Bebe Cool talks friendship, beef with Bebe Cool

Chameleone and Bebe Cool's friendship goes back to their early days as up-and-coming musicians. Bebe Cool had ventured into the music industry before Chameleone, and he was the first to travel to Nairobi, Kenya, in search of better opportunities. Chameleone recalls that the decision to move was based on the limited number of music studios in Uganda.

“At the time the studios we had here could be booked for a year by established artists like Paul Kafeero,” he recalled,

“Bebe Cool and I used to sing together at Sabrina’s, and that is where I heard him say he was going to Nairobi. I asked him why, and he said Uganda had too few music studios," Chameleone recounted.

Jose Chameleone Pulse Live Uganda

About weeks after this conversation, Chameleone saw a newspaper headline that highlighted Bebe Cool as the new star in Nairobi.

Inspired, Chameleone decided to follow suit and travel to Nairobi despite having no contacts or mobile phone at the time.

Upon his arrival, he relied on word of mouth to track down his friend. In a twist of fate, the two eventually reconnected, with Bebe Cool welcoming Chameleone to the Kenyan music scene and helping him get started by sharing contacts and introducing him to key figures in the industry.

Singer Bebe Cool pulse uganda

Through Bebe Cool, Chameleone met the famous Ogopa Deejays, a production team that was making waves in Kenya at the time. He seized the opportunity and asked to be part of their album project, which led to the recording of his hit song Mama Mia. This song marked the beginning of Chameleone’s rise to stardom.

However, despite the early camaraderie, when they came back to Uganda, their friendship soured, leading to a famous feud between the two.

Chameleone explained that Bebe Cool felt disrespected as the person who had introduced him to the Kenyan scene.

"He thought I was not giving him enough respect as a person who made me," he said.

This rivalry even spilt over into their music, with Bebe Cool teaming up with Bobi Wine to release diss tracks aimed at Chameleone, including the song Funtula. Chameleone responded with his own track, Nekolela Mali, but by that point, his career had already taken off and he had gained prominence beyond Uganda, partly due to his mastery of multiple languages.

Bebe Cool and Jose Chameleone Pulse

Mastering Swahili

One of the most intriguing aspects of Chameleone’s journey is how he came to surpass Bebe Cool in his command of Swahili.

“Actually, Bebe Cool should speak better Swahili than me because he went to Kenya before me,” Chameleone reflected.

Chameleone says he became fluent in Swahili through his connections in Kenya, particularly with Redsan, a Kenyan artist who became his close friend.

Chameleone frequently asked Redsan to translate Swahili conversations for him, which helped him quickly pick up the language.

Upon returning to Uganda, he brought back a male house help from Kenya who only spoke Swahili.

This arrangement further strengthened his language skills as he was immersed in Swahili both at home and in his music career.

By embracing Swahili, as well as other languages like Lingala and Shona, Chameleone managed to expand his audience across East Africa and beyond. His linguistic versatility became one of his defining traits, setting him apart from his peers. While Bebe Cool focused primarily on Luganda, Chameleone’s multilingual approach allowed him to transcend regional boundaries and appeal to diverse music lovers.