Musician and sound engineer Viboyo opened up about the making of the famous all-star song “Mr. DJ,” revealing the behind-the-scenes drama that surrounded the project before it took Uganda’s entertainment scene by storm.
According to Viboyo, the song was initially a project between DJ Shiru and GoodLyfe’s Mowzey Radio. However, after the two parties fell out, Radio reportedly took over the project and decided to complete it with out DJ Shiru.
Viboyo explained that several musicians recorded verses for the song, but not everyone made it onto the final version after some of the contributions were deemed unsuitable for the project.
When asked how he managed to survive the cut, Viboyo jokingly insisted that his contribution was simply too good to be dropped.
I was too good to be cut from the project. But there were some two Congolese guys, Diamond Oscar and so many others who failed to make the cut. First, the ‘Mr. DJ’ song was a project of DJ Shiru, but then he fell out with GoodLyfe. Radio, being the head on the song, was like, we should finish the song on our own, and Shiru got kicked out.
He added that the recording process involved several artists, with some of their verses eventually being discarded after Jeff Kiwa, GoodLyfe’s manager at the time, felt they did not add enough life to the song.
We recorded and recorded, then Jeff Kiwa was like some verses wouldn’t give life to the song, and they were ditched.
Viboyo also recalled the moment he took the completed song to Radio Sanyu, where his friend Kagwa was working as the programmes director. He said the reaction was almost instant, with the song reportedly going on air immediately after it was heard.
I remember I took the song to Radio Sanyu and my guy Kagwa, he was the programmes director, but as soon as he listened to the song, there and then it went straight on air. I had never seen anything like that.
But according to Viboyo, the drama did not end with the recording. The artists later faced another challenge while putting together the song’s video, including the task of collecting contributions from the participating musicians.
Then drama came of collecting 70k video contributions from artists. That was a hustle too.
Despite the disagreements, dropped verses and logistical struggles, “Mr. DJ” eventually became one of the memorable collaborative projects of its time, cementing its place in Uganda’s entertainment history.
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