The Sunday Mail
WINKY D’s much-awaited album could suffer a stillbirth.
An ongoing war threatens to scupper months of studio work as Winky D has clashed with the producer of his album, Oskid, over the erasure of his trademark, Oskid Productions, from all the songs he produced.
Being the producer of the whole album, Oskid had imprinted his digital tag on the songs but Winky D’s camp decided to have the tags removed from the songs.
Winky D has already released one of the singles, “Panorwadza Moyo”, which features Oliver Mtukudzi, without the Oskid Productions tag, prompting the producer to remake the beat and release his own saxophone version.
So nasty is the fallout that both camps have engaged lawyers to take their respective claims of ownership forward.
Oskid is so infuriated he is prepared to release all the instrumentals he did with Winky D onto the market for free so that other Zim dancehall artistes can record on them as well before Winky D releases his album. In an interview with The Sunday Mail Leisure, Oskid shed more light on the situation.
“I signed some contracts with Winky D and we agreed on a lot of stuff. We agreed that he would pay us less and that we would put our tags on all the songs that we would have produced, of course for our own marketing purposes.
“When I finished the project I had put my tag (Oskid Productions) on all the songs and we were on the same page but to my surprise one day he called telling me that he had talked to his team and agreed that I should come and remove all the tags on the songs,” said Oskid.
Oskid said he told Winky D that it was not possible since he had produced all the songs and it was not what they had agreed to but the latter insisted.
“I quickly informed my management team and we had to go to our lawyers since he was not cooperating and the lawyers wrote his team an email. I personally called him and he said, ‘Jahman, itai yamurikuita ini ndoita yandirikuita’ (do what you are doing and I will do what I am doing), a response I did not expect from a person like Winky D.”
Oskid said he was angered by the release of “Panorwadza Moyo” without his tag, which is ironic considering the title of the song. The producer is still trying to figure out why Winky D does not want people to know that he is the man behind his upcoming album.
“I am the one who produced the whole album, I put a lot of effort in it and sacrificed my time to work on the project. After the release of ‘Panorwadza Moyo’, I had to remake the beat from scratch and did the saxophone version, which is now in the streets,” fumed Oskid.
Oskid pointed out that most of the time artistes want to take all the credit for the music, ignoring the producers’ input.
“In a normal setup, a producer makes the beat and the artiste comes up with the lyrics, which means the effort we put is 50/ 50. I think for our music to grow in Zimbabwe there is need to recognise our producers and give them the credit that they deserve,” reasoned the award-winning producer.
Winky D’s manager Jonathan Banda denied knowledge of any fallout between their camp and that of Oskid.
“I don’t know anything about what you are talking about. From our camp we don’t know anything so basically we don’t have a side to your story,” said Banda.
However, he later turned around and said: “What you need to understand is that production processes are very complex and for me to start clarifying anything to you, it would be difficult.”
Banda said if Oskid had any grievances with their camp, he should have sorted it out with them out without going to the media.
“I don’t know what his intention is at the moment but something is amiss, which is why I am telling you that it is difficult for me to answer your questions.”
He also refused to confirm any contractual agreements between his camp and Oskid.
“I can neither deny nor confirm that we had a contract because you are telling me what he told you we agreed on of which he is supposed to be telling me what we agreed on and not you.”
This is not the first time that the two artistes have worked together, with Oskid producing Winky D’s album “Gafa Life Kicks Tape” last year, which had mega hits such as “Disappear”, “Mirror”, “Woshora” and “Not Nice”.
These hits resulted in both artistes collecting accolades for their efforts with their combination proving to be a force to reckon with.
Oskid has established himself as one of the biggest producers in the country, as every track he lays his hands on seems to flourish.
From Zim dancehall to zora music, he has blazed a trail of success with numerous hit after hit. Leonard Zhakata’s “Madam Boss” is one of the songs that testifies to Oskid’s diverse abilities as a production powerhouse, with the track dominating Radio Zimbabwe’s Coca-Cola Top 20 charts.
On the other hand, Winky D is probably the most successful Zim dancehall act in the country having managed to maintain his dominance in an industry with a high turnover rate for several years now.
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