Why Jose Chameleone and Bobi
UGANDA'S top musicians Jose Chameleone, Bobi Wine and Bebe Cool have been in the news, but for the wrong reason: Fighting amongst themselves.
By Joseph Batte
UGANDA'S top musicians Jose Chameleone, Bobi Wine and Bebe Cool have been in the news, but for the wrong reason: Fighting amongst themselves.
Recently, the bitter feuds among the trio, which the majority of skeptical Ugandans at first dismissed as a circus or another ‘clever marketing ploy,’ degenerated into a bloody fist fight at Ange Noire discotheque.
Bobi Wine unleashed a savage blow that left Chameleone’s left eye swollen like tennis ball. The same night, Bebe Cool was savagely thumped until he passed out. He regained his senses on a hospital bed! The fracas became canon fodder for the press. The following day, it made front-page headlines. While a few fans seem to be enjoying the circus, the nation is actually disgusted. Everybody is loudly wondering: what has gotten in the dread-locked heads of these three young artistes to make them behave like hoodlums?
To answer that burning question, one has to piece down all the facts. This feud actually dates back six years ago. At the time, Jose Chameleone was a no-body. He was this rail-thin young man with a big hoarse voice, a cocky attitude and a big toothy smile, who smoked cigarettes like a chimney and hero-worshiped Shanks Vivie Dee, a super star at the time.
Lady luck smiled on Chameloene when Bebe Cool, who was older in showbiz, took him to Nairobi, gave him a place to stay and introduced him to the hit-making producers, the Ogopa DJs. Fortunately or rather unfortunately, Chameleone scored a hit with Mama Mia. So catchy and hooky was this track that it swept through Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania like a wild fire. Bebe Cool, who I always consider as better musician, flopped with his Fitina. Within a few months, Chameleone was propelled from the average guy on the streets to superstardom, a position he has been enjoying for the last half a decade.
The Dorotia factor
Chameleone says, while in Nairobi, he and Bebe Cool fell for a mzungu woman and started dating her. The woman turned out to be none other Dorotia.
“But it was me, who won her heart. When I moved in with her, she introduced me to a whole new life where ‘organisation’ was key word. Dorotia was a strict woman, who believed in an orderly life. When you picked a cigarette lighter on a table to light a cigarette, she expected you to put it back where you got it. If it was a frying pan in the kitchen to make an omelet, you were supposed to wash it and put it back to its rightful place in kitchen,†Chameleone talks of Dorotia.
“My friend Bebe Cool and others used to come over for a chat, but on many occasions they often left the place in a mess. This did not please Dorotia one bit, she often confronted and told me how she felt about the mess. I was forced to make the hard choice between keeping Dorotia and Bebe Cool. I chose Dorotia because she was the love of my heart at the time. I stopped Bebe Cool and all my other friends from coming to my place. I told them since I know where you stay, if I want to talk to you, I will look for you.â€
Chameleone says Bebe Cool was mad with him. He branded him a ‘hypocrite’ for turning him away. So, when Sylvia Kyansuti invited him to feature on her Okunsunasuna single, he readily grabbed the opportunity to send a message to Chameleone with a line that went: Weefula vumbi ate ng’ennyumba osula muyamukazi. (You brag yet you sleep in a woman’s house).
Chameleone vs Bobi Wine
In 2002, Omulangira Ndausi (Ndaula) of Radio Simba organised a concert at Katwe, featuring Bobi Wine, whose biggest hit then was Kagoma Kalulendera. Chameleone, then still riding on the strength of Mama Mia, drove to the venue in his Mazda convertible as Bobi strutted his stuff on stage. His arrival diverted the attention of the fans from the action on stage. They literally went wild and cheered Chameleone.
Seething with anger, Bobi Wine accused Chameleone of sabotaging his gig. In the bitter exchange of words that ensued, Bobi says: “Chameleone abused me.â€
One evening, Bobi Wine, high on some illegal substance he has admitted to smoking and growing in the press, stormed DV8, a favourite haunt for young crowds and the trio, while raving in Luganda: “Kali liddawa kano ka Chameleone. Nyinza okukafumita ekiso.†(Where is this skinny Chameleone? I can stab him). Chameleone says he was warned to keep away from that pub.
“Shaking with fear, I rushed to the police and filed a complaint that my life was threatened by Bobi Wine and Bebe Cool. The two were arrested and taken to Kira Road police station.†“While under custody, I wrote Funtula to express my anger with Chameleone,†says Bobi Wine. It was tailored it to fit the American gangsta mold it turned out to be an out-and-out brazen attack on Chameleone that most of FM radio stations refused to touch it.
In that song, Bobi Wine and Bebe Cool described Chameleone as a brown-haired, two-ribbed weakling, who lived in a woman’s house and thrived on her goodwill. Chameleone tried to keep a dignified silence and replied meekly with Nekolera Mali (I’m making money). And again managed to fire at them below the hip with soukous-powered Bei Kali.
