How Yemi Alade Denied Me In Public After Everything We Made Together — Selebobo Shares.

I never thought a single photo could cost me so much so fast. It was January 2020, and I posted a set of pictures from a shoot I did with a model. I thought it was artistic; the media and eventually social media called it scandalous.

The story blew up: “Selebobo grabs model’s breasts in photo shoot” they screamed. Headlines painted me as reckless, disrespectful, even predatory.I remember the surge of panic when my phone wouldn’t stop buzzing.

Colleagues, friends, family asking: “Why’d you do that?” I froze. I felt misunderstood. My art had been twisted into clickbait.What hurt even more was the whisper campaign: producers, talents, promoters calling me unprofessional. Some clients backed off bookings.

I was branded “the touchy producer” and no matter how much I insisted it was consensual, part of a creative idea, not a cheap stunt. The images were artistic, I thought but the world saw something else.

At the same time, rumours swirled that Yemi Alade, one of the biggest names I produced for, was distancing herself saying I actually wrote her songs. She publicly said, “Selebobo does not write my songs”despite industry chatter that I co‑wrote a few hits. She called me an amazing producer but insisted she penned most of her music herself.

That public statement felt like a quiet betrayal because in public, I was reduced to producer only, not creator.I spiralled emotionally. I lay awake many nights, asking: was this my fault?

Did I cross a line? I had worked hard grew up in Enugu, learned instruments from my father Goddy Oku, started producing at twelve in my father’s studio. By the time MMMG signed me in 2014, I expected respect, not ridicule for creativity.

I lost some friends and missed gigs. But I refused to vanish. I left MMMG in 2019 and launched Vault Records, telling myself: control your art, control your narrative.
But still, the incident stays in the gossip archives, scrolling under my name.

Today, I’m older and slower to react. But I haven’t forgotten how quickly fate turned and how a single misunderstanding can haunt your legacy. Maybe people still remember that one scandalous photo more than any hit I produced.

So I own it. Because art risks misinterpretation. And my story? It’s not clean but it’s mine. Leave a comment if you have been misunderstood as an artist .