Five years after their very public split, Mayorkun and Davido are back in the studio together, and this time the world gets to hear it.
The “Mayor of Lagos” crooner set social media alight on Wednesday when he took to his verified Instagram page to confirm that he and his former label boss had recorded a new track titled “B4 B4,” due out this Friday, July 31.
The post, a moody promotional photo of the two artists side by side, carried a caption that needed no further explanation for Afrobeats loyalists: “New Music! This Friday! ‘B4 B4’ #Oriade.”
The song forms part of the tracklist for Davido’s sixth studio album, Oriadé, a title drawn from the Yoruba words “ori” (destiny) and “adé” (crown), loosely translating to “crowned destiny” or “fulfilled purpose.”
The 13-track project, announced by Davido himself in a post on his X account on Tuesday, arrives Friday and marks his 15th year in the music industry.
On “B4 B4,” Mayorkun does not stand alone in the guest booth; the track also features rising singer FOLA, rounding out a collaboration that industry watchers will be dissecting closely given the history behind it.
Davido wasted no time weighing in on his former signee’s announcement, firing back a two-word reply that instantly became the moment’s unofficial tagline: “WE BACK.” It was a fittingly understated way to mark the end of an unspoken standoff between two of Nigeria’s most bankable pop exports.
The comment section beneath Mayorkun’s post quickly turned into a mini celebration in its own right. Content creator Officer Woos couldn’t resist a cheeky nod to his mentor-turned-peer dynamic, writing, “Se se see, I learned from the best o!” Music producer Tolazfab and entertainer Lanreysgram piled on with their own notes of excitement, while fans flooded the thread with anticipation.
Instagram user abimbola_lewa zeroed in on the track’s placement on the album, writing, “Can’t wait to listen to track 7, of course!” a reference to “B4 B4’s” slot on the Oriadé tracklist. Another user, heatherloves_afrobeats, kept it simple: “Can’t wait to hear this one!!”
For longtime followers of the Afrobeats scene, the reunion carries real weight. Mayorkun rose to national prominence as one of the flagship acts on Davido’s Davido Music Worldwide (DMW) imprint, releasing his debut album The Mayor of Lagos through the label in November 2018.
The pair built a formidable partnership across several hit records: “Prayer” (2017), “Mind” (2018), “Bobo” (2018), “Betty Butter” (2020), “The Best” (2020), and “Cho Cho” (2021) before Mayorkun exited DMW in 2021 to chart an independent path.
That departure, while never framed publicly as acrimonious, effectively put a pause on one of Afrobeats’ most consistent hit-making duos. “B4 B4” now closes that chapter, folding Mayorkun back into the DMW orbit as a featured guest rather than a label artiste a dynamic many fans are calling a full-circle moment.
Oriadé follows Davido’s fifth studio album, 5ive, released in 2025, and has been described as a reflective project on which Davido revisits the sound that defined his early career, leaning into themes of resilience and self-belief.
Beyond the Mayorkun reunion, the album boasts a notably international guest list, including Ghanaian rapper Black Sherif on “Amazing Grace,” American singer-songwriter Leon Thomas on “Tell Everybody,” and French-Malian pop star Aya Nakamura on “Yaya.”
With the countdown to Friday now on, all eyes and ears are on whether “B4 B4” can recapture the chemistry that once made Davido and Mayorkun one of Nigerian music’s most reliable hit factories.
WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW
After a five-year professional split, Davido and Mayorkun are reuniting on record with “B4 B4,” a track off Davido’s upcoming album Oriadé (out July 31).
The real headline here isn’t just new music; it’s the reconciliation itself: Mayorkun’s 2021 exit from DMW never came with public drama, but this collaboration signals that whatever distance existed between the two has closed.
Given their history of hits together, fans have every reason to expect “B4 B4” to be one of the standout moments on an already star-studded album.