Realising that the feud between the three was threatening to blow out of proportion, Ragga Dee called for a ceasefire and brokered a truce between them. They agreed to stop hostilities against each other and even exploited the feud by staging a get-together concert, which featured Kenya’s Gidi Gidi and Maji Maji.
They racked in millions because the gig drew a mammoth crowd. Unfortunately, it almost failed to serve its purpose because it ended on a sour note. Chameleone says he and other artistes never received a penny of the gate collections. Somebody, alleged that Uganda Revenue Authority confiscated all the money!
Second episode
Worried that the spat between Bobi Wine and Chameleone was getting out of hand, Isaac Mulindwa, the bubbly chairman of the PAM Awards committee, recently called a meeting of top artistes in Kampala to seek for a solution and try to forge a way forward.
Chameleone did not turn up at Hotel Africana, where it was held. When Bobi Wine was asked what he thought brought about the smelly beef between him and Chameleone, he said: “Disrespect. Chameleone does not respect me.â€
Bebe Cool told the meeting that Chameleone’s absence served to prove what an arrogant and disrespectful person he is. “He is such an unpredictable character, who changes colours like a chameleon. He is the type of person who can hire a person to fan trouble then turn around and tell the press: ‘You see? They hate me.’â€
Exactly, how did Chameloene’s ‘disrespect’ for Bobi Wine come about? On May 1, 2005, the Monitor’s Sunday Lifestyle magazine ran a full page interview with Bobi Wine in which he was asked whether it was true he smoked ‘weed’ (marijuana). He replied: “Not only do I smoke it, I grow it as well. Marijuana is food for the brain.........â€
Asked whether he was not bothered about the law, he replied: “What law? I don’t do drug trafficking. Like I told you, it’s food. I grow it on my own land, harvest it and consume it. I nether sell it or buy it........â€
Chameleone, who was then still on talking terms with Bobi Wine, says he was not amused by that interview.
“It is this story that sparked my sour relationship with Bobi Wine.
“I have always regarded Bobi Wine as my younger brother. I’m older than him in age and in the entertainment industry. I went to him and demanded to know what had gotten into his head to make such stupid comments. ‘Don’t you know that you could easily fail to get a visa to America because of the confessions you made?’ I asked him. Bobi Wine replied: ‘It is none of your business.’â€
PAM awards factor
The 2005 edition of the PAM Awards, which are just around the corner, also seem to have added an ugly twist to the saga.
At the heart of the current feud, stands one question. Who will win this year’s coveted artiste of the year award? Pride and big prize money are at stake this time. Sponsors Bell and Celtel have staked sh1m for each award won in each music category and a whopping sh10m for Artiste of the Year winner.
Being a top artiste in the country, Chameleone commands a fee of between sh2m and sh3m to perform locally and $4000 to $5,000 to fly him abroad to perform. His corporate sponsorship with MTN is valued at around sh200m. Will Kipepeo spawn a hit in the mold of Bei Kali, or Jamila? That is what local artistes and music lovers are anxious to see. Yet at the same time, Bobi Wine has suddenly discovered a hit-making formula by teaming up with Juliana. Their collaborations have yielded hits like Tata W’abaana Yani and Maama Mbire. Bebe Cool is also showing better musicality, is breathing down everyone’s neck with cool tracks like Awete and issuing other artistic statement in form of his yet-to-be released Kisanja album.
Victim of his own success
Since the release of Mama mia, everything Chameleone has touched, musically, has somehow turned into gold. Such success has come with a heavy price: It can get to your head and earn you resentment from others.
Mulindwa says, “That is why Chameleone is accused of wrapping himself in pompous cocoon and allegedly bluntly reminds those who cross his path who is king.â€
Blackmail?
The media, especially, is being used by these artistes to mudsling each other. After Bebe Cool had been beaten by hoodlums, who obviously sympathised with Chameleone, Bobi Wine rushed to Capital Radio and reported that Chameleone had stabbed Bebe Cool.
Next day, Dr. David Nyenje Sentamu of Mayo clinic, where Bobi Wine was taken for treatment, refuted the wild allegation. Bebe Cool also told the press from his hospital bed that he never had any confrontation with Chameleone.
As the war between the two rages on, Bebe Cool has tried to keep a cool head and has refused to be drawn into it. It is alleged that on the fatefull night at Ange Noire, Chameleone went to Bebe Cool and told him how Bobi Wine was provoking him? Bebe Cool replied, “Keep me out of it. I am tired of your wars.†He then stormed out of the club, where a certain Isa, he alleged works with the Leon Island camp, Chameleone’s studio, who thumped him cold.
