Still together: There have been rumours of a rift between the Goodlyfe Crew duo of Radio and Weasel and their management. Edgar R. Batte & Emmy Omongin talked to them ahead of their concert.
Rumours have been doing the rounds that you are leaving Goodlyfe after your Amaaso-Ntunga concert. Is this true?
Radio: Of course we shall always live the good life.
No we mean “leave” like L.E.A.V.E. That you are not on good terms with your manager Jeff Kiwanuka …
Radio: Leave? And go where? My friend, it has taken us a fortune to build Goodlyfe. Do you know how much we have invested in Goodlyfe? You have no idea. People will always surround you with their cheap talk. Weasel, do you know most journalists don’t know what they’re doing? They just write anything that comes to their minds. When I was in school I used to lead my stream. I used to score 95 per cent or 100 per cent and those who used to get 45 per cent, 25 per cent and 0 per cent wanted to be journalists. See, journalists are fools!
But we are not fools…
Radio: Quote me right, I have been abused by a bunch of Vision Group fools. Those fools disguising as journalists are the ones I am referring to.
Weasel: Let’s go to another question. Fools will always be fools.
But there were reports of bad blood between you and Jeff Kiwanuka and that he has signed new artistes like Sheeba to replace you in the Goodlyfe Crew. How true is this?
Radio: We have our differences but we are working on them. There are more artistes that have been signed into Goodlyfe which is okay. It is okay for managers to manage one or two more artistes. We are working on our differences.
We are told you even left your Neverland house in Makindye that you co-own with Jeff. Where are you guys living right now?
Radio: The same place you always found us. Why do people always want to find out things that don’t concern them? Why are you so worried about people’s homes like you don’t have your own?
Are you living in the same house?
Weasel: Radio, we are big brands so people will always talk about us. Come to Neverland and see if you won’t get us there. We still live there.
Then there were more rumours of you guys breaking up.
Radio: It’s good you have called them rumours.
Weasel: Radio and Weasel are here to stay.
Away from the internal wrangles, big artistes have buried hatchets with you, how does this make you feel?
Radio: We have never had beef with anyone. Those big artistes and the media at large have tried to fight us but they have failed. We saw, came and conquered. We took over the whole music government. Now Radio and Weasel are the government.
Weasel: It feels good. Right now we’re in the honeymoon. When we meet at the club we buy each other drinks just like brothers. We need to work together and stop fighting. We are looking at doing collaborations.
There are rumours that you are releasing a music collaboration with Bebe Cool, is it true?
Weasel: No, not yet but we are now friends.
Radio: We haven’t thought of a collabo as yet. We shall do one soon, so haters better fasten your seatbelts.
One of the reasons people give is that the big guns now respect you because you have gotten to platforms they haven’t like being nominated for the BET Awards. What was your experience like out there?
Weasel: It was good man. We were chilling and mingling with superstars. We met celebrities you only see on TV.
Radio: It was a good feeling. For the first time I was an international artiste and the likes of Rihanna were local artistes. I had flown from Africa to US where these stars live, so, this time I was the international music star… hahaha.
Hard luck on having missed out on picking up an award. Are you hoping to come back with trophies in case you are nominated again?
Radio: Well, we did not think we would get nominated for the BET Awards but here we are. It is now obvious Radio & Weasel have to be nominated for the big awards. We are now getting used to these big nominations, of course more and more awards will be coming our way, including the Grammys. Watch the space.
Weasel: We are going to work harder and we know we can get more nominations and win some. Just like Radio said, we did not think we’d get nominated at the BETs. In fact when we were shooting the Fantastic video, we were fatigued because we had been shooting for the whole day. So I jokingly told my brother Radio that one day, we shall be nominated at the BETs. See, my prophecy came to pass.
Your collaboration with Amani, Kiboko Kyangu has been nominated in the MTV Africa Music Awards, how does it feel like?
Radio: As we said, it is now obvious. One shouldn’t be surprised at all. Only that we are tired of attending these awards alone. Sometimes we attend them with Keko or Navio.
Weasel: You find that there over 20 Nigerians in these big awards and Radio and Weasel are the only Ugandans present. We are tired, we need more Ugandans at these awards.
Radio, you recently opened up Soldiers’ Bar in Wandegeya, how is business?
It is good you have asked me about my other life as a businessman. Soldiers Bar is doing well so far. Business is booming.
We hear you co-own it with Simon Rusoke. How true is that?
Business information is secret. It is confidential. When you are doing business you do not want to let out your secrets, otherwise people will steal my tricks, you know.
Weasel, we hear you are more into real estate, how far with these projects?
Weasel: Not yet. I am yet to start. I’m still collecting the monies.
Radio: My brother is still setting himself. He is going to be big. I own a bar but real estate is bigger. He’s going to earn big from it.
By the way Radio, we saw Lilian Mbabazi heavy, has she given birth?
Don’t ask me about my family, I will kill you for that. Leave my family out of this interview please. A lot of trash has been said about us by you stupid journalists. Next question please.
How do you come up with your songs?
Weasel: We just hit the studio and start singing about how we feel.
Radio: People always tell you music is a piece of work. Our piece of work is just freestyle.
What is the fastest song you have done and how did it take you?
Weasel: We spend just minutes in the studio. The lyrics just flow naturally.
Radio: The maximum number of minutes we have spent in studio is 45 minutes.
One of your most successful songs in the recent past has been Hellena. What is the story behind the song?
Radio: It was one of those feel good love songs. The lyrics just flowed from the mind to the mouth and we sung. Our brother David Lutalo also felt the love vibe and Hellena was born.
How do you choose your collabos?
Radio: We do music with anyone whom we feel is talented.
What advise do you give to other musicians to break into the international market like you?
Weasel: The only way other Ugandan artistes are going to make it internationally is by working together. Artistes need to work hand in hand to produce quality music that will cross borders like ours. They need to invest in music videos and not just buying expensive cars. Their videos should also look expensive.
You guys are launching two albums in one, why?
Radio: We recorded Amaaso last year in around August, it has eight songs. Ntunga is the one we have recorded this year. It has a couple of songs that you will hear today.
Weasel: Today we’re offering our fans the best of Radio & Weasel. We are going to perform hit after hit off our new albums.
Reunion concert
Radio and Weasel’s Amaaso-Ntunga concert that is on this evening will be more of a re-union with former enemies like Bebe Cool and Jose Chameleone who will share the stage with the Goodlyfe boys and also Pallaso who has been in the US for the past decade.
