Davido Shares How His Father Paid $200K To Get Him Out Of a Contract

Nigerian superstar Davido said in a recent interview with BET that his father, Dr. Adedeji Adeleke, had to pay back $200K in order to release him from a contract.

Davido claims that early in his career, he was offered a record deal worth 200,000 USD when he scored the hit track “Dami Duro” at the age of 17.

“My Dad found out someone gave me $200K for a contract, he called them, gave them back their money and cancelled the contract,” Davido said, narrating the early days of his career where he found success as a teenager and how this made pursuing a university education tough.

“He didn’t want me to owe anybody but I was feeling like you’re a whole billionaire and you don’t want to give me money, so I had to go find my way,” Davido recounted what led to the contract.

“Thank God he did (cancel the contract) because I would have just been getting off the contract like two years ago,” he said, referring to his Dad refunding the investors.

🧵 (1/2) Before the hits and headlining stadiums, @davido was just a teen chasing beats while dodging his dad’s rules. The hustle was real until pops hit him with the ultimate deal: “I’ll fund the music, but you must finish school.” 🎶📚

Was that a fair trade? #BETTalks pic.twitter.com/moJhZgdTV8
— BET (@BET) May 27, 2025

Tosin Ashafa, a businessman and one of the financiers behind Davido’s first professional contract, has told the story.

He described how the musician’s father bought out the contract in a post on his X account.

Davido was asked to select between the ‘Timeless’ tour and his ‘A Good Time’ tour during the interview.

The five-time Grammy nominee chose to use his ‘Timeless’ tour, which he called a historic occasion as he performed for fans in stadia that were completely sold out.

The ‘5 Alive’ tour dates were recently revealed by Davido and are scheduled to begin in the upcoming weeks.

The multi-award-winning artist revealed 13 dates, including the 60,000-seat Tottenham Hotspur stadium in the UK, where he would perform as the main act alongside multi-Grammy winner Mary J. Blige and American hip-hop legend 50 Cent.

Davido is scheduled to perform twice in Canada. Both the 10,000-seat Place Bell and the renowned 19,000-seat Scotia Bank Arena will be visited by the 5 Alive tour.

Davido announced ten dates for the tour, including the renowned State Farm Arena in Atlanta and the Barclays Centre in Texas. The majority of the tour will take place in the United States.

Davido’s hit tracks, including those from his recently released fifth album, “5ive,” will excite fans during the tour.

‘5ive’, which was released on April 18, 2025, has 17 tracks and numerous cameos by international music stars.

You can view Davido’s entire BET interview below.