One of Namibia’s leading Kwaito stars, Morocky Mbwaluh, aka The Dogg, recently published his autobiography titled,Ther Dogg: Untold Story. As part of the reading culture campaign launched by the New Era Publication Corporation (NEPC) in conjunction with the Minister of Education, Honourable Dawid Namwandi, Artlife has been serialising this autobiography each Friday.
We all know blades are very sharp objects used for cutting. In this respect, I don’t want to dare just anyone to swallow a blade and fully understand what I am referring to. The blade will slice your internal organs-this is the literal meaning of the term. When I said, “swallow your blade” while collecting the 2007 Sanlam/NBC Artists of the Year Award, I addressed all those who have a hidden agenda against me, and pointed out how I would deal with these hidden agendas because I am all up in their faces.
Inasmuch as they hate me, they are probably burning up inside because I am all over the media, my music is rocking in all the places they go to, and the fruits of my labour are manifested for all to see. You can’t keep a good man down.
That comment was directed at my haters and everybody that has a problem with my music. I have experienced a lot of envy, pure hate and disloyalty from some elements within the music industry. In all honesty, envy comes from those who are disturbed by an individual’s success. I have not achieved my goals in life yet. The ‘little success’ I have achieved so far is already generating an enormous amount of envy. This shows that I’m doing something right. When you are succeeding at something, the haters come in numbers. Inasmuch as I do not appreciate this, I guess this is just a part of life that I and most people have to go through.
This “swallow the blade” statement was blown out of proportion as the media had a field day exploring their journalistic skills around those few words. Radio stations’ call-in programmes without discussion topics had something on their tables, and wherever I went, people asked me to explain myself and the meaning of the phrase. The beauty in this was that I received overwhelming publicity for free. If I was put in the same place again, with the very same circumstances of hatred towards me, believe me,
I would say the same thing all over gain, but this time I would probably add more fire. So in that regard, I have no regret for having said that.
What amazed me greatly was the view by some people, and the local media. They labeled me disrespectful because, according to them, I should not have made that statement, given the presence of the Hon. Dr Hage Geingob on stage with me. To refresh your memory, the Hon. Dr Geingob was presenting the 2007 Sanlam/NBC Artist of the Year Award, which I came to collect. I have respect for myself and every human being, regardless of their social standing. That is why I am able to speak my mind anytime, anywhere. There is nothing to hide-what you see is what you get. That is the spirit of ‘’Mshashoism’’, it has nothing to do with disrespect for the next person who minds his or her own business. Hence, I would not have been true to myself, and my fans, had I not said what was on my mind at that time on stage. People who are not fake, and are true to themselves, will agree with me. It is not surprising that pretenders choose to feed on that aspect because they cannot relate to pure honesty, integrity and being true to who you are.
As for those who harboured intentions of turning the Hon. Dr Geingob against me, while citing that event, they have failed. I was surprised and much honoured to receive a call from him some days after the event. He made it clear that he understood the challenges within the music industry, and advised me not to fall into the trap of those trying to make an issue out of the event. He further urged me to be strong because his position is that when you are successful, you become subjected to close scrutiny in the media and elsewhere.
To this day, I still don’t know how he got my contact details. When I reminisce on this subject, I simple take pride in having stood up for myself.
Hon. Dr Geingob will forever have my respect. The haters who tried to turn him against me have failed, that is why I can urge them to swallow it again, and again.
I believe that I should have won the 2006 Sanlam/NBC Artist of the Year Award. No disrespect to the organisers and other stakeholders but I feel I deserved this title more than anybody else. The difference between me and other artists is that I am at liberty to express myself, and not scared to stand up for what I believe in. People who lack character may not share this view as it requires self-scrutiny and a high degree of self-belief.
This statement, unsurprisingly, was deliberately misinterpreted to suit the misguided view of haters and pretenders. The only reason I said sorry was for publicity. Take it the way you want to, but this makes business sense and publicity is major in the music industry. In the same vein, I think that children who look up to me understand me fully. They relate to what I go through. It has become a trend among the Mshasho family to quote ‘’swallow the blade’’ when they feel player-hated in life. Like me, they are simply telling the haters to ‘’swallow the blade’’. It is a way of saying, “Hate me, but my star will shine, and your envy is going to hurt you instead.”
“Swallow the blade” is an ordinary terminology that is no different to anyone saying, “Hate me and see if I care,” or any other statement directed at someone with whom you may have a misunderstanding or, as someone in the entertainment industry would say, “beef”. You can kill a cockroach in your house today, and at some point in the future, you will still see more of them again. This concept is the same with haters in the music industry. You can outshine an envious person in aspects of your music, sales and overall success. But they will still come for your neck. So what is the difference between a cockroach and the haters like the Afrikaners say in slang, they kan nie dood.
I cannot recall the exact date, but in 2008, we had a Mshasho show at Zoo Park. This show was renown for the fight that started on stage and involved Mshasho and GMP associates and supporters. What happened is a true reflection of envy and jealousy. Gazza and his associates were outside the venue. Zoo Park is an open theatre, and he figured a way to disturb my show by throwing stones from outside. A lot of people saw them outside drinking and throwing stones into the theatre. This was dangerous as people could have been hurt in the process. I do not go to Gazza’s shows, so why should he come to my show and throw stones.
Things got out of hand when my boys and I were on stage. One of his backup dancers came on stage and started disturbing our proceedings.Can you imagine performing and enjoying yourself, and some loser just jumps on stage and tries everything in his power to hamper your dancers. Your performance and singing it hurts. When a fan escapes security and comes on stage to celebrate with you, it is different because there is love and the fan is celebrating being on stage with you. This guys was clearly determined to mess up the show. The theatre was fully packed, and people had spent their hard-earned money to come and see this show. At this time, Gazza himself was there and I saw him. What you then expect from a grown man is to call off his dancer and ensure he does not cause an embarrassment to anyone. This happened about three times that night; on all the three occasions that his dancer came on stage and was taken off, Gazza never intervened.
It was the first time something of this nature had happened to me on stage.I do not know how this guy penetrated the security guys to make it on stage on all three occasions. My assessment is that security was not tight enough, either. On the third occasion, it became unbearable, so I kicked him off stage and the fans, who fully saw what he was up to, took it upon themselves to discipline him. How they sorted him out is beyond me.