EL DJ claims he did the original as a sing-along
EAST London house DJ Tulz has accused popular kwaito musician Mgarimbe of stealing his song and recording it to “insult” women.
The battle ground was CKIfm’s new breakfast show on Tuesday, which was turned into a war of words between the show’s listeners and Mgarimbe, after his song was played for the first time by the station.
Listeners accused Mgarimbe, who was a studio guest, of calling Eastern Cape women “loose” and freely available in his song.
What irked them was a line that says: Thathu muntu uhambe, akho mntu wamntu apha, kuseMonti apha, kuseBhayi apha (“just grab any girl here and go with her, their partners are not here, this is East London and this is Port Elizabeth”).
DJ Tulz , whose real name is Tulani Mafumana, also called in and made a startling claim that Mgarimbe had, in fact, stolen the song from him and added the offensive lyrics.
The beats were also changed, but the melody remained the same, Tulz said. Yesterday he confirmed that the song was his own work, saying he created it late last year as a sing-along tune. “The plan was for the song to be played only during my gigs as a sing-along track to get the crowd moving. Mgarimbe saw how popular it was when people started singing it over his beats when he came to perform at Fleet Street club Corner Pocket,” Tulz said.
“What irritates me is that you can’t be from Gauteng and sing about East London and claim to know the behaviour of girls from the Eastern Cape. Who gave him the authority to call our girls loose?”
He defended his own original work, which is in the possession of the Daily Dispatch, saying his lyrics were not offensive. His songdoes not mention East London and Port Elizabeth but lyrically shares a striking resemblance to Mgarimbe’s.
Contacted for his side of the story yesterday, Mgarimbe switched off his cellphone as soon as he found out what the query from the Dispatch was about.
Mgarimbe will release the song on a full CD next week while DJ Tulz will only release his in May. Tulz’s version features kwaito artist Nombosololo, of Mission Vuthulula fame, from Mdantsane.
Mgarimbe is not new to controversy. His 2006 hit track, Sister Bethina, raised eyebrows, and some radio stations including MetroFM canned it. What caused another outcry was the obvious sampling of Aaliyah’s Try Again song and parts of the lyrics claiming that Kukhona ozolahla (“one of the girls will give it up easily”).
Another line which was regarded as offensive said: “Beers are cheap, there’s plenty of girls, they’re feeling sluttish.” This didn’t go down well with some listeners.
However, that did not stop Mgarimbe from getting accolades. It sold 25000 copies within three weeks of being released and a further 7000 copies were said to have been illegally distributed to independent music stores around the country.
DJ Nathi Buzani, co-host of the breakfast show with Andile Ncube, also found Mgarimbe’s song offensive. “In my line of work I have to be impartial but I find Mgarimbe’s track demeaning to all women in the Eastern Cape. We are not cheap,” she said.
Tulz has reported the matter to his record label owner, DJ Mbuso of Phezulu Records.
Mbuso, who was out of the country on Tuesday morning, said: “I don’t believe this. I will contact Mgarimbe’s manager and resolve the issue with him before I can make any comment.”
