Harrysong was signed to Five Star Music as an artiste but he did more than just sing. He was also in charge of song writing, vocal coaching and music directing. What happens now that he is gone.
The most telling sign that the Five Star is one of the most beleaguered record labels in Nigeria is that its most popping event in 2015, is the death and resurrection of Skiibi Mayana. A hitherto unknown and unappreciated act.
The label made a man die for his art, and resurrected in less than 24 hours, with many failed efforts at rebranding the story, and selling Nigeria the wrong drug. Skiibi is still dead in music.
But that’s not to say Five Star Music didn’t win on some level last year. Kcee had a number of singles which maintained his relevance, but failed to hit. Harrysong came up strong with the‘Reggae Blues’ single which put the entire crew back on the music map, and their song, ‘Ebe ano’, was existent on the playlists of many music listeners and radio stations.
What Five Star Music lacks is discipline. For all their financial backing from E-Money, they release too little music to be taken seriously. They come across as a bunch of folks with more money than can be spent, working as avid hobbyists in the music industry.
The art is an afterthought to these people. Five Star music rates music as One Star. It's unclear what everyone's up to, and whether everyone's on the same page.
With the departure of Harrysong, who left because he was feeling underappreciated, the label looks a bit short in the creativity department. Harrysong, who enjoys a partnership with Kcee, is gone.
The award-winning artiste who was formerly signed to Questionmark Records has had a successful career with chart-topping records credited to him. A veteran, Harrsyong has written for a long list of successful artistes, with his best work not recorded by him.
Harrysong was signed to Fivestar Music as an artiste but he did more than just sing. He was also in charge of song writing, vocal coaching and music directing.
At Five Star Music, he was the king behind the king – Kcee. While Kcee, the ‘Limpopo’ king held sway in the media as the man with the golden hit songs, Harrysong performed the publicly thankless but financially rewarding tasks of songwriting and A&R duties.
So what happens now that he is gone?
The issues that surround Harrysong’s exit is a personal one. He feels underappreciated for all his efforts at creating hit songs for the record label. He isn’t the only one who have had to leave the record label due to underappreciation on any level.
Hit producer Del B has also left KCee and Five Star Music. The producer is largely responsible for KCee's chart topping hits including his breakout single as a solo act 'Limpopo'. He produced most majority of the tracks off his solo debut album 'Take Over' released in November, 2013.
The fruitful relationship started turning sour when Del B felt he should be earning more in terms of royalties and production fees for his work with KCee and the music label owned by KCee's producer E-Money. Apart from financial remuneration, Del B was keen on pursuing his career as an artiste but KCee and the label were not in full support of this.
Five Star Music still has Kcee, Skiibii and rapper Xbusta on their books. Dr Amir, the in-house producer is still actively working for the group to release more music.
But what happens next? Just like before, the label will have to try to get back Harrysong. But if that fails, they will look elsewhere for new songwriters and A&R to develop new content to keep the musical part of the label alive.
There’s just so much at stake. Skiibii is yet to fully grow into his own as an artiste. All of his efforts at excelling have failed to catch on. Xbusta, the rapper signed this year is still a raw talent who is on a path of self-discovery and artiste development. The only leader is Kcee, who did rely on Harrysong for much of his creativity.
They need a new music head, and they need him fast.
