Nigerian singer Michael Adebayo, popularly known as Ruger, has spoken up about what he went through in the Nigerian music industry after he decided to leave his former record label, Jonzing World.
Speaking in an interview with Afrobeats Intelligence, the 25-year-old singer recounted how he was blacklisted and tagged as ungrateful by people in the Nigerian music industry because he decided to launch out on his own.
Recall that in 2024, Ruger announced the creation of his record label, Blown Boy Entertainment, effectively confirming his departure from Jonzing World.
He also publicly denounced “loyalty to godfathers” as he accused his former label of spending his earnings to push new signees while keeping him uninformed.
Additionally, he also accused the label of failing to promote his brand as aggressively as he’d hoped, saying it was a key reason he decided not to renew his contract.
On what he went through following his departure from the label, Ruger explained that many people doubted he would be able to continue his growth, with some predicting he would only be able to manage “one more tour” before fading into obscurity.
Ruger lamented the stigma that artists who leave their labels in Nigeria face. He noted that they are often labeled as “ungrateful,” just like he was.
He said, “After leaving the label, there were lots of comments about it. Some people were saying, ‘This is the last year you’re going to tour.’ This is the end. You are finished. Not everybody was willing to help in any way. Once you leave a label in Nigeria, they call you ungrateful already.
“Many people do not want to associate with that person. Because you left a label. So, I was battling that. I had to meet a lot of people. Just like reintroducing myself, doing a lot of things from scratch. It was stressful. It is not easy to leave your label.
“Yeah, because you have to build your own system, it was starting everything over and over again. But because I was strong, I was strong inside. I was also down. But I was still strong.”
