Just how bad is Jah Prayzah’s ‘Chitubu’?

By Robert Mukondiwa

It has been a raging debate that threatens to have the United Nations convene an emergency sitting of the Security Council.And unlike in the past when Jah Prayzah would sit out the bout, he has also worn his gloves accusing the media of graft, attempts at extortion and seeking to get him to pay a little in something of a shakedown.

“It pains that after putting in all sweat and sleepless nights for a product that most of you have told me you love so dearly, still some journalist feels I owe him a part of my fruits,” wailed Jah Prayzah on social media.

It is scary stuff. Jah Prayzah’s fruits are being targeted. Although one would naively be puzzled because one hardly suspects the lanky crooner has an orchard. But that would be a digression.

There are two distinct teams here. Some who say ‘‘Chitubu’’ is a terrible album that is not worth its mettle and others who says it is the best thing since sliced bread. There are hardly people sitting on the fence in this war.

Some say it is a water spring (Chitubu) that is overflowing with cool refreshing spring water so fresh it can quench the thirst of the wayfarer from Arabia who will have come by foot. The other end has people say it is a spring remarkably similar to the ones in Chitungwiza which the council is battling to contain which carries unmentionable material dumped from the bowels of men after digestion.

Fact of the matter is, when Jah Prayzah does anything, as he is arguably the artiste of the moment, a moment that has actually lasted for quite a bit of a while, many people would want to analyse it and give a verdict based on their opinion. And everyone is entitled to their opinion without being accused of shaking fruit from the trees in private orchards.

Jah Prayzah’s music has always been like that ugly birth that glows as the baby grows. You cannot judge it after one listening, one week or one month. Last year he released lyrics in his ‘‘Ndini Ndamubata’’ which actually sounded like the ranting of a spirited moron. Yet with time the song became a runaway hit.

Now people analyse his material even more because he has had a number of hits and misses.

‘‘Angel O’’, ‘‘My Lily’’ and ‘‘Ronika’’ for examples were tracks that had enough to have him hauled to the International Criminal Court in The Hague for crimes against the arts.

And yet he has also had a string of beauties of hits as well to earn himself some mitigation for his crimes.

If anything, the fact that many people are debating ‘‘Chitubu’’ is a good sign. If the album had been released by anyone other than JP, it would have been tossed into the bin and people would have gone ahead with their daily lives. Truth is it hardly has runaway hits so far and that may well be its ultimate fate.

But no matter how messy Jah Prayzah gets, he elicits analysis because he is a special artiste who has given people hits in the past.

Take a look at it this way: if a beggar vomits by the roadside, people will be disgusted, not look twice at his vomit walk off and be utterly horrified.

But this is Jah Prayzah who has vomited. He is a king.

And when a king vomits people run their fingers through his vomit and say,” Well OK, he has vomited.

It is bad but it is not too bad because in his vomit are olives, and shrimps. Oh and look, there are also prawns and caviar in there!”

No matter how bad Jah Prayzah performs, he will always have a die-hard cultic group of followers who will no doubt be at hand to defend him and listen to his stuff regardless of quality.

In fact, a group of worshippers have tried to argue that ‘‘Chitubu’’ is great because the video for ‘‘Dzamutsana’’ has been viewed more times than Winy D’s ‘‘Paper-bag’’.

A person with any grey matter between their ears will know that watching something does not equate to endorsing it as good. Since the beginning of time Satan has come into contact with trillions of people. That does not make him popular amongst humans simply because he has interacted with all of us including Christ himself!

At the end of it all when all is said and done, ‘‘Chitubu’’ is like Marmite. You either love it or you absolutely hate it.

And to answer the question of whether ‘‘Chitubu’’ is good or bad, well, answer is that is a question that shall never get a consensus response.

If you like it listen. If you don’t; like Johnnie walker you will keep on walking away from it. It is that simple.

My take? I will keep walking like Johhnie! The Herald.