By Brighton Zimidzi
South African Gqom musician Mampintsha of Big Nuz fame has passed on.He was declared on Saturday the 24th of December 2022.
The West Ink record label chief executive officer suffered from a stroke after a performance with Big Nuz a week ago.
His former manager, Dogg Durban confirmed the news to Daily Sun
” Yes, Mampintsha is no more,” he said.
Mampintsha began his journey into the music industry in 2002 when he got together with two friends, Danger whose real name is Mzi Tshomela, and R. Mashesha whose real name is Sbusiso khoma. Together, the three friends formed a group called” Big Nuz”.
After struggling to get a recording deal for a year and some months, Big Nuz finally managed to land a record deal with Gallo records.
Mampintsha and his group started working and they soon released their first album titled ‘Zozo’ in 2006. However despite their efforts to make Zozo a huge commercial success, the album did not perfom well.
After failing to make a headway with Gallo Records, Mampintsha and his crew decided to move to Afrotainment, a record label owned by DJ Tira. Under Afrotainment they then realesed their second album titled 2nd round Knockout. The album was very successful, selling off about 20, 000 copies and making the best group around South Africa.
Banking on the success of their album ‘2nd round knockout’, Mampintsha and his Big Nuz group members went back to the studio and in 2010 they released their third album titles ‘Undisputed’., The album also found a lot of success and it won the Album of the year award.
After years of success, Big Nuz was struck with a huge tragedy. One of the group members, R Mashesha, passed on in 2015. After R. Mashesha’s death, Mampintsha and Danger decided to disband the group and go their seperate ways.
Mampintsha decided to start a solo career. He established his own record label called West Ink record label and begab to look for artists to sign to his label and groom. His biggest signing was Bongekile Simelane, popularly known by her stage name ‘Babes Wodumo’.
Her immense success has proven that Mampintsha was indeed a force to reckon with when it comes to managing a record label and artist management
Mampintsha married gqom queen, Babes wodumo in 2021 although their relationship was not so gloomy after they both accused each of being abusive.
West Ink manager, Sbu Ncube confirmed the news to Tshisalive and said in a statement:
“Details of the funeral and memorial will be confirmed”.
News of Mampintsha’s passing saw messages of condolences flood social media on Saturday morning with fans expressing shock under the #RIPShimora.