By Ian Ortega
I wanted to get hold of a gun and shoot at someone who wrote and I quote; “I think diamond platinum is the most overrated artist right now in E.Africa, there is nothing unique bout the chap …”
Has the word over-rated lost meaning that every Tom, Dick and Harry can use it? Or is it one of those trendy words that people simply throw around in order to rubberstamp their ungrounded arguments. Thus, for that, I will take it upon myself to educate the many around who think in that line. I have never done this for a music artiste, I have never followed a music artiste outside Uganda, to the very least a Tanzanian one, yet, Diamond Platnumz managed to get my attention.
I first came across Diamond Platnumz in 2013 when he was performing “Moyo Wangu” at the Big Brother Stargame. I had never seen a musician from East Africa go over to South Africa and win the audience with his performance, pulling them into the music despite not having the slightest understanding of what the song meant. You can watch that performance below:
Not even Radio and Weasel’s performances at Big Brother have equaled those of Diamond. First and foremost, when it comes to performance and stage presence, Diamond Platnumz is unchallenged. He’s a great dancer, very magnetic and at his worst, he will leave you standing on your feet wanting to join in the fun. He returned this year for the Hotshots performance at Big Brother and he surely didn’t disappoint. Perhaps the highlight for this year should be his performance in Coke Studio Africa and the one with Davido at the MTV MAMA in Durban SA (watch here.) If I am to describe Diamond in simple words; “he is a dynamo with the energy of a small coiled spring when it comes to stage performance.”
HIS VIDEOS
Give me a single East African artiste with the same creativity and art in his music videos as that seen in Diamond’s videos. The problem, many who speak of Diamond have only known him for his remix with Davido, thus lack a full understanding of the man. Call it the ignorance bias of many a critic in Uganda. They will critic even songs they’ve not heard, videos they’ve not watched and review concerts they’ve not been to. That’s how dumbed down we’ve become in the era of blogging.
From his very first video with over a million views, you don’t have to understand Swahili to get trapped into the chambers of Diamond. Then he has “Mdogo Mdogo” which I believe is the best video in East Africa at the moment. Not even Bebe Cool’s “Love you Every day” comes next to this video.
HIS LYRICAL CONTENT
The prose and poetry he infuses in his lyrics makes me hide in shame trying to compare him to Ugandan artistes. But since we started this debate, we must end it. The way Ugandans sing about issues is very predictable; their lyrics lack the maturity of an artiste. Anyone with the basic understanding of Luganda can write the lyrics to a Luganda song. Yet while listening to Diamond’s “Nitarejea” song, I kept wondering the material out of which he was cast. Again, he’s unbeaten, unchallenged in East Africa on this platform.
HIS VOCAL ABILITIES
Perhaps at this point, some good East African artistes can afford to stand near to him and compete. And by good, I mean artistes such as Mowzey Radio and Maurice Kirya. Yes, those of the kind are the ones who can try to compare to Diamond. Yet transfusing these vocal abilities onto a stage performance and maintaining the standard, only a few artistes with great vocals can manage to do that in East Africa.
HIS STAR-APPEAL
Try to compare the Facebook posts of an average Ugandan artiste to those of Diamond Platnumz and you will run for safety. Diamond has also shown us that one needn’t communicate in English in order to be international as the Ugandan artistes would want to make us believe. He sticks to Swahili yet he doesn’t simply judge on any issue the way Bebe Cool or Bobi Wine does. He sticks to what he knows best, his music, and pleasing his fans. If you stood him side by side by many a Ugandan artiste, I would definitely choose him even if I were to be blindfolded. From his fashion-touch to his calmness and lack of attention seeking, Diamond is a star in all aspects.
He understands his market, he’s not a populist. He sticks to his Swahili, does his music in Swahili yet still enjoyable whether you understand Swahili or not. Such are the qualities of great music, it’s unbounded by language. Many Ugandan songs are only popular if you understand Luganda. Give it to a person who knows not the language and they will immediately trash it.
If we are to speak of over-rated artistes, perhaps we could speak of some other figures, but for Diamond Platnumz, no way. One saying he is overrated proves one’s ignorance and brings it to light. So I repeat and declare; “Diamond Platnumz is the best music artiste in East Africa.” And this is not up for debate, it’s a fact, you can either accept it or choke on it or better still, go hang yourself.
