Zakes Bantwini, a South African disc jockey whose real name is Zakhele Madida, posted on Twitter on Sunday, 3 December, asking for help to track down a local man whose voice he used in one of his songs for his upcoming album. With the help of his social media fans, he managed to locate the TikTok sensation and offered him a contract with the Grammy-winning artist.
This comes after another local talent, Naledi Aphiwe, received R56 000 from American pop star Chris Brown for using her voice in his latest album. Zakes Bantwini followed a similar approach of sampling someone’s voice without their consent and giving them credit later.
On Sunday, he appealed to his Twitter followers to help him find the man whose voice he had sampled in his new album. “Hi guys, [I] need help. I’ve used this sound clip on my new album #THESTARISREBORN and I want to connect with this guy for credits,” he tweeted.
A few hours later, Bantwini announced that he had successfully found the man, thanks to the power of social media and Twitter detectives. He also revealed that the album will be released on Friday.
https://twitter.com/officiallShebe/status/1731359963459576144
“Look who came to see me in the studio today. Thank you guys for making this happen, deal done and dusted,” he tweeted. Earlier this year, Zakes Bantwini said he would be retiring as a recording artist, according to TshisaLIVE. He said this would happen after the release of his final album. The Osama hitmaker has been in the music industry for nearly two decades and reportedly plans to end his career on a high note.
“I don’t want to say I’m retiring from music, but this is my last album that I’m working on under this brand. It’s over for Zakes Bantwini. But Zakhele Madida is still going to produce music for other people, and you know what they say… you should quit while you are still on top,” Bantwini was quoted as saying.