Now who is to blame? Make your own judgment but leave your fingers crossed, in prayer that Divine Power prevails over these two artistes as it did with Bebe Cool.
UGANDA'S top musicians Jose Chameleone, Bobi Wine and Bebe Cool have been in the news, but for the wrong reason: Fighting amongst themselves.
Recently, the bitter feuds among the trio, which the majority of skeptical Ugandans at first dismissed as a circus or another ‘clever marketing ploy,’ degenerated into a bloody fist fight at Ange Noire discotheque.
Bobi Wine unleashed a savage blow that left Chameleone’s left eye swollen like tennis ball. The same night, Bebe Cool was savagely thumped until he passed out. He regained his senses on a hospital bed! The fracas became canon fodder for the press. The following day, it made front-page headlines. While a few fans seem to be enjoying the circus, the nation is actually disgusted. Everybody is loudly wondering: what has gotten in the dread-locked heads of these three young artistes to make them behave like hoodlums?
To answer that burning question, one has to piece down all the facts. This feud actually dates back six years ago. At the time, Jose Chameleone was a no-body. He was this rail-thin young man with a big hoarse voice, a cocky attitude and a big toothy smile, who smoked cigarettes like a chimney and hero-worshiped Shanks Vivie Dee, a super star at the time.
Lady luck smiled on Chameloene when Bebe Cool, who was older in showbiz, took him to Nairobi, gave him a place to stay and introduced him to the hit-making producers, the Ogopa DJs. Fortunately or rather unfortunately, Chameleone scored a hit with Mama Mia. So catchy and hooky was this track that it swept through Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania like a wild fire. Bebe Cool, who I always consider as better musician, flopped with his Fitina. Within a few months, Chameleone was propelled from the average guy on the streets to superstardom, a position he has been enjoying for the last half a decade.
The Dorotia factor
Chameleone says, while in Nairobi, he and Bebe Cool fell for a mzungu woman and started dating her. The woman turned out to be none other Dorotia.
“But it was me, who won her heart. When I moved in with her, she introduced me to a whole new life where ‘organisation’ was key word. Dorotia was a strict woman, who believed in an orderly life. When you picked a cigarette lighter on a table to light a cigarette, she expected you to put it back where you got it. If it was a frying pan in the kitchen to make an omelet, you were supposed to wash it and put it back to its rightful place in kitchen,†Chameleone talks of Dorotia.
“My friend Bebe Cool and others used to come over for a chat, but on many occasions they often left the place in a mess. This did not please Dorotia one bit, she often confronted and told me how she felt about the mess. I was forced to make the hard choice between keeping Dorotia and Bebe Cool. I chose Dorotia because she was the love of my heart at the time. I stopped Bebe Cool and all my other friends from coming to my place. I told them since I know where you stay, if I want to talk to you, I will look for you.â€
Chameleone says Bebe Cool was mad with him. He branded him a ‘hypocrite’ for turning him away. So, when Sylvia Kyansuti invited him to feature on her Okunsunasuna single, he readily grabbed the opportunity to send a message to Chameleone with a line that went: Weefula vumbi ate ng’ennyumba osula muyamukazi. (You brag yet you sleep in a woman’s house).
Chameleone vs Bobi Wine
In 2002, Omulangira Ndausi (Ndaula) of Radio Simba organised a concert at Katwe, featuring Bobi Wine, whose biggest hit then was Kagoma Kalulendera. Chameleone, then still riding on the strength of Mama Mia, drove to the venue in his Mazda convertible as Bobi strutted his stuff on stage. His arrival diverted the attention of the fans from the action on stage. They literally went wild and cheered Chameleone.
Seething with anger, Bobi Wine accused Chameleone of sabotaging his gig. In the bitter exchange of words that ensued, Bobi says: “Chameleone abused me.â€
One evening, Bobi Wine, high on some illegal substance he has admitted to smoking and growing in the press, stormed DV8, a favourite haunt for young crowds and the trio, while raving in Luganda: “Kali liddawa kano ka Chameleone. Nyinza okukafumita ekiso.†(Where is this skinny Chameleone? I can stab him). Chameleone says he was warned to keep away from that pub.
“Shaking with fear, I rushed to the police and filed a complaint that my life was threatened by Bobi Wine and Bebe Cool. The two were arrested and taken to Kira Road police station.†“While under custody, I wrote Funtula to express my anger with Chameleone,†says Bobi Wine. It was tailored it to fit the American gangsta mold it turned out to be an out-and-out brazen attack on Chameleone that most of FM radio stations refused to touch it.
In that song, Bobi Wine and Bebe Cool described Chameleone as a brown-haired, two-ribbed weakling, who lived in a woman’s house and thrived on her goodwill. Chameleone tried to keep a dignified silence and replied meekly with Nekolera Mali (I’m making money). And again managed to fire at them below the hip with soukous-powered Bei Kali.
