Jah Prayzah refuses to feature on Baba Harare video
THE apparent harmony between Baba Harare and Jah Prayzah could prove to be a smokescreen following revelations that the Military Touch Movement boss refused to feature on a video of the collaboration he did with his former lead guitarist.
Baba Harare and Jah Prayzah collaborated on the former’s song titled “Guzuzu” and the video of the song was released on Monday.
Jah Prayzah refused to be part of the production arguing that he no longer makes videos for stale songs. Many people were expecting to see Jah Prayzah on the video, but Baba Harare had to forge his former leader’s lines on the original song for the video to go through.
Baba Harare said he approached Jah Prayzah when they were ready to make the video, but he was told that his move was not in line with the latter’s current operation strategy.
He claims Jah Prayzah said he only makes videos for new songs and Baba Harare’s “Guzuzu” is ‘too old’ to deserve his attention.
“When we were about to do the video, I approached Jah Prayzah with a request for him to feature on the video. I was surprised when he told me that he no longer does videos for songs that are already in the public domain,” said Baba Harare.
“He said his current style is to have a song and its accompanying video going on the market at once. He said we were supposed to do the audio and video at the same time. He said it is too late to revisit a stale song to have a ‘resurrection’ video. I was disappointed because I wanted him to be part of the video.
“I had to do his lines on the video. I did not have an option since I wanted to push this song through a video like we did with ‘The Reason Why?’ that has become a hit.”
Baba Harare’s “The Reason Why” that has become a hit across the country was catapulted by the video he released recently.
Although “Guzuzu”, the collaboration with Jah Prayzah, is also getting considerable airplay Baba Harare wanted to solidify its penetration into the market through a video.
He was not expecting a blunt snub from Jah Prayzah.
“I respect him because he taught me a lot. I am what I am today because of him. I had to do the video without him because I respect his decision. I will always look up to him for advice. He remains my elder in the industry,” said Baba Harare.
Jah Prayzah, through his manager Keen Mushapaidze, confirmed they no longer do videos for old song, but claimed they failed to make time for Baba Harare’s production because of a busy schedule.
“When Baba Harare was doing his video, Jah Prayzah had a busy schedule and could not make time for the video. However, if Jah Prayzah told Baba Harare that he could not feature on a video of an old song, he was right because we no longer consider old songs for new videos,” said Mushapaidze.
“The disadvantage of doing a video for an old son is that people would have already made their imaginary scripts from the audio storyline. There is danger of coming up with a video that does not support people’s notions about the song. That is our new position and I believe Jah Prayzah was frank to Baba Harare when he told him so, but I believe my artiste would have broken the rule if he had time for the video. A busy schedule contributed more to Jah Prayzah’s failure to feature on Baba Harare’s video.”
Despite Jah Prayhzah’s absence, Baba Harare’s “Guzuzu” video, which features talented actress Delma Chiwereva has been received well by his fans.