## Bien said I was the weakest artist when dismissing me from Sol Gen – Crystal Asige

Nominated Senator Crystal Asige is accusing former colleagues Sauti Sol and their record label, Sol Generation, of exploiting her disability for financial gain.

The allegations center on her contributions to five songs, including “Extravaganza” and “1919 to Forever,” when she worked for Sol Generation before being allegedly fired.

Testifying at the High Court this week in a copyright infringement lawsuit she filed in 2022 against Sauti Sol and Sol Generation, she claimed several reasons were given for her dismissal.

She claims the dismissal came after she persisted in requesting a meeting with “the boys” (Sauti Sol) to discuss a possible 360 recording deal with Sol Generation instead of the Artist Development Agreement she was offered, which she was reluctant to sign as she felt it was exploitative after seeking legal advice.

Lady Justice Margaret Mwangi heard that the Senator was allegedly dismissed as she continued to push for the meeting which never took place as “the boys” were always busy.

She claimed that she was asked to be patient as the management was working on the said meeting. In the meantime, she claims that Sol Generation continued to front her as one of the label’s signees, yet she did not have a binding contract with the label.

“They used my images and likeness to market my brand as part of the four artists under the label. My disability was also used as part of their marketing and PR strategy. It was a selling point for them because not only was I the only female in the group, but I was also the only person with a disability, and therefore it was used to garner support and praise from the public for the label as having championed and supported the development of a young woman with a disability, which no other label was doing at the time.” The visually-impaired singer told the court.

But in his written testimony, Sauti Sol’s and Sol Generation Legal Counsel shareholder and co-director Moriasi Omambia denied the claims.

“At all times during our engagement, she was treated with care and respect and when she had to undertake her medical procedures through communication with her brother Kelvin Asige, it was made clear to him that she should take as much time as she needed to recover. Furthermore, we have never pretended or exploited her disability for financial gain,” Omambia said.

On November 7, 2019, she says she was summoned to a meeting attended by singer one of Sauti Sol members Bien Aime, and Mr. Omambia, where she was dismissed from Sol Generation.

“The meeting was to break the news to me that they had sat down and decided to dismiss me. It was confusing because they cited many things for my dismissal which were contradicting. Bien cited that I was the weakest of the acts in terms of performing, recording, basically in all aspects of an artiste. But at the same time, he said I was amazing at songwriting. I was also told by Moriasi Omambia that the reason they were dismissing me was that they were broke and they couldn’t afford to have as many artists as they started with at the beginning of the year. They also said they didn’t believe I was ready and many other reasons that were cited. It wasn’t clear. There wasn’t one pinpoint, it seemed to be whatever was thrown on the wall, whatever would stick.” Lady Justice Mwangi heard.