A public feud rocking Nigeria’s music industry escalated over the weekend as record executive Damilola “Dapper” Akinwunmi, CEO of Dapper Music, broke his silence on allegations levelled against him by three of the country’s biggest young stars, Seyi Vibez, Shallipopi, and T.I. Blaze.
The dispute began on Friday, August 14, when T.I. Blaze took to X to accuse his former label of failing to account for roughly ₦1.2 billion in revenue, question the licensing of his intellectual property, and challenge how international distributor Virgin Music came to be involved in what he understood to be a straightforward 30-percent arrangement.
He said his contract had since expired, that he had spent nearly seven months trying to resolve the matter privately, and that he was prepared to settle an outstanding balance he put at $185,000 in exchange for the release of his catalogue.
His outburst opened the floodgates. Seyi Vibez, who had already worked with Dapper Music, waded in with his own long-simmering grievances, alleging that revenue generated from his career had been used to sign other acts and cautioning current signees that they could eventually find themselves in similar disputes.
Shallipopi followed, accusing Dapper of withholding royalties owed to him and, in a separate post, claiming his signature had been forged and his catalogue sold to a foreign label without his consent, a claim serious enough that he threatened to petition the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
For nearly 48 hours, Dapper Music offered no public response, even as the allegations multiplied and spread across Nigerian entertainment media.
That changed on Saturday when Akinwunmi published a lengthy string of posts on his official X account, flatly denying every accusation and insisting that documentary evidence would ultimately vindicate him.
He struck a defiant but composed tone, stating he would not “stoop so low as to engage in insults” out of respect for his standing in the industry and maintaining that the relevant “records exist” and are already with the authorities.
He dismissed the artistes’ claims as attempts to “mislead the public” with false narratives, and pushed back sharply on the notion that he owed his success to any of them, pointing out that his working relationship with the trio dated back to 2021, when he says he financed their earliest projects before receiving any music in return.
The label boss reserved some of his sharpest words for Shallipopi, whom he referred to only as “Mr Elon,” an apparent jab at the singer’s earlier public remarks declaring that “the jig is up.”
He also disputed Shallipopi’s account of a missed joint appearance, insisting he was the one who honoured the commitment while the singer was a no-show, and questioned the sincerity of Shallipopi’s threat to pursue the matter in court.
Central to Akinwunmi’s defence was a claim that an independent audit of the accounts had already been carried out by a “reputable company,” with results he suggested would embarrass his accusers.
He went further, publicly daring the artistes to commission their own forensic review through any of a list of blue-chip Nigerian and international firms he named, including KPMG, PwC, Deloitte, Templars, Aluko & Oyebode, Olaniwun Ajayi LP, and Udo Udoma & Belo-Osagie, to independently interpret both the contracts and the financial records and determine, in his words, who owes whom.
He closed the thread reiterating that the matter was now in the hands of formal processes, stating simply that the records were available and that “the appropriate processes are ongoing.”
As of Sunday, none of the three artistes had responded to Akinwunmi’s latest posts, and Dapper Music has not issued any further statement beyond the CEO’s personal thread.
The controversy has drawn wider attention to questions of contract transparency, royalty accounting and catalogue ownership within Nigeria’s fast-growing but loosely regulated music business, with two other acts still under the Dapper Music umbrella, TML Vibez and Rybeena, so far staying out of the fray.
Given Shallipopi’s stated intention to involve the EFCC, and T.I Blaze’s earlier suggestion that the dispute could end up before a judge, industry watchers say the standoff may not remain confined to social media for much longer.
WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW
At the heart of this dispute is a clash between three of Nigeria’s rising stars and their former label boss over money, contracts and catalogue ownership with T.I Blaze alleging ₦1.2 billion in unaccounted revenue, Shallipopi accusing Dapper of forging his signature to sell his catalogue, and Seyi Vibez claiming his earnings funded other signings.
Dapper Music’s CEO has categorically denied all wrongdoing, pointed to an audit he says already clears him, and publicly dared the artists to commission their own independent forensic review through top-tier firms.
With EFCC involvement and possible court action already threatened, the real story to watch isn’t the social media back-and-forth; it’s whether either side actually follows through on an independent audit that could settle, once and for all, who truly owes whom.
