Shs140 million. A deleted video. A theft accusation. And now — a very public invitation to come with cameras and check the receipts live.
Uganda’s music industry has seen its share of beef, but the growing dispute between Mudra D Viral and rising singer D Star over earnings from the Hoozambe remix has just entered a different stratosphere entirely.
Mudra isn’t hiding. He isn’t deflecting. He is sitting down, looking directly into the camera, and telling anyone who will listen that the numbers being thrown around are flat-out wrong — and that he hasn’t even recovered what he put into the song in the first place.
But here’s what makes this story genuinely fascinating: the man at the centre of a financial controversy just invited his accusers to watch him open his bank account on live television.
That is either the move of someone with absolutely nothing to hide — or the most confident bluff in Ugandan music history. Either way, Uganda is watching.
The dispute began when D Star went public with a claim that rocked the industry: that Mudra D Viral had earned up to Shs140 million from the Hoozambe remix’s performance on YouTube — and had deleted the video without sharing a single shilling of those proceeds.
The accusation landed hard. Mudra was being called a thief, openly and loudly, and the court of public opinion was already assembling.
Mudra’s response? Calm, direct, and pointed.
“The money I put into the song, I have not got it back yet,” he said during an appearance on Sanyuka TV. “I tried to reach out about this issue, but he did not respond. I deleted the video because I was called a thief.”
He dismissed the Shs140 million figure as wildly exaggerated, insisting the actual earnings are nowhere near what D Star has claimed — and that confusion about how digital streaming revenue actually works is at the root of the entire dispute.
And then things got really interesting — because Mudra pointed the finger squarely at industry figure Kalifah Aganaga, who he alleges gave D Star the inflated earnings information in the first place.
“Kalifah, who told him about the earnings, has been in the industry for a long time — he would know how the payments work,” Mudra said, with the kind of measured delivery that cuts deeper than shouting ever could.
He revealed that he uses TuneCore to collect his royalties and has already invited D Star’s camp to sit with his managers and verify everything directly — an offer he claims was flatly refused.
So he raised the stakes.
“I want them to come with cameras and I open my account, TuneCore and everything, so they can see the truth,” he stated. “The figures they are claiming are false.”
For anyone just joining this story — Mudra D Viral is one of Uganda’s most talked-about artists, known for a style and energy that consistently generates online conversation. His collaborations have a track record of performing well digitally, which is precisely why the Shs140 million figure, however disputed, felt plausible enough to spread.
D Star is a rising voice in Uganda’s music scene, and the Hoozambe remix represented a significant moment of visibility for him — which makes the financial dispute cut even deeper. When a song blows up and you believe you haven’t been paid your share, the frustration is understandable.
Kalifah Aganaga, who Mudra has now drawn into the conversation, is a veteran of Uganda’s music industry whose name carries weight. His alleged role in advising D Star on the earnings figures adds another layer of complexity to what was already a tangled situation.
The deletion of the video — which Mudra says was a direct response to being publicly labelled a thief — removed the very evidence that could have helped clarify the earnings picture, accidentally pouring more fuel on an already burning fire.
Fans immediately zeroed in on the TuneCore challenge — and the reactions were instant and unsparing.
The clip of Mudra inviting his accusers to watch him open his account on camera spread rapidly across Twitter, Facebook, and WhatsApp, with viewers split sharply between those who read it as a power move from someone telling the truth, and those who wondered why the transparency offer hadn’t come sooner.
The internet had thoughts, and they were absolutely not holding back.
“Come with cameras” became the phrase of the moment, spawning memes, debate threads, and heated comment section arguments across every major Ugandan entertainment platform.
Within hours of the Sanyuka TV interview airing, #Hoozambe was circulating widely enough to pull in music fans who hadn’t even heard the remix, suddenly very interested in the drama surrounding it.
Some fans believe Mudra’s calm, evidence-based approach signals genuine confidence — arguing that no artist would publicly offer to open their financial accounts unless they were certain the numbers would clear them.
Others remain sceptical, pointing out that the video deletion — whatever the reason — conveniently removed a key piece of verifiable data from the conversation.
Sources close to Uganda’s digital music distribution community have noted that TuneCore earnings reports are detailed and timestamped, meaning a live account reveal, if it ever happens, would be largely conclusive.
It’s unclear whether D Star or his team will take Mudra up on the offer, but if they don’t, the refusal itself will become the story.
Underneath the numbers and the accusations is something more personal — and Mudra made sure to say it.
“I’m now a fully devoted Muslim, and I’m past the image they want to portray of me being a thief,” he said. “My religion of Islam doesn’t allow that.”
It is a statement that reframes the entire dispute. This is not just a man defending a bank balance. This is an artist defending his character, his integrity, and the values he says now guide his life.
Whether you believe him or not, the willingness to bring faith into a financial argument is a deeply personal move — one that suggests this situation has affected him far beyond the professional level.
Being called a thief publicly, regardless of the truth, leaves a mark. Mudra clearly wants that record corrected.
Here is the sharpest irony of this entire situation: Mudra deleted the Hoozambe video because he was being called a thief — and in doing so, accidentally made himself look exactly like what he was trying to disprove.
The one action meant to protect his dignity became the single biggest piece of evidence used against him.
Sometimes the worst thing you can do when you’re innocent is react.
The cameras are ready. The TuneCore account is apparently waiting. The only question now is whether D Star and his team will actually show up — or let their silence become the answer nobody asked for.
Uganda is watching. Will they take the challenge? 👀