Back in the day, artistes used to team up for big songs, which is no longer the case today. What happened to songs like Locomotive, where we had Radio and Weasel, Cindy, Navio, GNL Zamba, Rabadaba, Davis Ntale, Viboyo, Mr X, Vampino and Mun G on the same record? We had earlier seen similarly big artistes hop onto A little Bit of Love (2007) and Mr DJ another Ugandan classic. There were then-upcoming artistes teaming up for the 2016 hit, Omulembe gwaffe (Fik Fameica, Beenie Gunter, Dokta Brain, DA agent among others), and only a few on that record did not make it to the mainstream. DJ Shiru also gathered his Avenger’s team in 2016 and made Ladies Night, a song that featured Coco Finger, Jackie Chandiru, Navio, Eddy Kenzo, AK47 (RIP), among others. The song went on to rule Kampala’s nightlife, just like those that came before it. Since 2019 to 2026 only three all-star songs have been successful: producer Banger Boi’s 2024 song Nze Alina that featured Kapeke, Spice Diana, Winnie Nwaji, Dax Vibes and Fefe Busi; Khalifah Aganaga’s Nassanga remix that featured Winnie Nwaji, Eddy Kenzo, Lil Pazo and Weasel; and the all-female stars song, Kukyakala na Kubwa featuring Nina Roz, Ava Peace, Jowy Landa, Nandor Love and Recho Ray in a team they called 6ix Killaz. Unless we count 2021’s NRM campaign song, Tubonga Nawe… Today, artistes don’t command the star power they did back in the day, thanks to their being all over TikTok lives, etc, which has overly put them in the public eye and removed the ‘wow’ factor they once commanded. Plus, there is a lot of unhealthy competition. Everyone wants to top charts at the expense of their rivals’ failure; for instance, Kapeke has frequently dulled Jowy Landa’s star during interviews. Crystal Panda beefed with Gloria Bugie, King Saha beefed with Alien Skin/Chameleone/Pallaso/ Bebe Cool etc. These multiple wars cannot allow a good number of them to feature on a single record anymore. And these fights force artistes into choosing a side. Remember when Omukunja Atasera cried because King Saha failed to turn up for his show? He said Saha had called him and cussed him out for being seen with Pallaso, whom he (Saha) was beefing at the time. And then there are the increasingly inflated egos. Ugandan artistes are way bigger than what they were in 2006, when Steve Jean and Makerere University Walter Reed Project brought them all together for A Little Bit of Love; the industry now comes with big money and even bigger egos, and fitting all that in one studio is an uphill task. You can also blame politics. Ugandan artistes are divided into red and yellow camps, which no longer mix creatively. All stars isaiahsaviomukisa@gmail.comThe post Can Ugandan artistes ever team up for a classic again? appeared first on The Observer Media Ltd.