Through his own words it's very easy to see why V12 is the album he holds dearest. The clips, both Europe and the clips recorded in Africa are collectively his best.








I heard this statistic from an record store owner way back in the late 90's - that CD, VHS, and cassette sales combined (Europe, Africa, and US) V12 is the most commercially successful African album ever.

He liked it more than effrakata? V12 was also more successful?

I you ask him now (and he's been asked in a few interviews last year) what his best/favorite album is he'll say V12, which says a lot because he hates when people compare him to the Koffi of yesteryear.

V12 had unprecedented sales success in Africa (particularly West and East Africa) and had there not be the Wake Up project, he would just did continental V12 tours and would have not released an album in 1996

I you ask him now (and he's been asked in a few interviews last year) what his best/favorite album is he'll say V12, which says a lot because he hates when people compare him to the Koffi of yesteryear.

V12 had unprecedented sales success in Africa (particularly West and East Africa) and had there not be the Wake Up project, he would just did continental V12 tours and would have not released an album in 1996

I taught that Loi was Koffi's best sold album in his career (VHS, CD,Cassette) . I remember that Koffi planned at time a Europe-tour for mai-1996 and the group-album Ultimatum for the end of 1996. I wonder why V12 & Loi never got officially a gold-record like Noblesse Oblige, Droit de Veto, Attenat, Effrakata & Droit de Veto. While those albums are Koffi's best solo-albums.

According to RFI both albums went gold in addition to Droit de Véto. He just didn't create fanfare

En octobre 1995, l’album V12 sort et marque les esprits avec des chansons tel que Andrada, Parking ya ba Baba, Aspirine, et la chanson phare Fouta Djallon qui est classé dans le top 20 de la rumba congolaise.

V12 est disque d’or avec plus de 100.000 exemplaires vendus.

En octobre 1996, Koffi sort l’album Wake Up en collaboration avec Papa Wemba, pour mettre fin au ragots prétendants qu’ils sont en rivalité.

Ce sont deux albums qui sortent en 1997 : Ultimatum (album du Quartier Latin) et Loi.
Le générique Loi, titre éponyme de l’album Loi, deviendra la marque du Ndombolo et considérera Koffi Olomidé comme le créateur de ce genre pourtant créer par Tutu Caludji, JB Mpiana, Japonais Maladi et Wenge Musica.
Loi devient disque d’or en France en 1998 avec plus de 150.000 exemplaires vendus.
L’année 1998 sera marqué par la sortie de l’album Droit de Veto qui deviendra le premier disque d’or du Quartier Latin, et ses productions scéniques le 29 août 1998, à l’Olympia de Paris et le 7 novembre 1998, au Zénith de Paris pour la première fois.

V12 and Loi were commercial best sellers in West Africa (CIV, Mali, & Guinea in particular) and East Africa (Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, etc.). Furthermore, the push for casette sales by SonoDisc in Africa were key to V12 sales numbers, moreso than Loi, which had primary focus on CD (which had become more economical) and VHS sales. Koffi estimated that cassette sales were in the millions, but neither his label nor himself kept track of cassette figures

He's always thanking Cidi & Idriss Diallo, Ahmed Bakayako, Kiki Touré, Ousmane Calloudji, Assane Diop for the promotional work they did in West African

Ultimatum was held until '97, because a Wake Up tour had been planned (in place of QL touring Africa) after the album's October '96 release, but contract issues and the resume of their rivalry changed things

According to RFI both albums went gold in addition to Droit de Véto. He just didn't create fanfare

En octobre 1995, l’album V12 sort et marque les esprits avec des chansons tel que Andrada, Parking ya ba Baba, Aspirine, et la chanson phare Fouta Djallon qui est classé dans le top 20 de la rumba congolaise.

V12 est disque d’or avec plus de 100.000 exemplaires vendus.

En octobre 1996, Koffi sort l’album Wake Up en collaboration avec Papa Wemba, pour mettre fin au ragots prétendants qu’ils sont en rivalité.

Ce sont deux albums qui sortent en 1997 : Ultimatum (album du Quartier Latin) et Loi.
Le générique Loi, titre éponyme de l’album Loi, deviendra la marque du Ndombolo et considérera Koffi Olomidé comme le créateur de ce genre pourtant créer par Tutu Caludji, JB Mpiana, Japonais Maladi et Wenge Musica.
Loi devient disque d’or en France en 1998 avec plus de 150.000 exemplaires vendus.
L’année 1998 sera marqué par la sortie de l’album Droit de Veto qui deviendra le premier disque d’or du Quartier Latin, et ses productions scéniques le 29 août 1998, à l’Olympia de Paris et le 7 novembre 1998, au Zénith de Paris pour la première fois.

V12 and Loi were commercial best sellers in West Africa (CIV, Mali, & Guinea in particular) and East Africa (Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, etc.). Furthermore, the push for casette sales by SonoDisc in Africa were key to V12 sales numbers, moreso than Loi, which had primary focus on CD (which had become more economical) and VHS sales. Koffi estimated that cassette sales were in the millions, but neither his label nor himself kept track of cassette figures

He's always thanking Cidi & Idriss Diallo, Ahmed Bakayako, Kiki Touré, Ousmane Calloudji, Assane Diop for the promotional work they did in West African

Ultimatum was held until '97, because a Wake Up tour had been planned (in place of QL touring Africa) after the album's October '96 release, but contract issues and the resume of their rivalry changed things

Was that also the same reason that Koffi & Papa Wemba cancelled that Wake-Up concert at Zenith de Paris in 2003 ?

On the morning after Wemba's death, he had two phone interviews with RFI and Africa No 1 where he was asked why there wasn't a Wake Up concert or tour. He replied it was simply a matter of time constraints and contract issues, but the interviewers (one of them being Claudy Siar) rightfully pushed the fact that it was more to do polemic, which annoyed him. He even went on to say they never had problems after the album.

Wemba turned a new leaf after the ngulu affair and made peace with everyone (even giving Koffi a nice mabanga in Somo Trop) but Koffi was still in war mode, especially with the ongoing Wemba-JB pact vs Werra-Koffi. He was initially receptive to a peace offer and fans hyped it up to saying the Wake Up concert was going to happen, but his circle made him revert to polemic until Maisha park

I think Angelu central had the video taken down  like others from that time because it made Koffi look very disingenuous on an international level

http://congovibes.com/congolese-music/koffi's-interview-on-the-biggest-african-radio-of-paris/