Nigerian rapper CDQ has revealed that music star Davido once tried to bring him on board with a record deal—but things didn’t quite go as planned.
In a recent chat on Echoo Room, CDQ shared how Davido reached out to him on X (formerly Twitter) after his hit tracks Indomie and Nowo E Soke started gaining traction. According to CDQ, Davido had just wrapped up a successful African tour and was ready to reinvest some of his earnings into building CDQ’s brand—with the bold goal of making him Africa’s top rapper.
But the deal didn’t materialize.
CDQ said he made it clear from the start: if anything was going to happen, his longtime collaborator, Masterkraft, had to be involved. That led to a meeting between all three of them.
At the meeting, Masterkraft pitched a different idea. Instead of a typical artist-label setup, he suggested a partnership—emphasizing that CDQ already had serious street credibility and didn’t need to start from scratch.
While it was a solid pitch, Davido wasn’t on board with that arrangement, and the conversation ended there.
“Back then, Davido hit me up on Twitter saying he wanted to sign me,” CDQ recalled. “He told me he’d made good money from his tour and wanted to use it to make me the biggest rapper in Africa.”
“I told him—anything we’re doing, Masterkraft has to be involved. So we went together to meet him. Masterkraft explained that CDQ already had movement on the streets and suggested a partnership instead of a traditional deal. But Davido wasn’t feeling that, so the deal didn’t happen.”
Still, CDQ spoke about the moment with appreciation, noting the gesture and intent behind it.
