Who would have thought that one single Tweet could cause such a riot?
But then we’re talking Kanye West here – global god of the cool block.
So it happened that just after midnight yesterday, at exactly 1.47, the man with over 2.5 million followers, but only 1397 Tweets since he started Tweeting in July 2010 ‘released’ one Tweet that concerned Nigeria, and all Twitter broke loose.
From @kanyewest: Yo @iamdbanj and @donjazzymohits get back to NY asap there is still work to be done.
Don Jazzy – a Twitter-holic if there was one but who hasn’t Tweeted in 13 days – was quick with his response. @DONJAZZYMOHITS: @kanyewest yes boss. See u soon.
And D’banj – who Tweets, er, about once every other three months – followed suit. @iamdbanj: @kanyewest oooossssheee no worries boss. Coming soon.
Wow.
All so calmly, like this was just another Tweet all in a day’s job – no big deal. All so cool. All so… Don Jazzy.
Apparently, coming on the heels of the Snoop Dogg – Uncle Snoop, he was called in the video – collabo that is still shaking the African entertainment hemisphere, Don Jazzy and D’banj are set for a collaboration with the Hip-Hop living legend, Kanye West (already christened Uncle Kanyinsolaoluwa by @eaboyeji).
Said a source very close to the Mo-Hits management over a quick phone interview, who asked for anonymity as, according to him, Don Jazzy is trying to do this hush-hush, “Something big is popping. Watch this space – Don Jazzy is not playing games this year. But that Tweet was not a mistake o – Kanye is not a small boy. I no fit talk pass that one o.”
If, as the source said, this was a Marketing gimmick – and the fact that both music stars were awake just at the right time to respond to the post-midnight Tweet goes to confirm that it most certainly was – then it absolutely worked.
Nigerians – those still awake, of course – immediately began to Ping and to Tweet and to wake up their compatriots to the, er, good news. Facebook and Twitter went wild, as people Re-Tweeted and Re-Posted the message frantically.
‘Mo-Hits’ and ‘WhenKanyeTweetedatandDbanjandDonja’ almost immediately began to Trend in Lagos, and Nigerian Timelines could hardly miss at least a Tweet on the subject.
The excitement was palpable. Darey Art-Alade, who launched his new album yesterday, could not help sharing in the excitement: “Make una do quick!”, he tweeted.
His colleague, Sound Sultan, added his voice: “we gonna do it from home big sign for a lotta ppl,” he said.
Popular columnist, Tolu Ogunlesi, who shared at least 10 excited Tweets on the matter, chipped in with his trademark tongue-in-cheek: “GEJ may have “brought” FB to #NG, buh Mohits moved Kanye’s ‘Endowed’ fingers to tweet naija. They should get national awards.”
For good measure, he also threw this in: “Breaking: FG declares public holiday to celebrate @kanyewest tweet”!
@kennybayeroju had something to add: “and later south africa will start claiming that they are relevant in africa/ abegggggg abeggg its all about nigeria.”
And, on her part, @SomaKudi, found the moment so historic that she had a word for those who dared to sleep at this rarefied moment! “People who are sleeping at this moment have lost out big time. Reminds me of the unprepared bridesmaids in the Bible #Deep,” she Tweeted.
Indeed as recent developments involving MI (who Trended globally following release of MI2), Omawumi (for whom Nigerians on Twitter went gaga when she released her latest single “If you ask me”) and other artistes have shown, Twitter is changing the way the game is played – both as a conversation driver and a Trend-setter (puns intended).
At this moment, it has underlined a reality many of us already knew – the guys at Mo-Hits are certainly at the top of their game.
Glory Edozien, Features Editor of BellaNaija.com capped its significance quite succintly: “Moral of the story: see a man diligent in his ways, he will not stand before mere men! What ever u do, do it well…put ur backbone into it!”
As another Nigerian, @Lowla360, remarked following the Tweet that changed the music game: ‘Twitter its bout time our boys got their accounts verified yo!!! Bawo lo shey check e??”
And let the people say ‘Amen’.
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