Popular Khelobedu disco proponent King Monada is embroiled in an on-and-off stage beef with DJ Rakzen, allegedly over money.

As a result Rakzen, aka Ngwako Maimela, acrimoniously left King Monada's stable and joined Monada's rival label Open Mic Production.

Open Mic, ironically, are Monada's former production home, and Sunday World has learnt that a legal showdown is looming as the label accuses Monada of breaching his contract.

Meanwhile, the battle between King Monada - real name Khutso Kgatle - and Rakzen, which was kept hush-hush, came to the fore when Monada released the song Chiwana in which he apparently disses Rakzen.

In the song, Monada says people must not mistaken his material possessions for wealth. Rakzen responded by releasing a ditty titled Chiwana Ye, in which he says people should not forget where they come from after they had accumulated wealth.

Rakzen confirmed he parted ways with Monada but declined to comment on allegations it was over moolah.

"I wanted to start doing my own thing but we'll still work together when necessary," he said.

Open Mic director Molao Rammalo confirmed Rakzen joined them after Monada left their stable before his contract expired.

"DJ Rakzen has joined us and we are working on his 2018 album. I can also confirm that Monada has left, but I'm not going to go into details about why he left the stable. I also want to state on record that contractually, he is still our artist and we will soon have a meeting to discuss this issue," Rammalo said.

Two independent sources who are close to both artists said Monada recruited Rakzen to work with him and promised to buy him a car and financially take care of him.

"When they were working together they both produced hits and all was well until Monada reneged on his promises to buy him a car," said Rakzen's associate.

The associate said the last straw that broke the camel's back was when Rakzen complained that Monada reduced him to an ice boy when they were shooting a video of the song Chancellor.

"That's when he called it quits," said the associate.

An Open Mic employee, who did not want to be named, said the stable parted ways with Monada after a dispute over how he treated his dancers and vocalists.

King Monada could not be reached for comment but his manager Albert Makwela said they parted ways with Rakzen because he was doing business with Open Mic while contracted to King Monada Music.

"That's why we did not to feature him in the video because we lost trust in him."

Makwela alleged Monada left Open Mic because they short-changed him over appearance fees.

Rammalo denied the allegations that he was not paying King Monada adequately, saying they knew nothing about the payments.