The pair who brought us one of the biggest smash hits of 2020 seem to have gone to war with each other online, the Nomcebo and Master KG’s ‘Jerusalema Dilemma’ continues.
Despite the ongoing global success and worldwide recognition of the song, the two South African musicians behind the global hit song are now at odds with each, after a row over payment erupted on Sunday.
Vocalist Nomcebo Zikode, who features on the song that has since topped music charts all across Europe, become certified diamond in France, rank among most shazamed songs of last year and spawned the most viral dance craze of the past year has revealed that despite the global success of the viral hit song, her efforts on it haven’t reaped the financial rewards and alleged that she was instead being ridiculed and that her contributions were being “minimized” by the record label.
She broke her silence on the matter on social media on Sunday morning. This after Sunday World reported that Nomcebo had allegedly been sidelined by her record label, Open Mic Productions, two weeks ago.
Nomcebo’s statement landed both her, Master KG and their song Jerusalema on the South African Twitter trends on Sunday.
Taking to Twitter to refute Nomcebo’s claims, Master KG in a now-deleted tweet said Nomcebo had received money — in excess of R1m — for the song. He tagged Nomcebo on the TL asking her to confirm.
“Can you confirm that you received R1.5m so far from Jerusalema?” he asked before adding that Nomcebo had not paid him for their other song together, Xola Moya Wam.
The DJ, who is currently on tour in France and living his best life as he promotes his new song Shine Your Light featuring David Guetta and Akon, also alleged that the vocalist was getting greedy and wanted more than what was “due to her”.
“And again, Nomcebo can you tell these people that you are demanding a bigger percentage than mine on this song?”
“The agreement of Jerusalema is 50/50 between me and Nomcebo but wants 70% and I must get 30%,” he added.
He further revealed that he didn’t understand why she was catching feelings when he began his tour and excluded her.
“Nomcebo started a Jerusalema Tour without me and I never had a problem and a few weeks back, I started my own tour and then Nomcebo went to the media and created a story that I’m leaving her behind…I don’t really know why things must be like this!” – Master KG
Whether both parties’ claims are rightful or false, the one lesson is to pace down on word-of-mouth agreements and go more formal. This not only goes to those dealing with artist relations or even artists themselves from this the back-and-forth is the importance of signing contracts/ paper work with clearly stated terms on who takes what percentage off a project and so forth; that way all are kept accountable and the contract is a term of ‘reference’ as Music Publicist & Business Manager Mister Boldwood recommends.
The duo had also released a remix version of the steamy banger featuring Nigeria’s Burna Boy. I do hope both partie can come to a common understanding, and drop us another collaboration hopefully! keyword ‘hopefully’. 🌚
