2016 will go down in Nigerian music industry as the year when the existing record label business structure was introduced to another business model. The powers at YBNL, which have led from the studio, now lead from the business end after releasing Lil Kesh to create his personal record label. Lil Kesh was officially signed in 2014, and took to the waters of the industry with ease, meteorically rising through the ranks to become one of Nigeria’s pop stars. His hit singles take the chief responsibility for that rise in fortunes, but you cannot exclude the powers of indigenous rap king, Olamide, who put him on, and gave him the backing to run. Lil Kesh is now his boss, boasting of an album in his discography, and now a record label designed to fit his work and give him an imprint from where he can spread forth his tentacles and reach farther ends of the earth. The uproar from the announcement was palpable, with one section of fans applauding, others criticizing, an...