Three of the biggest names to come out of Dapper Music turned on their former label boss within hours of each other late on August 14, each accusing music executive Damilola “Dapper” Akinwunmi of failing to account for royalty money owed to them. T.I Blaze, Shallipopi and Seyi Vibez all posted allegations on X the same evening, and by the time Lagos woke up on August 15, “Dapper” was one of the biggest trending topics on Nigerian X, alongside Shallipopi and Seyi Vibez’s names.
The claims are serious and, as of this writing, one-sided. Dapper Music has not issued a new statement addressing this round of allegations. What follows is what each artist actually said, sourced and cross-checked across multiple Nigerian outlets, not a verdict on who is right.
The trigger: T.I Blaze’s N1.2 billion question
According to Daily Post Nigeria, T.I Blaze opened the latest round of accusations, posting on X: “How did 1.2 billion naira go unexplained. Dapper Music come and answer?” He also questioned the terms under which Virgin Music took a share of revenue from the arrangement, asking “how did Virgin Music get into a business where you’re supposed to take 30 percent and bounce, from whose cut is Virgin taking their bag?” T.I Blaze further alleged that Dapper had licensed “another person’s intellectual property without mutual agreement,” writing “Dapper your cup don finally full.”
No monetary figure, contract clause or documentation was published alongside the claim. It is, at this stage, an allegation made on social media rather than a filed complaint or a court document.
Shallipopi escalates, threatens EFCC
Shallipopi followed with the most pointed claims of the three. Both Daily Post and InterceptNG reported he accused Dapper of withholding royalty income from 46 of his songs, including his hit “E Don Cast,” and of selling his catalogue to Virgin Music without properly accounting for the proceeds. “Dapper you Dey hold me money o, and u sell my catalog now u Dey act confuse, I go EFCC office i go write statement against u,” he wrote, referring to Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. He added, “you forget say nor be only me u scam,” implying other artists were affected, and separately claimed Dapper had misled the EFCC in an unrelated matter.
It’s worth being precise here: threatening to file a report is not the same as a finding of wrongdoing, and no song count or dollar figure Shallipopi cited has been independently verified through royalty statements, contracts or court filings. It is his account, corroborated across two outlets as something he actually said, not corroborated as fact.
Seyi Vibez, Hilda Baci, and a widening rift
Seyi Vibez, who publicly split from Dapper Music back in September 2024, weighed back in with claims of his own. Per Kanyi Daily and Daily Post, he wrote “Thank GOD say na me first Japa. The rest na mumu,” then alleged that catalogue money was being spent on cosmetic surgery for chef Hilda Baci, reportedly Dapper’s partner, writing “Na Hilda Baci BBL all una catalogue money dey go.” He also made a jab about food she had reportedly sent him, saying “I ate Hilda Baci food one day, I almost died.”
Hilda Baci has not issued a direct on-record denial of the claims tied to her name. Legit.ng reported she appeared to respond obliquely via an Instagram story rather than addressing the allegations head-on, without confirming or denying the specifics. Nothing here should be read as an established fact about her involvement, only as an allegation made by Seyi Vibez that she has not directly rebutted or confirmed.
This isn’t Dapper Music’s first round of exit allegations
The pattern matters for context. Seyi Vibez parted ways with Dapper Music in September 2024 following backlash over a cancelled Canadian tour. Weeks later, his protege Muyeez also exited, alleging he had received no royalties despite three chart-topping EPs, in a departure that came shortly after Shallipopi announced he was terminating his own contract with the label. At that time, Dapper Music issued a formal statement denying mismanagement, saying all agreements were legally binding and made with the artists’ full legal representation, and describing the claims as a “premeditated attack” on the company’s reputation.
Dapper Group’s rise is well documented: Damilola Akinwunmi built it into one of the region’s largest independent music companies, partnering with Virgin Music in 2023 to launch Vibez Inc with Seyi Vibez and Plutomania Records with Shallipopi, deals that explain why Virgin Music’s name keeps surfacing in this week’s allegations. That same partnership is now the thing being questioned by the artists who built their careers through it.
The real story is catalogue transparency, not just a Twitter fight
Strip away the Hilda Baci jokes and the trending-topic noise, and what’s left is a recurring complaint in Nigeria’s independent label ecosystem: artists who don’t have clear, real-time visibility into what a catalogue sale or a distribution partnership actually pays out, and when. Whether or not any of this week’s specific figures hold up, the underlying friction, an artist finding out about a catalogue deal after the fact rather than negotiating it, is a distribution problem as much as a personal one. As more Nigerian labels strike partnerships with majors to access global reach, the artists signed under them are going to keep asking the same question T.I Blaze asked in plain terms: who gets to see the numbers, and when.
Dapper Music has not responded to this week’s allegations as of publication. If and when it does, or if any of the parties involved take the matter to the EFCC or to court, this is a story InterSpace Daily will follow.
