COLLABO COUPS: Four Artistes Who Were Murdered In Their Own Songs

Ladies and gentlemen, we are gathered here today to lay to rest a few good men who were brutally murdered in their own tracks. Poor souls

Even though collaborations are necessary, they are risky. Whenever one artiste reaches out to ask another to guest on their song, they risk getting stuck in a conundrum. You don’t want your guest turning in a lackluster performance since that wackness reflects badly on you. Then again, you don’t want anybody jacking your spotlight either.

There are times all artistes in a song go hard and the result is a win/win. But in an industry of machismo and status symbolism, something’s got to give—and sometimes people just get outshone on their own songs. Here are some great examples

AY

Song in question: Zigo

AY’s original version of Zigo was good with the words and melody perfectly matched but people were not feeling it that much. Then he brought Diamond into the turf for the remix and the result was obvious. Zigo was no longer an AY song. It became a Diamond song that got pushed to the musical summit. Diamond bossed AY with relentless ‘shigidi shigide’ verses that made the whole thing look like an armed robbery.

Vicmass Luodollar

Song in question: Bank Otuch

You get on a track with a dope lyrist like Octopzzo and the best verse you can come up with is “I’m gonna throw west coast up, coz I feel like Tupac?” Surely you are asking for trouble. I love Vicmass Luodollar and even though he is a rookie he shouldn’t have allowed Octo to take over his song like that. Featuring a huge star was the best career move he made, but he should have used this opportunity to make people see him as a dope MC too. In Bank Otuch, Namba Nane’s finest went in first and delivered on of the his best verses ever, leaving Vicmass, the original owner to play catch up. It’s easy to forget that there was someone else other than Octopizzo in this song.

Ringtone Apoko

Song in question: Tenda Wema

The truth is, if Ringtone sang ‘Tenda Wema’ alone, no one would have given a rat’s tail about it. He just rambles a load of utter, incomprehensible twaddle in the name of gospel. Note that this is a guy who was considering quitting music. Then something happened and he landed on the golden goose that is Christina Shusho. Every song Shusho appears in ends up magical and spiritually nourishing and ‘Tenda Wema’ is no exception. In it, the only lines we can remember are hers. Ringtone’s verses are damn near an afterthought.

Redsan

Song in question: Badder Than Most

A bit of a throwback. What happens when you are a wannabe Jamaican and you ask a real Jamaican to do a verse on your song? You get bodied. ‘Badder than most’ was a dancehall fan’s wet dream. Redsan had solid verses but Dermaco came out of nowhere and at the end tore the entire song out of the frame. He simply bartered his host into submission, causing the veteran Kenyan singer to start screeching at some point. All in all, we were gifted with a banger. Although it was a momentary sugar rush that evaporated as soon as soon as the beats died out, it served its purpose.

NOTE: You can read today’s Etemesi’s Tales HERE