Trending Now: DJ Maphorisa calls out Nota Baloyi for unpaid royalties on ‘Ngud’ – Fans React

DJ Maphorisa, whose real name is Themba Sonnyboy Sekowe, has publicly called out music executive Nota Baloyi, also known as Nhlamulo Baloyi, on X (formerly Twitter), demanding payment for his contributions to Kwesta’s hit song ‘Ngud’, featuring Cassper Nyovest.

Despite the song’s release on January 18, 2016, Sekowe claims he has yet to receive any royalties for his work.

The dispute escalated when Baloyi celebrated the anniversary of “Ngud” on X, tweeting, “Released Ngud 10 years ago today…”

This prompted an annoyed response from Maphorisa, who replied, “Are you going to pay me my royalties? Yoh, I’ve been waiting 10 years.”

Baloyi quickly responded, shifting the focus to issues surrounding sampling and publishing rights.

“You’re too young to forget you sampled ‘Camino de Sol’ and they claimed 100% of the publishing. Almost 10 years since ‘One Dance’ and you’re not even owed 1 cent on that. Add 49 cents, and I can explain for you like 50 told me; if they hate, then let them hate and watch the money pile up,” said Baloyi.

In this statement, Baloyi accused Maphorisa of neglecting a crucial detail regarding the original rights holders of “Camino Del Sol”, a 1982 track by French-Belgian band Antena, which was sampled in “Ngud”.

The core of the argument revolves around the song’s sample, which is a slowed-down version of the Joakim remix of “Camino Del Sol”.

According to Baloyi, this situation left little to no backend revenue for local producers.

He further implied that Maphorisa had not benefited from publishing royalties on other major global hits associated with his name.

Baloyi also referenced Maphorisa’s involvement in Drake’s 2016 global hit “One Dance”, featuring Wizkid and Kyla, suggesting that similar royalty dynamics apply in that case as well.

His comments highlight that international success does not always guarantee publishing payouts, particularly when sampling and clearance agreements are involved.

This is not the first instance of Maphorisa expressing dissatisfaction with Baloyi.

On January 16, a video surfaced of Maphorisa, Leehleza (Lindelihle Gladwell Sukazi), and Mark Khoza performing a diss track against Baloyi, which trended on X.

The song features the repeated chant “M*unu ka Nota”,  a highly offensive term in Zulu and Xhosa, often used as a vulgar insult.

The diss track emerged after Baloyi critiqued Leehleza’s lyrical content on songs such as ‘Tobetsa 3.0’ and ‘Umshove’ during an appearance on “The Podcast and Chill Network”.

Baloyi expressed his concerns about the impact of such lyrics on younger audiences, stating, “There are kids that could be his nieces, nephews, or anything like that. When the kids are singing those nonsense things that you’re saying on the songs, what goes on in your mind?

“What goes on in your heart? You know how powerful the internet is; any nonsense can trend and you put nonsense out there?”

He further elaborated on the need for artists to evolve, saying, “ You don’t need to continue making that nonsense. You can actually grow as an artist; you can actually develop. If you want to be great, he doesn’t want to be great; he just wants to trend.

“Feeding your family can’t be everything because if you’re feeding your family but poisoning the entire community,  then what is the point of feeding that family?”