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Chameleone on meeting Bebe Cool in a taxi, friendship with Bobi Wine

Cool went to Nairobi in 1997 ahead of Chameleone who left in the early 2000s and by the time he made the trip to Nairobi, Cool was already getting full-page coverage in Kenyan newspapers.
Bebe Cool, Jose Chameleone and Bobi Wine
Bebe Cool, Jose Chameleone and Bobi Wine

"It's him who knows; whether he is my friend or not... I have a lot of friends... Even today I made some new friends.... bro, I will never be without friends. If you decide to end our friendship, you go and I find another person," Chameleone said while speaking to Gagamel TV during an interview that was recorded at Bebe Cool's house in Kiwatule, Kampala.

Chameleone recently gave his Range Rover to Zuena to drive. Asked why, he said: "That's what hurts people... Those people you see, Bebe Cool, Zuena and others... we have a very long history, so right now you know my wife is not in the country, my mother, at her age, can't drive that car, so I let Mama Zuena drive so she can bless it the way Mama Abba would have. If Mama Zuena drives, it's the same thing as Mama Abba driving it."

On his relationship with Bebe Cool, he revealed that they first met in 1995 and he (Cool) also supported him when they were in Kenya. Cool went to Nairobi in 1997 ahead of Chameleone who left in the early 2000s. By the time he made the trip to Nairobi, Cool was already getting full-page coverage in Kenyan newspapers.

"I was in Nairobi without anything to eat. But Rastaman [meaning Cool] always looked for me to buy me food... I will never forget, there is a day he found me and told me, you look like you haven't eaten, and he used about KShs62 to buy me chicken and soda... and he told me if I give you cash you will use it to buy cigarettes... I and Bebe Cool have always been like that, as my friend," Chameleone said.

"I call Bebe Cool rasta... we've been through a lot together... He has always visited me on birthdays, so I felt it was important to visit his home... it's been long since I was at his house... I first met Bebe Cool in 1995, and I was working at Misawuli [he used to be an emcee and a Karaoke performer at Misawuli, which was located in Maganjo] and I looked up to him... because he was famous before me..."

He added: "There is a time we shared a taxi and I was seated behind him and I tapped on him and introduced myself as Raggaman Jose... I told him to give me an opportunity to showcase my music and he was honest and told me he is going to sit S.6 exams, but get time and meet me at Kamwokya Flats, we shall talk."

Chameleone, Cool and Wine played a huge role in shaping the Ugandan music industry as we know it.

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