Sizwe Sibiya
After winning the second season of Vuzu Hustle, a televised hip hop music competition, Flex Rabanyan had refused to sign a record deal which was part of his winnings.
But following a nasty case of payola in 2018, coming out broke in 2019 and accusations of sabotage from the show organisers in 2021, he now owns up to his bad decisions.
“After much deliberation, I have taken a decision to NOT sign with Vth Season. Independence in music is an important thing these days,” Rabanyan had said in July 2017, leaving fans stunned.
The 26-year-old from Esikhawini in KwaZulu-Natal blamed himself in a thread of tweets posted on Wednesday.
“I remember going online and ranting about Vuzu Hustle, ChannelOTV & Vth Season and how they had ‘orchestrated my downfall’. In retrospect, that was a terrible lie,” he recalled.
“The truth is: I was ill informed about the music industry, I was very demanding and also childish in my approach,” he continued, licking his wounds.
With only 156 followers on his twitter account, his messages were not getting anywhere until he mentioned respected rapper Skwatta Kamp, Slikour, who is also the founder of the Slikour On Life media company.
“I remember demanding Slikour call an Uber for me just because I was at their offices doing an interview, an interview which was HELPING ME gain publicity! My level of entitlement was through the roof,” wrote Rabanyan, who has not had much attention from fans since he featured on Ma-E’s “Bumpa” remix in November 2017.
Having released his 035 King EP in April under his company Rabayeezy Media, which also did not receive much traction, he could be pulling another publicity stunt, but like many in the past it might come back to bite him.
“Vuzu Hustle gave me a platform to showcase my talent to the world, and it opened up doors for me to meet people I otherwise would’ve never met, being a boy from eSikhawini.
“The way I treated our relationship was unsavoury to say the least.”
“My apologies,” added Rabanyan, who will dedicate the rest of 2022 to “sweeping up the big mess” he now acknowledges and releasing new music.
