By Panashe David Babi
Zim Hip-hop, a genre that is slowly being appreciated by the youthful populace in Zimbabwe is slowly finding its place in the general music arena.
It was a great year for Zim Hip-hop as many artists all with diverse and different styles delivered music to their fans both at home and abroad through mainstream media, streams and live shows.
The year indeed started on a high note as man of the moment Voltz JT released MUKOMA BRIAN a track that stood the test of time, from February 2024 to winning SONG OF THE YEAR at the ZIM HIP-HOP 2024 awards.
As expected, there were features and single tracks but the major highlight was his 2024 album N.O.P. MAKONI released two years after his last one, LIFE OF MUVHIMI which also won Album of the year.
Around the same time (February 2024), Holy Ten delivered the RISKY LIFE II album that he had promised in the WE DON’T DO THAT HERE (2023) freestyle, the album had tracks such as BANGA and NDOTOKUDA which went on to become popular amongst many digital streaming platforms.
To round up the year, Holy Ten released another album PROUD FATHER which to this day is popular.
2023 Album of The Year winner Malcom Mufunde released his early track CONTROLLA MADE ME DO IT, which has an interesting back story behind it something I really won’t delve into (apologies), the artist released FOUR ALBULMS in 2024: ENHLE, EKASI, EKWEDU II & EKASI II giving his fans a lot of music.
Mufunde ended the year with a heart-breaking announcement, indicating that he is retiring from music…
For the Gweru artist Kayflow, it was a good year, lots of good live performances, feature tracks and of course the NYAMADRIVE album which saw him featuring with Takura and Nutty O successfully.
Kayflow brought glory to the Midlands Province as he scooped the BEST LIVE ACT award at the 2024 Zim Hip-hop awards something that we in the Midlands Province Celebrate.
Bagga, who won the Best video of the year ‘Jerusalema’, the Gevha President had also an amazing year, dropping hits such as ‘Mvura’ and ‘Nhemamusasa’.
2024 also had many yester-year hit makes appearing on the music scene Ti Gonz gave us an album ‘FROM BOYS TO MEN’ which saw many appreciating his lyricism as well as longevity in the game.
Speaking of longevity, Alishias Musimbe mwana wa Christopher popularly known as Maskiri did not disappoint at all. ‘Harare Drive’ a single track had many of his fans on their feet.
R Peels did come through with a great project through a sequel album GOD MY THERAPIST II which had bangers and already announced a decision to go into fused beats or what many call ‘commercial’ mainstream music.
SaintFloew has enjoyed the year as well, his feature track with Kwesta BAG RA JAHMAN made waves both in Zimbabwe and abroad, another track MAGARITA also had a level of success putting ‘Santa’ in a certain level. The major worry amongst Him hip-hop fans was when Saintfloew snubbed all his project at the Zim hip-hop awards making him ineligible to be considered as a nominee on all categories.
While it is a fact that Zim Hip-hop is mainly male dominated, artists like Young Gemini and Banshee have helped to push the genre a little further while Kikky Badass has maintained her star performance as a rapper.
Heralding each and every artist is a difficult task, as Zim Hip-hop has far moved from a minor genre dominated by few individuals, the genre is now diverse accommodating ghetto youths through Bling 4, Tha Bees and uptown kids through Raykaz and many others.
Next year Zim Hip-hop will even go further, artists such as Jungle Loco have already promised fans an album and hopefully will deliver on such a promise.
New kids on the block (according to bloggers and mainstream media of course) such as Runna Rulez and Gambit Illmind will take the scene by storm as their music along many other young artists get accepted by fans everywhere.
There’s a side of Zim Hip-hop that most people do not talk about, the side where lyricism is not a point of compromise, where bars mean everything and the traditional rap beat is mandatory on each and every song.
The lack of compromise has been without doubt a point of contention, compromise in case refers to the mixture of rap with other beats to accommodate fans who generally do not ascribe themselves to the hip-hop ‘culture’.
The phenomena is global, trap even in the United States a point of reference when talking about Hip-Hop has seen the same as what was traditionally considered as rap is slowly been unaccepted by us the Gen Zs.
To say Zim Hip-hop is the biggest genre at the moment is an exaggeration, events from other genres such as cup clashes in Zim Dancehall opened many eyes of how shallow the genre (hip-hop) has penetrated amongst the average Zimbabwean.
At the same time to say Zim Hip-hop does not matter in as much as music is considered is also an exaggeration simply because a few individuals have deeply rooted their presence in Zimbabwe which is unfortunate.
One would ask why I argue that a few individuals dominating the Zim Hip-hop scene is tragic, the truth is competition is what strengthened and solidified other genres, take Sungura and Zim Dancehall for instance, on their peak the genres had stiff competition and this catapulted the huge fan base artists enjoy.
2025 will be better, more new artists coming in, more unique and diverse music being produced and ending the note on a high. Anyways what do I know, I am just a Gweru Kid…