Fans have been left scratching their heads in confusion after it was confirmed recently that Big Nuz had "parted ways" with record label Afrotainment‚ with the group's Mampintsha hinting at tension between himself and DJ Tira‚ and Tira denying the label was jealous of Mampintsha's business success.

DJ Tira settled months of speculation about the group‚ revealing in a statement on Sunday that the popular Kwaito group was no longer part of the label that discovered them.

The news left fans shook and they flocked onto social media to share their thoughts on the split.

As attention started to turn to questions about the split‚ Mampintsha told Gagasi FM that the group never said they wanted to leave but started noticing a deterioration in his own relationship with Tira and Afrotainment.

"To‚ to be honest‚ the whole thing between Big Nuz leaving Afrotainment was because of my company‚ from the day I started having a company‚ things started to not go well. Friendships started to become shaky.

"Even when I got Babes‚ I became someone who people gossiped about‚ even to this day I'm being gossiped about. So that's the true story‚ no one said they wanted to leave‚ I never wanted to leave‚ I've never spoken about Tira or Afrotainment I just want to develop my own company. You'll see that there was a time Big Nuz didn't record for an entire year‚ so at that time I was busy developing my own artist (Babes Wodumo)."

Mampintsha also suggested that since he had signed Babes‚ Tira had stopped working on Big Nuz and shifted his attention to replicating Mampintsha's success.

Tira told TshisaLIVE that he was not jealous of Mampintsha's success and was just focused on himself.

"We are not jealous. My relationship with Mampintsha is fine. He even called me to book me for a show in March‚ which shows how our relationship is. I don't know anything about gossiping or jealousy. We are doing well at Afrotainment and I am focusing on DJ Tira. I issued the statement to stop people asking me about Big Nuz."

Tira's record label hit the headlines last week when Babes posted a video of two of Afrotainment artists‚ Tipcee and DJ Cndo‚ allegedly gossiping. She claimed that the pair were gossiping about her and Big Nuz members Mampintsha and Danger. These reports came just days after Tira held a meeting with dancer Zodwa Wabantu about her conduct on stage.

Tira denied that he had lost control over the record label and was distracted by the Big Nuz split while his artists ran amok.

"We are doing fine. We had a great year and I think we are doing well. There are always ups and downs‚ these things happen. It is under control and people talking about us is a sign that we are doing the right thing. People will always talk about you when you are doing well. Afrotainment is stronger than ever‚ we are doing better than ever and this is just part of the journey."