Producer says Zim hip hop is fatherless

By Bongani Ndlovu

Hip hop music in Zimbabwe is ‘fatherless’ as youngsters do not have anyone to look up to, says veteran producer and musician Bukhosi Maphosa popularly known as Ndebele Black.

Ndebele Black will be remembered by many as Biko Maximus, a person who walked from Bulawayo to Harare some four years ago in protest over the perceived marginalisation of artistes from his home city by national radio stations. This walk came a week before the 2014 Zim Hip Hop awards and generated a lot of interest as it was covered by different media houses.

As an artiste, Ndebele Black has been in the game professionally for the past 20 years and is one of the most respected MCs in the country. Ndebele Black who changed his name to be in tune with his culture, says he has realised that hip hop artistes in the country have no one to look up to.

“Hip Hop in Bulawayo and Zimbabwe as a whole is fatherless as there’s no mentor. No one knows who to look up to. Kendrick Lamar will say he looks up to N.W.A, the late Tupac and Snoop Dogg. In Zimbabwe who do we look up to? Who do the new guys look up to?”asked Ndebele Black.

He said this was because those like Otis Fraser, Gibson Ncube and Kimble Rogers who pioneered hip hop in the country in the 2000s were not that successful in their quest as they all left the country in search of greener pastures.

Artistes such as Dirty Ghetto Project, Skull Crackers of the Mai vaLeopoldo fame, Amagangsters, Koncentration Kamp, Animal Farm and Kwaito Kazinz were discovered during that time.

“What I’ve noticed is that because some of those who pioneered hip hop failed to make it then, noone paid attention to the artistes they nurtured. Otis Fraser and other DJs in Bulawayo would give us spots in nightclubs to perform, something that’s lacking now.

“They all left the country and we were left to fend for ourselves which was very difficult,” said Ndebele Black.

He said there was a need to set up a proper structure in the country where at the end of the day, stars will be born and icons made so that up-and-coming artistes will have someone to look up to.

These words however do not bode well for a man who in the year 2000 released an album called Rap Chimurenga that at the time sold 1 000 copies and landed him a recording deal with 3FM now Power FM.

Ndebele Black said the future is bleak because radio stations are still reluctant to play their (Zim Hip Hop artistes) music.

“It was and still is hard to get our music played on radio. I remember I was once told that if I’m singing or rapping in my mother tongue isiNdebele, I’m supposed to do Kwaito. They (radio DJs) didn’t want to hear anything about hip hop.

“I was also told that our music is sub-standard yet interestingly I was producing tracks for urban groove artistes like Roki, Maskiri and Stunner that were played on radio.”

For this reason, Ndebele Black walked in protest some four years ago because he knew that their music was and still is quality but was not played on national radio.

“When I protested, I knew what I was talking about because our music is quality. Radio stations don’t have a leg to stand on with regards to this. It’s someone who deliberately doesn’t want to play your music simple,” said Ndebele Black.

After years of working with other artistes, Ndebele Black said it was time for him to celebrate 20 years of being in the game.

“As a way to announce being in the game for 20 years, I’ll release a double CD titled We Never die. It has 20 tracks with 20 artistes that I’ll drop soon.

“I’m just mastering some of the songs as they were recorded a long time ago and the sound isn’t that good. The double CD is a celebration of all the years I’ve been in the game,” he said.

“The album is more of social commentary, talking about the struggles we have as Zimbabweans. I want to enter it into the Zim Hip hop awards and see how it does,” said Ndebele Black. The Chronicle