Patrick Anyaele says he only wants what is rightfully his, Peruzzi's management refuses to comment and several attempts to reach DMW have proved abortive.
In November 2017, news broke that Davido had signed a new artist to his record label. His name was Peruzzi, the artist who had released a track titled, 'For Your Pocket' some months earlier.
The singer has since gone on to release two full-length projects, Heartwork EP and Huncho Vibes Vol. I supposedly under DMW. But given events of this morning as narrated and revealed by Patrick Anyaene, the CEO of Golden Boy Entertainment, Peruzzi was never signed to the Davido-owned label.
In July 2018, Pulse published an article about Peruzzi. In it, Pulse described Peruzzi as a "DMW artist." The article was published around 2:30 pm in the afternoon.
By 5 pm in the evening, Pulse got a call from Golden Boy Entertainment that Peruzzi was still signed to the label. Since then, the matter has been subject to hushed tunes across the Nigerian music industry. Well, until the early hours of January 16, 2020.
Patrick Anyaene, a record producer and CEO of Golden Boy Entertainment took to his Twitter account @KingPatrickGB to voice his frustrations on the matter with a hashtag #SurvivingPeruzzi. Since 2018, 'Surviving' has been used by 'victims' of heavy scenarios to get themselves heard on social media.
In the 17-tweet thread, Patrick narrated how he met Peruzzi, and how he allegedly paid his bills, signed him, got him an accommodation only for the artist to allegedly sly him and breach terms of his contract with Golden Boy Entertainment.
In the thread, intimate details about DMW and Peruzzi came out. In one of the recorded conversations, Peruzzi called N43 million "chicken change" and boldly told Anyaene that, "I played you."
On November 18, 2019, Pulse then obtained a caveat from one Morakinyo Henry Osomo of Platform Attorneys. He claimed to be a legal representative of Patrick Ayaene. The caveat sought to restrain members of the public from dealing with Peruzzi, named by his actual name, Tobechukwu Victor Okoh.
On the afternoon of January 16, 2020, Pulse had a phone chat with Patrick Anyaele who had just woken from sleep. He sounded downcast and depressed. He claims the ongoing saga has affected his mental health so much that he had to see a psychiatrist. He claims he only resorted to social media because all other avenues have been frustrated.
Patrick Anyaele, Golden Boy Entertainment and Peruzzi
The story is simple. According to Patrick Anyaele, he signed Peruzzi to a three-year contract in November, 2016. Ordinarily, the contract would have elapsed on November 28, 2019. But Anyaele alleges that his rights under the contract signed in November 2016 with Peruzzi had not been adhered to during the subsistence of the contract.
He claims that rights to several songs recorded before Peruzzi supposedly joined DMW in November 2017 had not been adhered to. He also claims that though Peruzzi isn't signed to DMW and that he ordinarily has no problem with the label, Davido has helped his artist to frustrate terms of a valid contract.
What Anyaele simply wants is for Peruzzi, Davido and their representatives to pay him what he's legally entitled to under the November 2016 contract Peruzzi signed with Golden Boy Entertainment.
He says, "The media is aware of this. This has been going on for two years - from the time Davido supposedly signed Peruzzi in November 2017 - which was fake. I have been constantly fighting for what is rightfully mine. I have done anything humanly possible - anything you can imagine. At this point, they feel like they are above the law and even threatened my life.
"Now that the matter is in court, they feel like they can stall me and talk to me. However, I told them to just pay me what is rightfully mine. But Davido and Peruzzi each said they were not going to pay anything.
"In November 2019, Peruzzi organized a fake meeting in Davido's house, ambushed me with knives, bottles... One of them had a long knife - they were like 15 or 16 in that house. Peruzzi said what I invested in him was chicken change.
"If it wasn't because I had a friend with me who they know and who is also a trained fighter, they might have killed me that day. It was just God. This was someone that I helped; I buried his late mother, got him a house and all that.
"Yet, he decided to rip up a contract, insult my family and slander me with a lot of lies. At this point, I have been depressed since that November 2019 incident. So, I decided to talk to social media that if anything happens to me, they know where it's coming from. I have tackled with the Police, they compromised the Police. They also frustrated the courts.
"Songs like 'FIA' and others songs by Davido are Peruzzi's songs - by implication my records. They even went as far as taking my name off royalties for 'FIA' and inserting the name of some unknown people in it. I was entitled to 20% of that record - I have still not gotten anything from it. They are frustrating me because I am one person.
"Since then (November 2017), Peruzzi has released singles and two bodies of work. I never got payment for any of them."
The role of Davido
He continues, "DMW never signed Peruzzi, Davido was only having fun - this is all Peruzzi's doing. However, if Davido is going to use my artist too, he has to pay me. Davido went online and said Peruzzi is the best thing that has happened to him. If that's the case, why has he been using my artist, taking songs I have rights to without paying me?
"I'm not his guardian angel. Peruzzi wrote 'Risky' too. I have the original version of the song. Peruzzi also wrote 'Ada,' 'Mind' 'AJE' and those other songs. I basically gave them the sound because Speroach who was producing for them, I found him and Peruzzi at the same time. However, I never had a contract with Speroach."
What does Anyaele want?
Anyale says that first, he wants to spread the word about the bad attitude of Nigerian artists. He says, "Before you sign Nigerian artists, they are humble. When you sign them and they get big, they get an ego and try to get out of contracts. This nonsense has to stop.
"Asides that, I want Davido and Sony to pay me for all my songs they have used. I also want Peruzzi to adhere to the terms of his contract with my label. I want my money - that's money from shows, sales and streams. The liabilities must now amount to something around $2 million. I'm not a greedy person, I'm not hungry - I just want what's rightfully mine."
Word from Peruzzi's management and DMW
When this matter started going viral, Pulse contacted Peruzzi's management, but what it heard was, "We don't know anything about a contract and we can't speak on it at this time." Pulse has since reached out to DMW through several avenues, but a response is yet to arrive.
Footnote
Peruzzi's bodies of work, Heartwork EP and Huncho Vibes Vol. I have been pulled down from streaming platforms.