Yiya Mozey, formerly one-half of the iconic Back 2 Life duo alongside Ziza Bafana, has opened up about the harsh realities behind their success, revealing that despite producing some of Uganda’s biggest hits, they earned very little from their music.
Speaking about his career, Yiya Mozey said that when he and Ziza Bafana released their smash hits Tebakulimba and Namagalo, the songs became household anthems but generated little financial reward for the duo.
According to the singer, they neither managed to organize a concert nor acquire any valuable assets from the success of the songs.
Instead, the earnings they received were only enough to cover their daily living expenses.
The time we released our hit songs, me and Ziza Bafana, the songs (Tebakulimba and Namagalo) were popular, but we didn’t benefit at all from them. We didn’t even hold a concert or purchase any tangible product from them.
Looking back at the industry’s early days, Yiya Mozey explained that artists did not own YouTube channels, making music distribution much more difficult than it is today.
He revealed that musicians had to rely on talent entertainment manager Sam Yiga, who would connect them to his friend, DJ Deen TV, based in the United Kingdom, to upload their music to YouTube—for a fee.
By that time, artists didn’t own YouTube channels. We used to look for Sam Yiga, who would send the songs to his friend, DJ Deen TV, in the UK, to upload them on YouTube, and we had to pay for that service.
Yiya Mozey also shared how difficult it was to come to terms with the decline of his music career after enjoying massive popularity.
He admitted that it took him four years, between 2013 and 2017, to accept that he was no longer among Uganda’s most sought-after artists.
The singer said he remained in denial for years, believing he was still at the top of the game until reality eventually set in.
In 2017, he released two songs, Oh Nana and My Woman, which he uploaded to his own YouTube channel. However, the response was far from what he had experienced during his peak years.
He recalled that his biggest upload at the time was Wujaala, a project he collaborated on with Bukedde TV, which accumulated just 300 views.
While he initially considered it a significant achievement, he later realized it reflected how much his popularity had declined, as most of his songs attracted only 50-80 views. At the time, his YouTube channel had just 42 subscribers.
It took me time to accept that my fame had hit a sudden low. I spent four years, from 2013 to 2017, in denial, thinking I was still at the top. In 2017, I released Oh Nana and My Woman on my YouTube channel.
The biggest story on the channel was Wujaala, which had only 300 views. At the time, I thought 300 views were a lot because my songs were getting only 80, 70, or 50 views. I had just 42 subscribers.
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