Here’s why Harmonize’s departure from Diamond Platnumz’s record label was the best thing for him
As it is in schools where teachers can teach a student and later on he/she can have a more powerful title/job than the teacher or like in our families where if a child reaches the age of 18 is legally allowed to move out of their home to the extent that some of our African families don’t even wait for you to decide to move out of your parents’ home they chase you out, such is the same thing that happens in the music industry.
Why did Harmonize leave in the first place?
It’s not rare to see an artist who was managed in a certain record label leave the label after some success in the music industry like getting endorsements, deals, a fanbase, or even earning more money.
It’s also very rare for this separation to be an amicable one between him and his managers or his former record label, most of the times artists leave because of the contracts having tough requirements, money issues (not being paid well compared to his input) or just personal misconduct.
This doesn’t only happen in the Tanzanian music scene, it happens even in the West, for instance back in the days there was a big fight between Dwayne Michael Carter Jr (Lil Wayne) and Bryan Christopher Williams (Birdman) who was one of the leaders of Cash Money Record.
- RELATED: Diamond Platnumz: The Music Genius of East Africa
- RELATED: Top 10 hottest Tanzania artistes at the moment
The student who outshined the master.
A similar thing happened in the Tanzanian music industry that left rivalry and sadness between the fans when the two big names in the music industry who were former friends separated.
A lot was said, everybody had their own opinion on the matter when Rajab Abdul Kahali aka Harmonize decided to walk away from the label that discovered him, Wasafi Classic Baby, which is owned by Diamond Platnumz.
No one saw this coming, it happened so quickly. We were all left wondering if this was his exodus from Egypt to Canaan or he was leaving behind honey and milk in Canaan and going back to Egypt?
I like to think that Harmonize leaving the record label was a very courageous act considering that he had to pay money for terminating his contract which did cost him a huge amount of money.
Was leaving WCB a blow or a glow for him?
In business terms though, his departure lifted his status up in the music industry which is contrary to the majority’s prediction of his fall out.
His number of fans on social media increased a lot because a lot of people wanted to know what will happen to him after his departure from WCB, and his following ended up getting him a lot of deals for product promotions from brands like Sayona Twist and banks like CRDB.
And second, he used the opportunity to discover and uplift new talent just like Diamond did for him, and this lead to him starting his own record label, Konde Gang, which is among the few record labels catching waves in East Africa.
His record label’s name Konde Gang is in respect to his tribe, Makonde. His record label has several artists who are blessing our airwaves daily like Ibraah, Angela, Country Boy, and many others who make us believe that his departure was for good and profit for many.
While he was still fresh from his departure from WCB, Harmonize released his album which had songs that up-to-date are people’s favorite. His album featured top-notch artists like Burna Boy, Morgan Heritage, and Yemi Alade.
Out of all of this though, Harmonize was also successful in rebuilding his good relationships with media and news stations which he wasn’t on good terms with because of his former record label being on bad terms with the media.
When he was under WCB, big media brands like Clouds Media Group weren’t playing his songs, and that was really bad for Mr Tembo’s brand, but after he left WCB, his songs were played in these media stations, and he started getting more shows in and out of the country and up to this day Mr. Tembo (as he likes to call himself) is owning the Tanzanian and East African music industry.