Beyoncé
Beyonce’s omission of any Kenyan artiste on her ‘Lion King’ album is a slap to the face and a damn shame, so says a famous East African who helped coin ‘Hakuna Matata’.
John Katana, the frontman of the Chakacha Kenyan band, Them Mushrooms, tells TMZ he and a bunch of other Kenyans noticed Bey didn’t include any local artistes (big or small) in her new ‘Lion King’ album, ‘The Gift’ – a self-described ‘love letter’ to Africa.
While the Disney folks tapped tons of other African artistes that are hot and popping in their own countries, for example Nigerian pop star WizKid, Ghanaian producer and musician GuiltyBeatz and Shatta Wale, Nigerian singer Burna Boy, South African artistes Busiswa and Moonchild Sanelly, Nigerian stars Tekno, Yemi Alade and Mr. Eazi, they excluded Kenyans.
Considering a lot of the scenery, culture and language used in ’94s and 2019s ‘The Lion King’ appears to come straight from Kenya (or at least East Africa). John says he and a lot of other Kenyan creatives found it puzzling not one of them made the cut for ‘The Gift’.
John and music critics alike have noted the omission, and he’s super bummed about it, especially since he says no one from Disney even reached out to the ‘Hakuna Matata’ OGs.
As we’ve reported … a petition was started last year that called for Disney to drop its trademark over ‘Hakuna Matata’, which is a well-known Swahili phrase that John and co. claim to have popularised in their ’80s platinum hit, ‘Jambo Bwana’
Yeah, he’s not saying “no worries” about this one either.
-TMZ