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.
My music was banned from local radio stations, namely Omulunga Radio and Radio Energy. In the era of my first album, Shimaliw’ Osatana sometime in the year 2004, Omulunga Radio played a song on air which, in music terms, was dissing me (disrespecting me).In my view, the song had no purpose to serve on the radio but to destroy and run my reputation. As a human being, I felt offended. I believe that the media, radio stations included, have a social responsibility towards the masses. So, in that line, I would expect them to be professionals who will not be a party to anyone who incites violence or abuse of any nature. This principle is a basic necessity for social harmony and I, for one, would not compromise that.
The media is a platform for artistic exposure and creativity. The individual who attacked me lacks this. This is why he vanished into thin air and no one ever hears of him again. This saddened me and I called the DJ who played the song and asked for an explanation for allowing someone to violate me publicly on his territory. I must say, he is older than me. I was not happy with the response he gave me and, as a result, we did not reach common ground. This made me retaliate and I got to attack him in the print media and on other scenes as well.
The owner or station manager decided not to play my songs on his station as a result of that. So I got a call from him to come collect my CD, which I did. At this point, both parties were very cross and he just threw the CD at me upon my entering his office. To me, this was still a show of disrespect,return it. I gave it gently and in an appropriate fassion- they threw it at me saying things like, ‘’you don’t pay us for playing your songs”. I am not sure if there is any place in the world where artists pay for their music to get airplay; intellectual properties are not adverts. So I took this whole incident as an insult. I gave him a piece of my mind right there in the studio before I walked out. The boxing gloves were off and it was me against Omulunga Radio, one-on-one.
While there were not playing my songs on air, I was attacking them verbally any chance I got on other radio stations, through my interviews in the media and in any way I could. I remember one interview when a journalist asked me who I thought the worse DJs were, and the answer was definite: “The DJs of Omulunga Radio”.
Fans were calling the station requesting my songs and they were not interested in playing them. My verbal attacks on them were not minimising either, so, in the end, they came to their senses and called me in to settle our differences. That was the end. My songs were played on their radio station once more, and I stopped whatever I was doing to frustrate them.
However, trouble had become my companion once again, although, I must say, I did not bring it upon myself. After the release of my second album, Take Out Yo Gun, my music was banned from Radio Energy for a while.
This time, it was somebody who had a lot to say about me on air. This guy was attacking me as a person and an artist. I was not listening to the radio at the time. I was driving around town when a DJ from the same radio station called me to say someone was on air having a shot at me. At this point, I was not happy with the news but, for some reason, I chose to ignore it. I did not switch on the radio to listen to the verbal abuse. A while later, someone called me again and asked if I was listening to Radio Energy at the time. This time, I really wanted to know more, so I drove to the radio station.
It amazed me that this guy, who seemed older than me, did not even know me as a person. I entered the studio and he did not even know that I am the guy he was talking about, until my confrontation of course. They were busy in the studio, on air, and I just came into the studio and confronted this guy. I did not lose my cool at this stage and just asked him what problem he had with me, given the verbal attacks he was spitting.
Childishly, he was saying all this nonsense in my face, which I must say made me lose my cool. The DJ was right there, just looking at us. I was with another artists, Pablo D’ Outlaw, and another boy who was a backup dancer for Gazza back then. I took out my car keys and tabbed him with the keys. We then started beating him up. But my anger and thirst for hurting this guy was still not quenched. The house where I stayed was not far away from the radio station, so I drove home to go park the car and came back with a blade normally used for cutting trees and gardening, commonly known as a panga.
With the panga in my hand, I rushed to the studio aiming to go ad settle the conflict my way. Upon my arrival, the DJ and this guy were still busy conducting their interview, which you must remember was a live broadcast. My arrival with a panga scared both of them and they ran out of the studio. It was crazy, and since it was a live broadcast that I had interrupted, I suppose the lines went dead for a while. I went back home after this drama, and the next morning I got a letter from them saying my music was banned from their radio station with immediate effect for six months. I did not panic or do anything else. During those six months, people were still requesting my songs to be played and some even asked for an explanation regarding the ban. Just like it all happened with Omulunga Radio, my fans kept me going. After six months, I was called by the radio station to come in and talk about the incident and reach common ground. This was done in a good manner and both parties admitted to have been at fault.
After that, my music was rocking Radio Energy over again. Looking at both these experiences, the learning curve was that it helped me realise that I had a short temper I needed to learn to control somehow. I have come to realise that, in this industry, you need the media to reach your fans and create exposure for album sales. I know the problems are not entirely my fault, but for my actions, yes, I feel a sense of remorse. I must also say that I am very fortunate to have settled these conflicts with the involved parties for the sake of progress within the industry and for my fans. These are two of the stations that are mostly listened to by my fans and potential buyers of my products. Radio takes you where you need to be heard- without radio, you won’t be heard.
This is especially true for anyone doing commercial music. In this regard, I would conclude that my advice to any music artist out there is never to go against the media. The media can make or break you as an artist.
Sometime in 2004 or 2005, Gazza, Sunny Boy, some other artists and I were booked for a show in Lüderitz. During the journey, Gazza got drunk and could not hide his true colours. Gazza hurled abuse at Sunny and accused him of being self-centred. He discredited Sunny and made him feel like he would not have made it big without him. One insult led to another, and he ended up slapping Sunny. As if this was not enough trouble on the bus, he suddenly turned against me. He abused me verbally and eventually also slapped me. He did not stop. Suddenly, his hidden insecurities came to the surface. He said things like I had taken his artist away from him-his apparent artist being Sunny. Among so many things he said were statements such as how he had not liked the two of us (me and Sunny) all along. He also accused me of being self-centred.
This made me go over to the front where the driver was seated, and I sat next to him to avoid further confrontation. Gazza still followed me and continued with his verbal insults. It is shocking to know that this person, who I thought was a friend through thick and thin, had a hidden hatred for me. Even worse, to realise that his sole motive for associating with me was to gain musical insight from me.
I could not take it any more and asked the driver to stop the car. The driver didn’t oblige and continued driving until I threatened him, saying I would cause a car accident. This forced the driver to stop. I pulled Gazza out of the car and kicked him. He went over to the trailer and took out his shotgun, omshasho. He pointed it at me and people had to intervene. In the end, he started firing some shots in the air to supposedly relieve his stress, as he said. I regarded this guy as my best friend, and you must realise that we were staying in one house, sharing almost everything. We were like brothers. (To be continued next Friday)