The troupe of talented dancers has surely made it today; but looking back in time, they can’t help imagining what could have been, when Moroccan-American rapper French Montana came knocking.
The Ghetto Kids poorly negotiated a deal for their biggest music video ever, and lost out potentially billions of shillings.
Dauda Kavuma says he and the Ghetto Kids were shortchanged in the Unforgettable music video
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About 6 years ago, the group manager Dauda Kavuma had never heard of the name French Montana when he got a phone call about a video project.
On the other end of the phone, a music director told him that French Montana wanted to shoot a video with the Ghetto Kids.
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When asked about what it would cost, Kavuma without thinking for a second said $1000.
“Did you say $1000?” asked the person on the phone.
“Yes,” replied Kavuma. “We’ll take $1000.”
When he got off the phone, Kavuma quickly googled Montana, whose most popular song at the time was ‘All the way up” ft. Fat Joe.
His friends told him he had blundered. He should have asked for $50,000 at least.
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In subsequent phone calls with the director, Kavuma said he thought of changing his mind but feared damaging his reputation.
Meanwhile, the director flew in and they met at the Kampala Sheraton. Throughout the meeting, he kept asking if the group really wanted $1000. Montana was arriving in the next four days.
The unforgettable music video was shot in the Ndeeba suburb.
“We decided to do it in the ghetto, in memory of our former member Alex (who perished in a bike accident),” Kavuma told Ruth Kalibbala in an interview.
When the song came out, it was a massive hit, peaking at No.3 on the US Billboard. It became Montana’s first song as a lead artist to reach the Billboard’s top 10. The video itself has raked in over 1.5billion views on Youtube alone.
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In hindsight, Kavuma acknowledges his mistake, but believes that the director shortchanged them.
“What I know is that the director cheated us for sure, because he kept asking about the $1000,” he said.
Luckily however, Montana kept in touch with the group and shortly afterwards helped them sell another music video they had recorded called “Famous,” to Worldstar Hiphop at $ 25,000.
“We used that money to purchase the house we are in right now,” Kavuma says.
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Montana had also promised to get them an additional $100,000 but this promise was not fulfilled.
Kavuma nonetheless is grateful for the opportunities and the exposure they have received thanks to the American rapper.
Earlier this month, the group got to travel to the US where they rubbed shoulders with Hollywood A-listers A-listers including Vin Diesel, as well as artists P-Diddy and Montana himself.
