years to put a concert together?
It is not that it took me three years; what I meant was that I didn’t do a concert in three years. Obviously we’ve been putting things together, but we are ready to have it now. I don’t see any point in doing something when you don’t have content. I am a perfectionist, so until I know I have what it takes to do things I don’t do them. Last year, I would have put out a concert and people would come, but do I have the right content? We choose Eko Atlantic as the venue to accommodate people that cannot afford the luxury of Eko Hotel. I am not saying that we would not make mistakes but subsequent editions will get better. I urge everyone to come witness Eko Atlantic that day. The pricing (N499) is very affordable as you can see. We are not doing this for the money. 
Could you tell us more about the forthcoming Access Mavin Concert?
 I don’t understand why this should be a big announcement because we have banners everywhere already. I really appreciate everyone who came here today. We have been working for two years now and we decided that we should do a nice concert to show appreciation and thank our fans for their support. We have not done any major concert for the last three years, so we decided to do this on December 23. We are very happy to partner with Access Bank. I just want everyone to have fun and socialise. It would be like a carnival; many things will be going on asides music. This is definitely going to be the first of its kind by God’s grace with the way we have planned the whole thing. If everything goes according to plans, you don’t want to miss it

Is D’banj coming for the concert?
Right now, I cannot categorically tell you he is coming. At present, he is not expected to be on the show. It is a Mavin concert, but obviously you would see other artistes. I have done collaborations with many artistes like P-Square, Timaya, Olamide and Iyanya. In later days we would be announcing other artistes coming for the concert. 

You’ve been helpful especially to people battling with one illness or the other; don’t you think it is high time you established a foundation?
I don’t trust foundations. I just see it as people looking for publicity or trying to collect money from the public. I don’t need to set up a foundation before I help; I help regardless. Many people have been telling me to set up a foundation and I would probably do that to satisfy people at some point. It is not a priority for me.

Recently a law suit was filed against you and Iyanya by a certain person who claimed to be the writer of Gift. Could you tell us your side of the story?
I have not heard this before now. The owner of the song is Iyanya, so he would be in a better position to answer the question. He only featured me in the song and I produced the beat. This is the first time I am hearing this. Did he say that he wrote my verse?

When do you plan to release album for Korede Bello, Reekado and Di’Ja?
If you ask them now they would tell you that they don’t want an album. We have people who dropped an album and disappeared. It is not about releasing albums.

We’ve not been hearing from D’Prince; what is happening?
Have you not heard of Oga Titus? I would give you two of his songs this week since you’ve raised the question.

How does a singer get to work with you?
You must have the talent first and you need to find me. Internet is the best way to find me. If you follow me on Instagram, I would follow you back and we would get talking. But I would not listen to your songs if I suspect you are a trouble maker because some people could come tomorrow that after they sent you their track you did a song with it. It depends on the communication before I can say that you should send your song to me to know if we can work together. It also depends on if I have the time.

Do you charge for collaborations?
I have never collected money; I don’t charge for collaborations. And I think I have featured in the songs of almost everybody who asked me.

Why do you often avoid the media?
I avoid you before I don’t know how to face you. You can see how you’ve been attacking me with questions here and there.

Should we be expecting songs from you and D’banj anytime soon?
We would still work together. But he is a busy person and myself, im busy with my Korede, Reekado and Di’Ja. It is possible when we are less busy; when he is in Lekki and I am in Lekki too.

Is it that you are waiting for him to make a move first?
I don’t understand why I should make the move. Did he tell you that he missed me or did I tell you that I missed him? We are alright. As long as there is life there is nothing impossible; we would probably work again together.

You interact on social media a lot despite your busy schedule; how do you deal with that?
 If I see that you have things to say we would talk and if I see that you don’t have anything to say I move on. We have different kinds of people on the internet; you never can tell who you are meeting tomorrow.

Why did you stop using your walking stick?
You have to rebrand yourself; change is constant. You cannot be doing the same thing every time because people would get tired. But you would see it at the concert.

When are you doing a song alone?
 I cannot think of that now. I have people that need to be successful. I am happy bringing up people from now till I die. Already, it feels like I am singing too much

Do you plan to sign more artistes soon?
It depends on the ones we have. Until they get to a particular stage in their careers that everybody can testify to it, I don’t think I would bring anyone on board. Though to me, I feel that they are growing very fast. They must be able to stand alone first.

Do you have a girlfriend?
I don’t have. My last relationship was a year ago.

What happened to the relationship?
We broke up. I might get married tomorrow and the media won’t know about it. I don’t know why people feel I should announce whenever I am in a relationship or getting married. I don’t like attention.