Jada Kingdom is alleging that she has been robbed by her former manager for years now, as she details her various income streams, including her new music, which she has not seen a dollar from.
While getting emotional on her Instagram Live, Jada Kingdom vented to her fans and said she was disgusted by the situation. “It very f**king f**k up…You’re working so hard, you see where mi come from, like, very f**king upsetting, very sad,” she began. “But all mi a seh is, I just can’ wait for this next chapter in my life. We’re going crazy, but for now mi just a ah deal with everything the right way, I’m looking for new management, new team, everything.”
The artist says she has retained lawyers who are handling the matter. She is also now reassembling everything, including new booking information, and working out her new music, which is around 30-50 song catalog. She says she is working on a new album that is almost finished, but she has certain loose ends to tie up to ensure that the album is not tied up in controversy or that the manager lays claim to income from it.
“Mi lawyers are very active and we’re going to win. We God Bless. But mi need fi wait for certain things clear up, guys mi barely see dollar from my music…right now mi sit down pon over 10 hit songs but mi nah drop them because it’s like why mi woulda release music mi nah go gain off of. You understand. So that’s why I said I would wait and don’t drop no music even if I don’t have to drop music this year.”
Jada Kingdom burst out on the scene as a talented 20-year-old in 2017 when she first featured in Sean Kingston’s “One Away” video as his love interest. Her debut song “Love Situations” was released on July 21, 2017. She quickly drew the attention of those in the industry as one to watch with her EP “Wull On,” doing extremely well, which led to Universal Music signing her and the release of her two singles, “Wull On” and “Best You Ever Had.”
The dancehall artist says she has been putting in the work over the years but feels like she is not making strides in her career or the music industry.
“Sleepless nights a studio and work like f**king hog, never even deh deh, they are never around but when money come around they want to scrape and thief,” she began. “Mi feel mi put in too much for all of this. And the same people weh a see you go through so much f*ckery are the ones putting you in this.”
Kingdom did not call names, but her heavy emphasis on seeking new management and allegations of those closest to her stealing from her had led fans to believe that her manager is the one who has ripped her off.
“Mi don’t want to come off like the sad puppy or whatever, but bare thief people thief mi song dem, mi style, the amount a sh*t, it just surprise me that somebody weh supposed to be in mi corner a thief from me same way. Dem see mi situation, they see where mi come from, dem see mi depressed over mi career already because things nah go how mi want it fi go, and they’re not the reason it nah go how mi want it fi go, fi dem bad business, fi dem thieving self and greedy self.”
It seems that she had suspicions of him stealing for a while, as she details an instance two years ago when she was denied any access to financial statements from the digital platforms or direct access to log into the accounts.
“I remember two years ago, mi a ask and mi a say, like how a me alone deh pon the road. How mi nuh have a team, like what really a gwan, everything was a set up this entire. This person would only use people weh him know fi do certain things fi me. Tell me say ‘oh artiste can’t have access to them YouTube and dem iTunes, Spotify,’ this that don’t happen,” she said.
According to unofficial records, Jada Kingdom achieved over 12 million streams in the first year of her career on Spotify. Her numbers on other digital platforms might be around the same or more. Over on YouTube, she has since released several hit songs like “Banana” with 3.4 million views, “Win,” which has 6.4 million streams, “Shake” with 1.5 million views, “Budum” with 3.6 million views. Jada also has close to a dozen songs released in the last year, with over one million songs each.
Jada Kingdom says she is an independent artist, but since she engaged her manager, she has not owned any of her artistic works as her now ex-manager manager was in control. He even paid her rather than the other way around as most artiste’s contract would operate.
“I’m an independent artiste; I’m not signed at all. This person owns everything, my masters and everything, stealing while still a deduct them percent. Matter of fact, they’re paying me instead of me paying them. From “One Time” to “Love Situations,” all a that, see literally little to nothing. I really only make money off of shows. Everything is a scam. The YouTube they gave me says I joined YouTube in 2020 when my first song was released in 2017? It just didn’t make sense. And ah tell me that artistes don’t have access to their YouTube or their Vevo and they don’t have access to this and that.”
She added that she has been signed to a distribution contract, but she does not know what the details are and how much money the distribution contract is making out of her income.
She added that she has been unable to work with big producers in the industry because of her manager, who has a bad reputation which other producers refuse to work with. “The reason why unnu have questions like ‘why Jada career a pick up so slow?’ or ‘why Jada career a go around in circles?’ It’s because of that f**ked up person. It’s because that f**ked up person decision don’t want mi reach nowhere, burn a lot of bridges, a whole heap a producer don’t want to work with me because of that person.”
Meanwhile, Jada Kingdom says that of all the artists in Jamaica, her name always appears in the top 5 or top 10 artists. However, yet she has not seen the fruits of her labor. She added that she is angry but happy that she found out now what’s happening early enough.
The artiste has spoken many times about her background and her desire to escape poverty and also help her family, who are still in that situation. Jada Kingdom was born to a Bajan mother and a Nigerian/Jamaican father. Of late, she seems to have migrated to Atlanta, where she has been performing at shows in the United States since she is unable to earn income from performances in Jamaica due to the industry being shut due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