Realising that the feud between the three was threatening to blow out of proportion, Ragga Dee called for a ceasefire and brokered a truce between them. They agreed to stop hostilities against each other and even exploited the feud by staging a get-together concert, which featured Kenya’s Gidi Gidi and Maji Maji.
They racked in millions because the gig drew a mammoth crowd. Unfortunately, it almost failed to serve its purpose because it ended on a sour note. Chameleone says he and other artistes never received a penny of the gate collections. Somebody, alleged that Uganda Revenue Authority confiscated all the money!
Second episode
Worried that the spat between Bobi Wine and Chameleone was getting out of hand, Isaac Mulindwa, the bubbly chairman of the PAM Awards committee, recently called a meeting of top artistes in Kampala to seek for a solution and try to forge a way forward.
Chameleone did not turn up at Hotel Africana, where it was held. When Bobi Wine was asked what he thought brought about the smelly beef between him and Chameleone, he said: “Disrespect. Chameleone does not respect me.â€
Bebe Cool told the meeting that Chameleone’s absence served to prove what an arrogant and disrespectful person he is. “He is such an unpredictable character, who changes colours like a chameleon. He is the type of person who can hire a person to fan trouble then turn around and tell the press: ‘You see? They hate me.’â€
Exactly, how did Chameloene’s ‘disrespect’ for Bobi Wine come about? On May 1, 2005, the Monitor’s Sunday Lifestyle magazine ran a full page interview with Bobi Wine in which he was asked whether it was true he smoked ‘weed’ (marijuana). He replied: “Not only do I smoke it, I grow it as well. Marijuana is food for the brain.........â€
Asked whether he was not bothered about the law, he replied: “What law? I don’t do drug trafficking. Like I told you, it’s food. I grow it on my own land, harvest it and consume it. I nether sell it or buy it........â€
Chameleone, who was then still on talking terms with Bobi Wine, says he was not amused by that interview.
“It is this story that sparked my sour relationship with Bobi Wine.
“I have always regarded Bobi Wine as my younger brother. I’m older than him in age and in the entertainment industry. I went to him and demanded to know what had gotten into his head to make such stupid comments. ‘Don’t you know that you could easily fail to get a visa to America because of the confessions you made?’ I asked him. Bobi Wine replied: ‘It is none of your business.’â€
PAM awards factor
The 2005 edition of the PAM Awards, which are just around the corner, also seem to have added an ugly twist to the saga.
At the heart of the current feud, stands one question. Who will win this year’s coveted artiste of the year award? Pride and big prize money are at stake this time. Sponsors Bell and Celtel have staked sh1m for each award won in each music category and a whopping sh10m for Artiste of the Year winner.
Being a top artiste in the country, Chameleone commands a fee of between sh2m and sh3m to perform locally and $4000 to $5,000 to fly him abroad to perform. His corporate sponsorship with MTN is valued at around sh200m. Will Kipepeo spawn a hit in the mold of Bei Kali, or Jamila? That is what local artistes and music lovers are anxious to see. Yet at the same time, Bobi Wine has suddenly discovered a hit-making formula by teaming up with Juliana. Their collaborations have yielded hits like Tata W’abaana Yani and Maama Mbire. Bebe Cool is also showing better musicality, is breathing down everyone’s neck with cool tracks like Awete and issuing other artistic statement in form of his yet-to-be released Kisanja album.
Victim of his own success
Since the release of Mama mia, everything Chameleone has touched, musically, has somehow turned into gold. Such success has come with a heavy price: It can get to your head and earn you resentment from others.
Mulindwa says, “That is why Chameleone is accused of wrapping himself in pompous cocoon and allegedly bluntly reminds those who cross his path who is king.â€
Blackmail?
The media, especially, is being used by these artistes to mudsling each other. After Bebe Cool had been beaten by hoodlums, who obviously sympathised with Chameleone, Bobi Wine rushed to Capital Radio and reported that Chameleone had stabbed Bebe Cool.
Next day, Dr. David Nyenje Sentamu of Mayo clinic, where Bobi Wine was taken for treatment, refuted the wild allegation. Bebe Cool also told the press from his hospital bed that he never had any confrontation with Chameleone.
As the war between the two rages on, Bebe Cool has tried to keep a cool head and has refused to be drawn into it. It is alleged that on the fatefull night at Ange Noire, Chameleone went to Bebe Cool and told him how Bobi Wine was provoking him? Bebe Cool replied, “Keep me out of it. I am tired of your wars.†He then stormed out of the club, where a certain Isa, he alleged works with the Leon Island camp, Chameleone’s studio, who thumped him cold.
Now who is to blame? Make your own judgment but leave your fingers crossed, in prayer that Divine Power prevails over these two artistes as it did with Bebe Cool.