Bongo Star Rayvanny has announced his departure from Wasafi Classic Baby after six years of collaboration (WCB).
The Tanzanian musician, whose true name is Raymond Shaban Mwakyusa, uploaded a video to Instagram detailing his time at WCB and the accomplishments he has made there.
Rayvanny takes us back to his early days and his close friendship with WCB boss Diamond Platnumz in the two minutes and 19 second video.
“Ni miaka sita sasa toka tuanze kufanya kazi pamoja. My team, my family, WCB Wasafi, upendo, umoja imekua gunzo kubwa sana kama team,” said Rayvanny in a video.
The singer of Tetema listed his accomplishments while working with WCB, including being the first Tanzanian musician to be nominated for a BET award and appearing on international stages like MTV and Dubai Expo.
In addition, Rayvanny takes satisfaction in being the first Tanzanian artist to chart on the Billboard charts because to his Tetema remix success with Maluma. He is additionally the first musician from his nation to exceed 100 million Boomplay streams.
“Haya yote yalifanyika tukifanya kazi pamoja. Shurkran for that to my family, WCB, lakini pia my brother, Diamond Platnumz,” said Rayvanny.
Rayvanny thanked Diamond, his boss, for giving him a stage on which to show the world his talent as he announced his departure from WCB to concentrate on his record company, Next Level Music (NLM).
In the goodbye video, Rayvanny calls Diamond a person he respects and admires, adding that he would always be appreciative of Diamond’s assistance in getting him this far.
Regarding Rayvanny’s departure video, Diamond said: “NLM PRESIDENT! Let’s Gooooooo!”
However, news of Rayvanny leaving Wasafi started way back in 2020. It all started when a curious fan asked the singer which record label he was planning to switch to before Rayvanny responded, saying his ties with Wasafi were ‘for life.’
“Before I even say a word, Vanny Boy and Wasafi are for life. I want to first thank my management, WCB Wasafi; I greatly thank Diamond Platnumz for the far I have come. If I decide to have a label, I can even have about five of them. So, there is no way that I am leaving Wasafi to go to another label. Maybe I own about 10 labels under my name,” he said.
In an interview in October 2020, Diamond Platnumz confirmed that Rayvanny would be leaving his record label to start his own.
“Not sure if I’m allowed to talk about this but Rayvanny is starting his own record label very very soon. That label is so big. I was looking at his studios and told him, ‘Rayvanny this studio is big’. The day he will post it, as we speak it will be the number one best studio in the country,” said Diamond.
When asked whether his signees had the privilege to start their side projects while still under Wasafi, Diamond responded, saying:
“Anyone under the Wasafi record label is allowed to start their own projects if they want to. An example is of Drake, who has OVO and is still signed under Lil Wayne’s Cash Money Brothers records. What I keep telling my signee’s is that they should think outside the box. Let’s be diverse and bring in different ideas.”
