VIDEO: ‘Not so, Kasanova!’
CLOSE to three weeks after he was reported missing, Kasanova has suddenly reappeared.
In a tell-all interview with Splash, the entertainer said he had to seek refuge from his former manager Sheldon “Jay Bad” Lincoln. The singjay accused him of verbal abuse, withholding his musical earnings, and death threats on his life and his family’s.
“I have been under the control of a manager who was tearing down my career. It was one of the worst experiences I have had to endure in a long time. He was making me do music that I didn’t want to do… I was managing myself. I had to be doing my business and his also,” he said.
Kasanova said he realised his former manager, with whom he shared a residence in St Catherine with his family for more than a year, was controlling and didn’t have his best interest at heart.
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“Things started to come to light when a person [based overseas] wanted to know why the business he had paid for wasn’t done. I realised I was being robbed. I tried to leave from around him, but the first time my life was threatened and the second time a gun was held to my head,” he said.
Kasanova said he sought the help of the ‘Hundred Man’ police and reported the matter. However, he was told to “make a song about the incident and clash it out at Sting”.
He said he had no other choice except to lay low.
Kasanova was reported missing on Thursday, July 20. Up to earlier this week, the Corporate Communications Unit of the Jamaica Constabulary Force had still listed him as missing.
Earlier this week, Kasanova resurfaced with the help of his new management team.
In his defence, however, Lincoln dismissed most claims made by his former artiste.
Admitting that they did share a St Catherine residence, Jay Bad said he was showing acts of kindness when he invited him to live with himself and his family.
“He grew up in a strict Christian home and it was difficult for him do music as he couldn’t stay out late at nights; he had a curfew. We a man, so when mi a talk to him mi nuh talk to him soft. Mi nah lie, more time me say some tings to him weh coulda pass off as disrespect, but a really fi straighten him up cuz mi a look out for him,“ he said.
Lincoln denied he had held a gun to him, held him captive, or robbed him of his musical earnings.
“I bought him just about everything he owns today; from clothes to furniture. He never did a show, so he wasn’t making any money. If a one time a man send a small change for a dub and I take it, nothing no wrong because it’s nothing compared to what mi spend,” he said.
Lincoln said the two had issues leading up to Kassanova’s disappearance, but said he believed everything was resolved even the morning before he left.
“The Wednesday night he told me he had to do something for his mom the following morning, and I said okay. I spoke with him the Thursday morning about two times, and then when I tried calling his phone in the afternoon, it went to voicemail,” he said.
Lincoln said he later made contact with Kasanova’s family to see if they knew of his whereabouts.
“The following morning his mother told me she had reported him missing. I knew he wasn’t kidnapped or that he hadn’t committed suicide as some of his personal belongings were also missing. No one takes their belongings when they are going to be kidnapped or commit suicide,” he said.
He said the house was searched by the police and he went to the Hundred Man Station to give statements on more than one occasion.
“He is trying to bring me down… If I was all that wicked and was holding him captive, why is now him choose to leave when he had his own key and a cellphone to call the police?” he said.
“We started his career with a lie when wi splice a voice note send by Alkaline to someone else. We lied and made it appear that he was a ghost-writer for Alka, but the truth is, he didn’t write a single line for him. We started with a lie so now I guess he is ending it with lies.”