I don't see anything controversial about it. Now people put Koffi Olomide and Papa Wemba on the same level. But back in those years the early 90s and mid-90s people weren't giving Koffi the same status like they are giving him today, he was in those years on the way to become a big leader. But people now think that he was already a big influencer since 1983 while he struggeled alot to get those respects. Alot of people weren't even taking Koffi serious in 80s seeing him as "faux musicien", someone who just want to copy Julio Iglesias, who only sings for girls, mutu yaba boubou (back in those days you had to put only expesive clothes on to earn respect), etc.. They were then rating King Kester Emeneya above him who used to the most popular artist of Zaire from 1982 until 1990 and also Nyoka Longo. Kester lost that spot in the mid 90s because of not being productive like in the 80s. After having performed Olympia & Zenith, people started to give Koffi alot of respect, but Koffi messed it up by dissing Nyoka Longo and Papa Wemba who started music years before him. Its like Deplick or Djino suddenly getting alot of fame and starting to diss Fally or Ferre. This all made people hate Koffi, but it went all to his favor because of Wemba & Nyoka Longo reacting to his provocations and Koffi acting like being the victim. He used the same tactic with his younger brothers of Wenge (J.B. M'piana & Werrason), just to get attention.
Despite the succes of Noblesse Oblige, V12, Loi, Ultimatum, Magie, etc., people in the Congolese community were still seeing Papa Wemba as his elder and he was then considered as leader of the 3th generation, because of being seen as the one who introduced "La Sape" in Congo Kinshasa which influenced a whole generation. Also because of being the first artist after Franco and Tabu Ley who was still on the top,having 20+ years of succes while most guys of his generation dissapeard (Evoloko, Gina Efonge, etc.). With Wemba also being one of the rare artists who made bandmembers who succeed after leaving Viva La Musica and also even members of Viva La Musica (King Kester Emeneya, Koffi Olomide, Stervos Niarcos, Dindo Yogo, Reddy Amisi, Felix Wazekwa, Debaba, Modogo Gianfranco Ferre, etc.). This all made him earn nicknames as Mwalimu, Foridoles (Formateurs des Idoles) & Vieux Fula Ngenge (The Sage Who Breathes Fame). That's why everybody wanted to join Viva La Musica in the 70's, 80's and 90s like how everybody wants to join Wenge Maison Mere today, in order to get exposure with in Europe based Congolese artists wanting to record albums backed by Viva La Musica and having a featering with Papa Wemba(Franck Issekya, Pacha, Didier Milla, Modogo Gianfranco Ferre, etc.). Being also the one who tried bring Congolese music in other area's by performing in Japan back in 1986, 1987, 1989 and 1991 and starting that worldmusic-career from 1986, meeting then big stars like Sting, Eric Clapton, David Bowie, Elton John, etc. performing with them on the same stage , touring all the continents, being showed on channels like BBC, CNN, TF1, France 2, ZDF, etc. (which was very hard in those years). Now it seems that everybody forget all about those facts, but its also on a part Wemba's fault.
The video was not a real interview, it was more like a press-conference with fans asking questions one by one. The full version is on youtube.
They recorded it at "La Reference", who was then owned by Shaguy Sharufa. It used to be the most famous nightclub of Brussels and Paris. Everytime if a big artist came to Brussels, they would invite the artist for a playback at La Reference (King Kester Emeneya, Koffi Olomide, J.B. M'piana, Adolphe Dominguez, Bozi Boziana, Reddy Amisi, etc.) and a kind like press-conference only fans. With the the journalist (i forgot his name) asking questions and fans also getting the opporturnity to ask questions to the artist. The concept was called "Cycle de Verite" with many VHS being put on the market. Those videos are very rare and we are very lucky to those videos back.
