Mother of All Dramas: Shock as Ogopa Deejays Terminates Prematurely Contracts for All its Artists! Is the Acclaimed Record Label Going Under?
Founded in in the late 1990s, Ogopa Deejays gained regional fame and popularity due to standards of their production work and for being the pioneer producer of contemporary music in Kenya. However, after a decade in operations, it seems all is not well at the well-known record label.
For the better part of last week and the weekend there have been rumours that Ogopa’s house was in a mess and that it would be long before the ground gives way. Monday, according to an insider at Ogopa and sought anonymity over the sensitivity of the matter, intimated that the head honcho and Creative Director, Lucas Bikedo, had terminated contracts of leading singers under the label.
The source added that the affected singers include the likes of Avril, Marya, Moustapha and Kenzo who were booted out of the South B based production house.
Asked why Lucas had reached this career-killing and uninformed decision, the source reveals that the usually calm and collected Lucas decided to become a b!tch after previous reports that artistes were bad-mouthing the label over unfinished projects than were taking longer than anticipated to hit the airwaves among other nasty things he declined to divulge fearing victimization as they could be directly linked to them.
The matter seems to have given Lucas, who rarely show his face in public nor agrees to have his photos taken or published by Kenyan media, sleepless nights and pushed him to the wall giving him no other option than to do away with the black sheep.
Seeing how grave this matter was we reached out to Lucas. After trying to call him severally for the better part of Monday, his phone went unanswered and at some point was even switched off. Unrelenting, we tried calling yet again this morning but none of that yielded any positive results and it was now pretty clear that he wasn’t ready to talk to us.
However, for purposes of right of reply we decided to call artistes who had allegedly been unceremoniously kicked out of the record label without a word from anyone from the production team.
Speaking to Avril this morning, she seemed shocked and revealed that she had no idea that her contract had been terminated.
“You know you’re the second person calling me about this. The truth is that I have no idea because I was actually I haven’t been around, I just came back on Sunday so I want to go find out what’s going on,” said a disenchanted Avril, “…I had projects in the pipeline with Boomba Boys and so…let me go find out.”
The next artist we spoke to was the Colonel himself, Mustapha. According to Mustapha, he’s already aware about the truth of the matter and he’s yet to digest it considering he, like Avril, had major projects that he was just about to release and is currently at a loss about his next move.
“Nilikua tayari niko na programme ya kurelease ngoma lakini sasa haya mambo yanachanganya sana”
Asked how he came to know of his contract termination Mustapha says, “I got the news from the management. Tuliongea tu vizuri lakini akaniambia hakupenda vitu fulani fulani. Kuna story, I think, zilipublishiwa kwa gazeti na hii ndo imeleta issue yote. Zilikua zinasema kuwa kuna artists wanapewa favouritism ju ya wengine, so hii ndio imesababisha wao kudecide hivo.”
On his part, Kenzo says his contract wasn’t cut short; instead it had already run out like 2 months ago and is currently a free agent. However, he admits to receiving a certain email that had been circulated by the management telling artists that they will no longer be part of Ogopa Deejays starting Monday 28th January.
According to Kenzo, this move was a result of a story published in the Pulse magazine last Friday alleging that Ogopa is closing shop and that the story had been given out to Pulse guys by dissident artists who are not loyal to record stable.
“After that, the management decided to do away with all the artists…to clean up,” reveals Kenzo.
Asked about his next move Kenzo laments that it is unfortunate that the action comes in January, the toughest time of the year and only goes to worsen matters. He also complains that management shouldn’t have exacted its full wrath on everyone.
“Haingekuwa poa ma-artist kuumia ju ya wengine lakini ishappen,” laments Kenzo adding, “I’ll think about my career and maybe join another record label with time.”
When we sought to find out if he would mind going back to Ogopa, the “Mama Milka” singer has no qualms about heading backing considering they are the ones who discovered him.
And finally was Marya also caught unawares?
Well, Marya too like Mustapha and Kenzo, was called about the unfortunate news.
“I don’t even know where to start, am so shocked considering I have recordings and what-not. I’ve been recording my videos…am even confused!” bemoans Marya.
She adds that she was called by one of the producers to inform her about the contracts’ cancellation henceforth.
Marya divulges that she’s headed to Ogopa this afternoon to find out what’s really cutting and promised to get back to us after meeting with the managers at the stable.
As they say, “if it bleeds, it leads and it leaks”. For now, it’s a wait-and-see situation.
Keep it Ghafla! for more about the drama at Ogopa Deejays as it unfolds.
