Popular Nigerian singer, Ruger, has revealed what he went through after parting ways with his old record label, Jonzing World.

According to Ruger, whose real name is Michael Olayinka, things didn’t go smoothly for him after the split. He said some of his fans cancelled him, while a few of his fellow artists also started keeping their distance.

Ruger explained that the problems started right after he left the label. He said many people in the music industry began to ignore him and that it felt like he was blacklisted.

In 2024, Ruger officially left Jonzing World after a fallout with the label’s boss, D’Prince. Following the exit, Ruger decided to start his own music company named Blown Boy Entertainment.

Speaking in a recent episode of the Afrobeats Intelligence podcast, Ruger said, “After leaving the label [Jonzing World], there were a lot of comments about it. Some people were saying, ‘This is the last year you’re going to tour’, ‘This is the end’, ‘You’re finished’, this and that.

“Not everybody were willing to help me because the public sentiment once you leave a label in Nigeria is that you are ungrateful. Many people don’t want to associate with that person, even those in the same industry. It happens.”

On how he bounced back, the singer said, “I was battling cancel culture. I had to meet a lot of people and reintroduce myself. I was doing a lot of things from the scratch. It’s stressful, I’m not going to lie. It’s not easy to leave a label. You have to build your own system. It was just like starting everything over again. But because I was strong inside -I was also down but I was still strong- I triumphed.”

Despite the challenges, Ruger is still moving forward with his music career and building his brand independently.