Music label boss Lloyd Ngavu wants a share of proceeds from international award-winning muso Sho Madjozi’s hit track John Cena.
Ngavu, who owns Jozi Records, claims that the international hit song, named after World Wrestling Entrainment powerhouse John Cena, is his brainchild.
The entrepreneur revealed this in a sensational social media post in which he also claimed that he dated the Xitsonga music lyricist – whose real name is Maya Christinah Xichavo Wegerif – before her career took off in 2017.
“Just to clarify things for the last time, me and Sho Madjozi broke up in 2017. I wrote and marketed the song John Cena. It is my idea. I have no beef. It’s just that John Cena song belongs to Jozi Records and if she wants to use it for her upcoming documentary, she must come and apologise,” Ngavu wrote on his WhatsApp status update.
Ngavu also claimed that he introduced Sho Madjozi to rapper and producer Smiso Zwane, popularly known by his stage name Okmalumkoolkat, who featured her on his single Ggi!.
It was her first popular music feature.
When contacted for comment on his claims, the Taxi Magazine publisher declined to elaborate, saying that his team was handling the matter internally.
“As I am talking to you now, we are trying to resolve those things internally. The best time to talk will be next week,” he said.
Sho Madjozi is currently in Rwanda, but her manager Shawn Nkuna dismissed Ngavu’s claims: “We are not shooting a documentary, and Sho Madjozi owns that song. I don’t know who Lloyd Ngavu is.”
Sony Music, which distributes Sho Madjozi’s music locally, asked for time to liaise with her international record label, Epic Records, before commenting.
However, Sony had not done so by the time of going to print.
Sho Madjozi made a bold statement during her performance at last year’s Design Indaba in Cape Town.
The popular rapper broke down her dance routine with choreography she titled the History of Xibelani.
The star revealed that she was working on a documentary about the xibelani outfit that she popularised in her performances.
She said the documentary, which she would produce and direct, would tell a story of the history of the colourful traditional Xitsonga outfit.
The rapper, singer, songwriter, actor, and poet, who was born in Shirley Village in Limpopo, did not reveal the name or the release date of her documentary. However, Ngavu insisted the star’s hit track would not be used without his approval.
In 2019, Sho Madjozi’s breakout song John Cena shattered music chats locally and garnered her international recognition. It also grabbed the attention of the American wrestler it is named after. and she was invited by US daytime talk show host Ellen DeGeneres to appear on the show. Cena surprised her on the Kelly Clarkson Show.
In June that year, the rapper was awarded the BET best international act gong at a ceremony in Los Angeles, beating Nigeria’s Teniola Apata, Headie One and Octavian from the UK, and France’s Jok’Air and Nesly and local rapper AKA.
