Jeff Kiwa has worked with some of the most influential artistes in the Ugandan music scene, that’s something no one can take away from him. The pattern of always separating from these artistes though kind of paints a bad picture of him. And now that Sheebah recently split ways with him, it’s even become more evident. Because who would’ve thought that a 9 year old relationship with a highly appraised manager like Kiwa would end just like that? Some claim that we should have seen it coming though. Apparently according to hearsay, managing a major artiste like Sheebah got strenuous for Kiwa due to problems the artiste faced among them being struggling with self image.
Word on the street has it the main reason why these artistes split from Kiwa is because of difference in ideas. So it’s not very clear the exact reason Kiwa separated from these popular artistes. However, we’ll just take a look at the artistes he has famously split with in the past.
Good Lyfe
Right after the Goodlyfe crew had just separated from singer Jose Chameleone, Jeff Kiwa jumped at the chance of managing the already somewhat popular duo. They all had something in common though; they had both just parted ways with Chameleone. Which I presume made working together easier for them, and from the looks of their success, his efforts really paid off.
Having gained amazing experience from working with an artiste as prominent as Chameleon, Kiwa shot the Goodlyfe crew to immense success and helped them gain a lot of popularity, much needed success that helped them attain tremendous levels of fame in the first 10 years of their prime time. He made their music as popular as it could get, especially in Kampala.
The duo chose to split from Jeff Kiwa in 2013, around the time it was revealed how they accumulated significant amounts of wealth. Radio (RIP) and Weasel didn’t show any signs of faltering with their music after they let Kiwa go, but some believe it was evident that they were struggling without his great skill at managing.
Jose Chameleon
Chameleon is one of the most notable Ugandan artistes especially because of his raw talent in music. Unarguably though, a big part of Chameleone’s success has to credited to Jeff Kiwa’s outstanding managerial skills. Being an artiste is already stressful enough as it is, so having a manager that knows what he does and does it really well is so important. So many believe, if Jeff Kiwa wasn’t a part of Chameleone’s music career, it wouldn’t be as far as it is now.
Many argue that Jeff Kiwa managing Chameleone for close to 6 years was because of his great ability to make distinct judgement between not-so-impressive tunes from ample and astounding music and realizing what upcoming artistes have the potential it takes to steal hearts with their talent. And I don’t think I’m wrong when I say this makes Jeff Kiwa stand out from the crowd of a multitude of management companies.
Kiwa and Chameleone parted ways in 2007 and he went ahead to deal with The Goodlyfe duo that had also just broken away from his team, Leon Island. It is rumored that Chameleone’s persistent non-acceptance to take heed of Kiwa’s advice led to the split of the two. Which is a pretty plausible explanation for me, considering the number of creatives that split from their teams due to difference in creative ideas.
Currently, Kiwa works with the new up and coming artiste signed to TNS, Rahma Pinky, who many claim is a replacement of Sheebah because of how fast Kiwa got to work with her right after his split from Sheebah.
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