Shimza now has another prominent person hot in his heels, making this another twar in just under a week. This time, DJ Maphorisa had to put Shimza on blast for failing to put other young and upcoming artists on the map, accusing him of gatekeeping when it comes to Afro House music.
DJ Maphorisa commented under Shimza's Instagram post saying he needs to open more doors for up and coming artist. He accused him of not crediting other producers who work on projects with him.
“Why you always make music alone, no young up coming [artist] nyana every time Shimza alone. Grow this afro movement, uplift young talent bro please, that's why they end up hating us cause you close doors. Don't tell me you made that beat alone, sorry but I had to take out my chest in front of everyone. Love you mfanaka but I can't,” DJ Maphorisa wrote.
Shimza responded by saying he does open the industry with his Kunye festivals, "That’s why my label @kunyerecords is for Phori, that’s why I started the label and that’s why we now have an event called KUNYE that showcases the music and streams the sets online so that people can put the face to the names bro. We all work differently bro. Love you too."
He even continued by adding the artists who are ready to release, "but that’s exactly what we are doing Phori! We are releasing ep’s from them through my label, we doing events with them and we keep asking for music from them to release the music, the label is only under a year old and we’ve already released guys that need the push both locally and internationally, @blankamazimela @siphetebeka have EP’s out on the label and we releasing more people and putting them on the KUNYE streams.
"Thandi Draai, Desiree, Atmos Blaq and others we still are to put on, it’s happening, maybe not as quick as you want it to but it’s coming, I had to take a stand and create something for that same reason. I’m just not too vocal about it. We are growing and we going to keep pushing one day at a time."
A huge debate erupted and Shimza told people that he will not go around announcing the amazing work he is doing for other artist because that is not who he is. "Problem is that you want me to go around making noise about who I’m helping and that’s not how I am... I’ve consistently booked almost all DJs and artists in South Africa to my festivals and 80% of the industry including upcoming guys on my tv show. Those don’t matter at all right?"
DJ Maphorisa calls out DJ Shimza for not featuring and working with new artists on his music and not credit his ghost producers.
Other successful DJ s and producers like Black Coffee and Prince Kaybee chimed in. Black Coffee had a private conversation with both of them and in the private convo, Shimza reveals that he had tried to work with such artists but failed because they are not prompt.
Prince Kaybee had to throw some shade.
Art was never designed to be owned by one person. We are obligated to pay it forward & ensure that the art lives beyond us. We MUST uplift young artists! That other guy can just tell Drake, “yo we have Kabza I want you to meet him”, but because he is a one man show… https://t.co/SzZYW4iWB7
