Is Mr Nice a man on the verge of a renaissance?

Dar es Salaam. At the peak of his career in early 2000s, Mr Nice was untouchable as he became one of the hottest items in Tanzania’s entertainment industry performing at sold-out venues.

His was a class above the rest at a time when many Bongo Flava artistes were struggling to gain roots in the nascent industry where artistes barely made any money.

There was something about him; his songs such as ‘Kikulacho’ and ‘Fagilia’ dominated airplay across the region and especially Kenya where he was such a big hit with his own Takeu style.

As many pundits admit he was a complete performer who swept audiences off their feet wherever he went. Years of mismanagement and drinking binges led to the obvious self distraction and his itinerary became rather dry with gigs hard to come by.

He was a good boy gone wild; images of him in drunken stupor became fodder to local tabloids that preyed on his downward spiral.

He could no longer release hit songs and any such attempts ended in some near catastrophe as he sounded flat.

The same media outlets that played his songs soon stopped playing his once upon a time great hits, some even came up with stories that the singer had died.

And as they say he was finished, he was a pale shadow of a singer who once wowed crowds with his dancing skills!

The fans that once adored him now slated him nothing was going toward his direction as he struggled to keep hold of his fan base.

As rumour has it he would soon turn to his properties to fund his pastime activity and soon he was broke beyond redemption.

He had to take refuge and his choice was rather obvious, he switched camp to Kenya where he was living at Kitengela a Nairobi Suburb.

Though there have been rumours that he was on the mend, there hasn’t been any new material coming from the king of Takeu. “I have new songs but surprisingly most of my fans are stuck to the old songs and that is what they want me to play for them at concerts,” Mr Nice told Shilawadu, a gossip programme on Clouds TV.

Then something happened!

Early this week WCB singer Harmonize released one of his latest singles ‘Sina’ one that came in a month that saw several releases from Bongo Flava.

Harmonize’s original choice for the video was supposed to be a certain Dallas who was once upon a time Jackline Wolper’s flame.

The song features Mr Nice in the video and to many it is a retrospect of the life that he led at the peak of his artistic power at the turn of the millennium.

“I had written this song that talks about someone who once had money but now didn’t and as I was struggling on the choice of characters one of my directors zeroed on Mr Nice,” says Harmonize.

It was something that he did not expect to be easy to pull but he had to trust his guts and it paid off.

“I tried several times to get him and after several attempts I finally managed to get hold of him. We discussed the arrangements and I sent him the air ticket after my management had approved,” says Harmonize. The song which is a week old has so far got almost a million views on Youtube with hundreds of comments, most of them positive.

Without the slightest tinge of nostalgia, Mr Nice says he does not regret what life has turned out to be and doesn’t think there is a thing he would like to change.

Commentators have been quick to praise his decision to take the opportunity that WCB has given him.

Just as it happened to Saida Karoli, they believe this could be the beginning of Mr Nice’s renaissance given the kind of power that the label wields both locally and beyond.

Only time will tell what Mr Nice will reap out of this liason.