Jah Prayzah “Game of Stones” must end

Jah Prayzah was in the media as the trending topic since last week no less. And for someone who touts himself as a soldier; that indefatigable breed of men with spine and spleen and ready to wade in the brimstone of hell to prove their steely machismo, did he just not come across as a big girl’s blouse?

In a nutshell he lost a wheel whilst driving to a show, his mother had a bad dream, showers rendered some speakers at his show defunct and he had to cancel and a car rammed into a car near his manager’s vehicle.

On the morrow, because of contractual clauses in his show, he played before the invisible angels dead at 6pm at the Tarrus Riley show as a curtain raiser in the real sense of the word, went in his traditional tardy style late to the Castle Lager Braaifest and got pelted with missiles for disrespectful lateness, woke up to news that his erstwhile aide had died in a horrific car accident and was again pelted that evening at another event for . . . wait for it . . . being late for that show as well!

Come the morrow and one, and he was again pelted at the aide’s funeral for murky reasons best known to those who rained missiles on him worse that meteor showers. Speculation has everything from being, again, fashionably late to the funeral, egotistical tendencies (amongst them selfie taking) and not honouring moral obligations of extending a helping hand to the family of his late former chaperone.

“Weeping” and “emotional”, the big girl’s blouse in him came out when he said he had been scarred by the events which apparently marked the worst week of his life. But perhaps there is a silver lining that would determine this to be the best week of his life instead.

If those that love the artiste will be honest with him then this must pass as Jah Prayzah’s luckiest week ever. An opportunity to help address a severe case of aggravated conceitedness that the artiste has been suffering of late. In fact for quite a while cumulatively for the discerning Jah Prayzah observer.

Barring the lickfest of his bootlickers infesting public and media spaces who answer to “our media who art in Jah Prayzah’s pocket,” literally, level-headed people in operation “restore Jah Prayzah’s humility” will agree that they are in the last chance saloon and drinking their last drop. Beyond this it will get messy.

Lessons are drawn from very small things. Different crowds in different cities and venues cannot all conspire to “fight” Jah Prayzah after having paid their hard-earned money to see him perform. His legions of cataract-riddled fans, who blindly worship him with opacity however, did not see that perhaps there is something intrinsically wrong with JP’s conduct.

Tardiness is a sin. They do after all say time is money and Jah Prayzah does not seem to respect time nor want to arrive on time at events be it a show or a funeral. At this rate, the fellow, if unrepentant and unreformed, may be late for his own funeral. Each missile thrown by the unruly hooligans should be a flying message in the face of Jah Prayzah. Fame, and indeed fortune and the cult of hero worship by man is not an infinite product. Humility, and what it breeds however, is!

After all the fame dies and those who love us turn against us, the humility that you exhibit, and the good that it attracts lasts forever. Word of not so decent living and working conditions for his workers, abandonment of his former and existing workers and indeed the Weinstein-Trump attitude for which he was acquitted by a partisan court of public opinion where grabbed Gonyeti (Pamela Zulu) by the “whatsitsname” in true Donald Trump style, is eroding the affability he exuded when he broke onto the scene.

We have a vanity that was not a part of the old Jah, who used to arrive on time without the new hubris and cockiness of this new breed of person he has become. Before you view yourself as the victim, perhaps it is wise to step back and ask yourself why so many people from many different backgrounds are taking exception at your conduct.

And there is a lesson too for his fans. It is ok to call out Jah Prayzah and reprimand him. It is not hate, it is loving verbal discipline. Marshall Munhumumwe said it well, “Nyangwe ndiri muvengi wako pandagona bvumawo. Chero uchindidawo seyi pandatadza shorawo” (Regardless of how much you hate me applaud my achievements and no matter how much you love me admonish me when I go astray).

Oliver Mtukudzi sings it in his song “Ninipa” (humble yourself) “Kuzvininipisa kune pundutso, ukasadaro chimoto” (humbling yourself is rewarding. If you do not humble yourself you will face a fiery backlash) he sings. Perhaps now the better ending would be “ukasadaro matombo”! And never take a selfie-stick to a funeral. Nor allow anyone to shift attention to you when there is obviously the dead who deserve their day. With a little patience we all have our own special sending off day!

And to the hooligans there is a lesson too! No matter how many missiles you throw at Jah Prayzah, he will not learn the lesson. He got missiles three days in a row and still missed a burial. Perhaps the best way would be to engage. Violence, after all, is not a solution and it has no place in our society for whatever reason! This season of Jah Prayzah in “Game of Stones” must end. The Herald