Willy Paul's 'Tam Tam' gone sour

 

                                       Gospel Singer Willy Paul Photo:Courtesy

 Gospel singer Willy Paul has been accused of 'stealing' the lyrics to his new hit single Tam Tam (remix) but he says he stole no one's song even as his accuser says he has gone to court over the controversy. Willy Paul dares him to bring it on. A fresh gospel divide could be building and as SHEILA KIMANI observes, Tam Tam is no longer all that sweet an affair

Even as gospel diva Size 8 distances herself from the drama surrounding the Tam Tam hit, her now popular collabo with Willy Paul, the controversial Willy Paul is daring his accusers to bring it on.

Elijah, the gospel singer who is alleging rights over the song and accusing Willy Paul of dishonesty, claims he has taken legal action over the matter. Willy Paul says he is yet to be served with the summons. Just what is all this mystery surrounding the biggest gospel hit right now all about? We sought to know.

Like most artistes anxiously craving to have their name blow up to A-list celebrity status, gospel artiste Elijah Prince had an idea; a concept and storyline for his breakthrough hit.

And in his collabo plan was DK Kwenye Beat and Willy Paul.

"I had the song's concept well outlined. And DK Kwenye Beat the Sari Sari hit singer, who was my friend, agreed to be part of the song, provided I catered for all the expenses," Elijah tells Pulse.

Evidently, DK Kwenye Beat was ready to feature in Elijah's song based on the gentleman's agreement made before going to the studio. But Elijah further suggested that Willy Paul, who had previously done the Sitolia hit alongside Gloria Muliro, be invited to feature in the song thanks to his lyrical prowess, or so the story goes.

Elijah had no close ties to Willy Paul. DK took the task to invite Willy Paul to studio and brief him about their song, Kitam.

At Dr Eddy's studio in Kiambu where the artistes were to record their soon-to-be-hit, every artistes wrote their verses with Willy Paul offering to do the catchy chorus that included the words Kipenzi Kitam. That was how the word Kitam was settled upon as the song title, the story goes on.

"If you ask me, that was great team effort and we were all proud of the initial demo, and consequent Kitam audio that Dr Eddy gave us," DK Kwenye Beat reveals.

"Everything was going according to plan and we were set to shoot the video last year. However on the planned date Willy Paul suggested that we postpone the video shoot to a later date. The next thing I heard was that he had his own rendition of music called Tam Tam," Elijah Prince says.

Perhaps, suggesting for a postponement of the video shoot was the first red flag that Elijah should have noticed but then why didn't he take legal action when he heard Willy Paul's version of Tam Tam?

"I think Elijah was well aware of Willy Paul's new song Tam Tam because he was there as even there on a day when Willy (Paul) performed it and at no point did they sing it together," a fan who wished to distance himself from this issue anonymously affirms.

Curious to know whether DK Kwenye Beat knew about Willy Paul's new rendition we asked what changed about their gentleman's agreement and why Elijah did not take legal action back then.

Despite, initially, not wanting to comment on the issue, Willy Paul finally talked to us exclusively giving what he alleges is the whole truth.

Willy Paul says he had just released his single Mpenzi, which was fast picking up in the gospel charts yet Elijah wanted them to shoot and release Kitam video almost immediately so it could ride on the Mpenzi wave.

Besides it being too soon for Willy Paul to push out a new video, Elijah expected him to pay part of the video costs, but his finances and budget could not allow for that, according to Willy Paul.

According to Willy Paul, Elijah then asked him to sign an agreement on the then yet-to-be-released video in September 2013, and even threatened to involve the authorities if he did not sign it.

Willy never did. Instead, he jumped ship.

It was then that Willy wrote another chorus and that was the part he carried forth to do his own rendition dubbed Tam Tam. The song Tam Tam was recorded by producer Bizzy Bee in October 2013, but had no video to it.

"I realised that Elijah was not about to keep the agreement we had and I did not appreciate that he was taking advantage of me back then. That was why I did my own audio rendition and put it out online," Willy Paul says.

It was while thinking of the video's concept while at Jumbo Sounds for his studio sessions, that he met Size 8 and invited her to feature in Tam Tam.

Upon reaching Size 8, she calmly points out that she was in the video courtesy of Willy Paul, but had no further comments in regards to the issues involving Elijah Prince.

"My response to this issue is 'No comment'," Size 8 retains.

Additionally, Elijah made it clear that he has no issues against Size 8 because they had discussed and resolved any pending issues.

"I had a chat with Size 8 and she apologised for any damage to me," Elijah tells Pulse.

When we ask Elijah if he had spoken to Willy Paul about the song, he responds stoically;

"No. But he shall soon be hearing from my lawyers,"

"I am not a thief. I have seen screenshots of a legal warning addressed to me on blogs, but I am yet to personally receive one. Elijah knows where to find me, he even has my contacts," Willy Paul mocks in return.