Sheba Says She Never Got Royalties For Vybz Kartel Collabs
Dancehall artiste Sheba is now exploring other options outside of music citing limited returns from her craft as the reason for her decision. The former Vybz Kartel protégé is best known for her collaborations with the Worl’ Boss including You and Him Deh, Like Christmas, Gal a Weh Me Do You, and Gaza Man Mi Name. She is also known for her other songs Think Mi Nuh Kno and Money and Faithful.
Sheba, whose real name is Tasheba Campbell, said despite what she has achieved over the years, she has not been making money from music. “I ain’t making shit from music, and a years now mi nah mek money from music and mi still a live, mi still nuh hungry,” she declared during a recent Instagram Live.
The Spanish Town native, now based in Florida, further explained that this is not just something that has been happening recently but from her days as a member of the Kartel-led Gaza Empire. “Well, when mi deh a Jamaica sometimes mi did hungry mi nah tell nuh lie, all when mi did deh a Gaza mi did still hungry some a di time” she remarked.
Gaza Sheba or Sheba Di Diva, as she was formerly known in the Empire, was one of several female entertainers who shot to fame during the heyday of the Portmore based music powerhouse.
However, despite the success of the collabs with Kartel, she disclosed to her audience that she has not earned any royalties from those tracks and others during that time. “Mi a di first person weh can seh f–k off to royalty cause everybody else mi see benefit from it and mi nuh see one f–k,” she said.
“From mi join BMI and Jack Russell Music from 2012 I never get a dollar from them yet,” she lamented.
“One a di agent tell mi seh a mussi Addi collect mi royalties dem dats why mi nah get it” she disclosed. She added that she doesn’t fully understand the whole situation surrounding that so she is basically leaving that aspect alone.
In light of this, the 3some singer is now looking at business ventures as a means to sustain her financially, indicating that the music business has been at s standstill for her especially with the onset of the Coronovirus pandemic. “Mi just don’t dig music right now… I would never give up music, but it’s a pandemic right now, nothing nuh really a gwaan… mi nah spend a ton a f–king money a gi weh weh mi nah mek back…. Dem deh a waste movement, better mi save dem money deh and try open a business right now,” she explained defending her plan of action.
She continued, “mi realise seh nuff a dem people ya inna music where dem go wrong, dem nuh invest inna nothing and den when music done that’s just it, dem nav nothing fi fall back on. Big up girl like Stacious and suh. Yuh notice dem nah kill up themselves fi do music cause dem have a business.”
For her part, she has been trying to stake her claim in the music business as a solo artiste since the incarceration of Gaza strongman Vybz Kartel in 2014 and the subsequent collapse of the Gaza Empire. She is reported as saying that things were tough following his arrest as he basically did everything for her at the time.
It was reported that she went through a bout of depression but made a comeback around 2018.
She recently released the tracks Nuh Barbie‘ and Love You Everytime and has indicated that she is not finished with music.