A simple handshake in a Lagos club has Afrobeats fans talking, and it’s easy to see why.
Burna Boy and Davido were filmed greeting each other on Thursday night at Zlatan Ibile’s bachelor party, and the video has been all over social media since. For people who’ve followed the tension between the two stars for years, this felt like a big moment.
Neither singer has said anything publicly. There’s a rumour that they went into an upstairs room to talk while people from both camps waited at the door, but that hasn’t been confirmed, so for now it’s just gist.
Watch video of the two greeting each other
Zlatan is the common link. He’s set to marry Davita Lamai on Saturday, October 24, and he’s close to both men. He featured on Davido’s ‘Osanle’ in 2018 and on Burna Boy’s ‘Killin Dem’ the following year, which won Best Collaboration at The Headies.
The two weren’t always on bad terms either. They go back to 2013, when Davido appeared on ‘Trumpet’ from Burna Boy’s debut project, Best of Burn Series Vol. 1, and Burna Boy showed up in the video for Davido’s breakout hit ‘Dami Duro’.
Things turned sour publicly around 2020. Cryptic posts from Burna Boy were read as shots at Davido, and that September, Davido’s ‘FEM’ carried the line “Tell Odogwu say we like to party,” which fans took as a reply.
Davido later told Ebuka Obi-Uchendu that the two were brothers and the line was an invitation to call him. In December, both were in Ghana and reports claimed they clashed in a club. Twist Club said security stopped any escalation, and no footage of a fight surfaced. Davido tweeted soon after that he would leave music.
Peace seemed to return around 2021 and 2022, when Burna Boy said he was no longer vexed. “David wasn’t tryna one on one with me but we figured it out,” he said. It didn’t last. In
February 2024, he traded words with a Davido fan on X and used a derogatory term for Davido, and the feud was back on.
Maybe that’s why Thursday feels different.
Davido had arrived in Nigeria earlier in the week and posted bundles of dollar bills on Instagram, saying he was ready for his friend’s wedding. Fans joked that the two camps will now have to find another rivalry to fight over.
A handshake isn’t a confirmed truce, but after all these years, it’s the closest thing fans have seen to one.
Join the conversation