Kwesta admits to owing royalties to artists

KWESTA has admitted to not paying royalties to the artists featured in his third studio album DaKAR II.

Taking to Twitter on Thursday, the award-winning hip hop star admitted that he has not paid what’s due to some of the contributors of his hit single, Ngud, from his 2016 album, DaKAR II.

The heated social media conversation started when DJ Maphorisa took to his Instagram Live on Wednesday, to spill the tea on what transpired eight years ago, after producing the multiplatinum selling single.

During the chat on IG the Lorch hitmaker told his fans that after working with Kwesta on the Ngud project, he never received a cent.

“When someone does something good for you, you have to acknowledge them ... show them you appreciate them,” said Maphorisa in the video that went viral.

“After Ngud came out things changed, Kwesta changed.

“After he made all these millions, why didn’t he come back to me and say ‘Grootman, here’s R20 000’, or something, like a token of appreciation ... to appreciate that you have produced Ngud for me, it changed my life.”

It wasn’t long after the video emerged on Twitter that Maphorisa set the record straight, saying that despite his previous claims that Kwesta still owes him, there is no beef between them.

“I’m not at war, Grootman,” Maphorisa said to Kwesta.

To which Kwesta responded: “No worries bro. (Kaofela ... my dawg.)”

In response to Maphorisa’s allegations, Kwesta went on to make a Twitter thread starting with how he, together with Nota Baloyi and Leroy Khoza, started RapLyf Records in 2013, “

“I have never been here before

... I never thought in a million years that I would be. Leroy, @ AuthorityNOTA and myself started thing in 2013 based solely on trust,” tweeted Kwesta.

He continued: “Leroy handled the finances, Nota was the music executive and I, as Kwesta, was the catalyst to source funds through performances, endorsements.

“When funds were mismanaged and artists/producers complained about splits, I always referred them back to Nota and Leroy as this is what they handled.

“Many times Nota came and said funds were being mismanaged, and many times artists/producers complained about how they were represented in split sheets. My lack of action towards this is partly why we are here today.”

He added that in 2020 Sony paid out sales royalties for DaKAR

II, also acknowledging that he still owes money to certain artists who contributed to the project.

“I say that because I may owe some royalties to artists featured on DaKAR II,” admitted Kwesta.