Dapper Music CEO Damilola Akinwunmi speaks out on contract fraud claims involving Seyi Vibez and Shallipopi, and calls for an independent audit of his books.
So Damilola “Dapper” Akinwunmi has finally decided to talk. And honestly, if you’ve been following the noise around Dapper Music, Seyi Vibez, and Shallipopi lately, you already know this has been building for a while.
For months, the label boss stayed quiet while accusations flew around online about shady contracts and artists getting cheated. But this week, he broke that silence with a long, personal statement, and the headline of it all is simple: he says none of it is true, and he’s inviting an independent audit to prove it.
Dapper’s main point is that nobody was tricked into anything. He says every artist got their contract early, had time to study it, and even brought lawyers before signing. He specifically mentioned that Seyi Vibez showed up with his own legal counsel from day one.
As he put it, “Every artist was sent their contract in advance, with time to read it and take advice on it before anything was signed, and the terms were negotiated rather than presented.”
He’s basically saying, look, these were grown men making business decisions, not kids being taken advantage of.
This is where it gets interesting. Dapper claims the label sank serious money into these artists, we’re talking recording, videos shot in places like Dubai, London, and the US, touring, even personal cash advances. He threw out a specific number too: two American music videos for one artist cost the label $52,000, and one US recording trip alone came to over $200,000.
His argument is that advances are recoupable, meaning the label recovers what it spent once the music actually earns. And according to him, in these cases, the spending outpaced the earnings, so if anything, artists owe the company, not the other way round.
He also addressed the masters ownership issue, saying that’s just how the industry works everywhere, whoever funds the recording owns it. And he flatly denied claims that any documents were forged.
Here’s the part that might catch people off guard though. He revealed that threats have been made against him and people close to him since this whole thing started, and that those threats have already been reported to the authorities.
There’s also apparently a court date already set, which he says he plans to attend.
Why This Matters
At the end of the day, Dapper’s whole message boils down to one thing: stop trying him online, let the paperwork speak. He’s asking for patience while auditors and lawyers do their actual jobs, instead of everyone arguing it out on social media.
