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| Chocolate City – Executives and recording artistes. Photo: Chocolate City Group |
His statement:
‘I, Jesse Garba Abaga (also known as
‘Jesse Jagz’) an artist formerly signed to Chocolate City Music label
hereby wishes to notify my fans and the general public about my
voluntary exit from the label.
After my initial two year
contractual agreement with Chocolate City, I do not wish to renew my
contract with them and as such have proceeded to continue my music
career with my new team at Jesse Jagz Nation.
I still maintain a cordial relationship with the management of
Chocolate City and my former label mates and I wish them the best in all their future endeavours.
Any further information will be
passed across through my publicist but until then, have a good day. Look
out for my sophomore album JagZNation Vol. 1 coming out in July 2013′.
This comes as a sudden shock to everyone
including some staff and executives at Chocolate City but those in the
know will tell you this was long expected.
Close sources to Jesse Jagz and Chocolate City tell us there had been an ungoing war between the ‘Wetin dey’ singer and the popular label.
Jagz, one source told SUNNYKISSPRODUCTION, ‘was fed up with the way the label was handling his career and decided to frustrate them in return.’
Jagz last release was his debut album in May 2010, after then he sort of went into comatose, save for his production of
Ice Prince and
BrymO’s albums in 2011 and 2012 and a few minor releases, we might not have noticed his presence.
‘Chocolate City have a one-year/one-artiste project run’, a staff at Chocolate City tells SUNNYKISSPRODUCTION.
(2008-2009 was M.I, then ’09-’10 was
Jesse, ’10-’11 was M.I again, ’11-’12 was Ice Prince, ’12-’13 was for
Brymo, this year’s run ’13-’14 was meant to be for Jesse Jagz).
‘
But Chocolate City signed three new acts – Pryse, Nosa and Victoria Kimani and started concentrating on the last two when they noticed Jesse had started giving them trouble’, our source adds.
‘Jesse would refuse to go to the
label’s studio at Lekki Phase 1, he and the other choc boys M.I and Ice
Prince had built separate studios in their Palmgroove, Lagos residence.
Jesse just kept making music, a lot of music, over 100 songs’.
Then there were allegedly two strong claims the label made against ‘Jargo’; the first that he owed a lot of money.
‘Choc City said Jargo owed them money,
there were several cases where he would travel to the North for a gig
and wouldn’t bring back anything to the label. At times, he would claim
they paid him just to appear and that didn’t hold under his contractual
agreement’.
The second was his alleged substance
abuse. There are very strong claims that Jesse Jagz, a truly talented
rapper and producer, is addicted to Marijuana.
‘Everybody smokes ‘igbo’ but Jesse’s
own was too much! He would be reeking of Igbo smell when he came up to
the studio to hang out. Don’t you see his Instagram photos, don’t you
read his revolutionary tweets? He thinks he’s Fela or Bob Marley for
Christ’s sake!‘
Sources say Sola Oladebo, Jesse’s manager for the last three years, is tired of the whole situation.
‘Sola is tired, fed up but can’t
leave him now, he has invested too much time in Jargo. At a time, there
was nothing to do as Jesse career was dormant, so when Choc City fired
Ice Prince’s former manager in 2012, they made Sola the interim manager’.
We are told till the night of his shocking announcement, elder brother M.I and the other Choc Boys were unaware of his self-imposed exit. M.I had just released his comeback single for his next album ‘The Chairman’ when Jesse dropped the bombshell.
‘M.I was as shocked as everyone
else. He’s not happy Jesse didn’t tell him of the situation first. He
has erased all thoughts of leaving Choc City now as a sign to show
loyalty’, a friend to M.I says.
An insider told us over the weekend, that the last straw that broke the camel’s back was when Audu Maikori, top exec at the label summoned him via E-mail, he simply replied with two words ‘F**k You’.
Maikori could not be reached and we’re
told that following Jagz’ statement, he immediately contacted all staff
(including artistes) and instructed them not to speak to the press.
Attempts to reach him and other staff at the label through emails, phone calls and text messages have been unsuccessful.
Jesse’s manager could not be reached for comments as his mobile phone was switched off.
Will other acts follow suit? An insider tells us ‘Watch
out for Brymo, he might also throw in the towel soon. He had issues
with Vice Presido M.I in 2012, he also has grown wings, you can never
tell’.
But there are the likes of M.I and Ice
Prince - two prized acts at the successful label who have publicly
assured fans Choc City will remain home for a long time.
Jesse Jagz, 28, signed to the label
along with his elder brother Jude ‘M.I’ Abaga in 2008 after the gifted
rapper became an instant success with his debut ‘Talk About It‘.
Jesse Jagz in late 2009 went on to release his debut ‘Jagz of All Trades’ which spurned the hit songs ‘Wetin dey’ amongst other chart topping cuts.
