NOBLE STYLEZ: KING OF WORDPLAY?

Whether, you hate him or like him, you cant ignore this

Regai ndivaite party asi kwete ye politics/ Vachagara vari panzara vakafanana ne Cutex

Practizayi musimbe kunge surname ya Maskiri/ Munenge hanzvadzi dzamudhara wangu muri vatete kwandiri

Off his first major offering “Masofa Panze”, Noble Stylez is one of those Non Harare (thankfully) rappers who made enough noise this year that we are frankly surprised that he isn’t on the nominee list this year for the Zim Hip Hop Awards.

His claim to fame…

The Masvingo MC has apparently been around for quite some time and quite honestly,we did not know him because of his music first. What caught our attention was the fact that he always used to be that one person always criticising and incessantly picking on Tatea Da MC, MMT and their outfit Rehab ENT. The streets say that, the reason he did this was his mentioned adversaries were the reason why underground rappers were not a getting a chance to shine.  Whether most of his followers thought that his adversaries controlled the flow of music on radio or what not we dont know, but it all resulted in a huge internet following for the rapper who has fans (he does not like them calling them that, he prefers using family) that will bite your head off if you try and test the King of Wordplay. Listening to his music, you can tell that it was bound to get to our ears sometime sooner than later. That is why, PUSH will salute his decided strategy to attack MMT and Rehab ENT as his way to be heard and seen. The results have been phenominal. We’re not saying every-would be rapper should attack Rehab, Few Kings, Showtime or Zion but they should at least show that they have the time to push their music.

Masofa Panze…

This album for those who have listened to it is above par, no doubt. You will be kept entertained by the out of this world themes, the beats are reminiscent of early Zim rap in the years two thousand and somethings, but most of all, the guys wordplay is just by leaps and bounds one of the best in Zimbabwe. We have gotten so used to loud hip hop, escapist ideas and things centred around the capital city so much that it is refreshing to know that there Hip Hop lives outside the bounds of the capital city. Noble Stylez, not only can come up with the wittiest punchlines, but he is also a good story teller. The narrations of some of his tails on the album on songs like Mpho’s Story, Chamunorwa are colourful and easy to follow. His other songs are your normal rap-like, braggadocio songs like Madhorifiaya, Dhuku rechembere where he flexes and shows you why he really is a force to be reckoned with. The other tracks on the album are eye brow raising and controversial, touching on conspiracy theories such as modern day World domination and other thought provoking issues such as life after death, spiritual visitations and relationships with God.

But then again

Despite all the good Noble Stylez has, he might be called the next Maskiri. Sometimes it feels like you are listening to a remake of Maskiri. Mostly because their styles are almost similar, the way the songs are presented also remind us of Maskiris past albums such as Blue Movie and Muviri wese, the themes are also kinda similar. But in the game of Hip Hop this is bound to happen some time or the other and its not about who did it first its about who did it better.

The future for Noble Stylez

We would really love to hear this MC getting a whole lot more airplay. We can almost see the beginning of a legend in this rapper. He has gone against the grain, taking on a big team, released an album without a major radio hit and as he is already a respected free style artist, with an internet following that competes with some of the heavy weights in the industry, his progression in the game is really dependent on what he does as an individual ALL HAIL NOBLE STYLEZ…RISING KING OF WORDPLAY.

GET HIS ALBUM AT THIS LINK YOU WONT REGRET IT

www.mediafire.com%2F%3F4u4c23ubixall&h=ZAQFE7PSI

PUSH

Why Zimbabwean fans won't buy your CD or come to your show

“Zimbabwean fans suck! They never come to our shows! They want to pay $15 for Sean Kingston but won’t pay $5 for local shows”

Every artiste’s favourite line. Have you guys ever tried thinking WHY the local fans are like that? It is actually quite simple. YOU are not worth even their five dollars. This is when the average Zimbabwean artist will want to bring to our attention the fact that Sean Kingston got slayed by Winky D and a couple of local acts at his concerts and Zimbos still won’t pay $5 to go watch them.

A good number of Zimbabwean artistes do not understand one thing. YOU are a brand! You need to market your brand. Your brand needs to be worth my $5 for the show or $3 for the CD. It’s simple, sometimes the music you make as Zimbabwean artistes will be more entertaining for me as a fan than the international act but you packaging is crappier than kiddies underwear bought at Powersales.

Why I won’t come to your show

As a fan I’ll be honest. I don’t give a two damn rat rectums  how much I love your song, how many chart topping songs you’ve made, if the flier/poster to your show looks like it was designed and printed kuna Mbuya Nehanda or Chinhoyi Street you’re guaranteed not to see my money. Zimbabwean artistes need to know that from the moment they get into the public eye the marketing game starts. Of course when you start off there are some not so awesome  gigs like Agric Show slot performances or a show at a high School at their variety show. The thing is, you never know who is watching or who is there! If you can barely stay upright and are staggering all over the stage because of your intoxication at a sponsored event, do you think I will be there when you do your own thing?

This is why I will spend my money on Mi Casa/Bryan Adams/*insert international act here. I will spend that money there and NOT on you because I’m guaranteed of organisation. Even if the sound check goes on forever at the international act’s show, I’m still almost guaranteed of a good show, good to excellent sound system and a well planned event in general. I go to a local show that is a collection of local artists and I get a sound system that sounds like  two dollar earphones, a longer than a Harry Potter movie sound check (where there’s no band), and guys passing two microphones among the six of them! THAT is why you are not worth my money!

Music is a product just like any other. Artists need to learn what exactly it is that fans pay for. Sometimes fans pay for exclusitivity, sometimes ambience of a place, and some fans place a lot of value on time. Artists need to know exactly why local fans are keeping their money in their pockets.

Why I won’t buy your CD

Another Nehanda/Chinhoyi St artwork job! I am not going to touch this. Or if it’s a princo CD, title written in marker ink, in your Hwindi handwriting, sooo NOT going to buy this. Your album art is a picture of you paDurawall next door with text editing that looks like it was done on a phone, yup you guessed it, NOT buying it!! Maybe won’t even listen to it. And if I was a radio DJ, the only air time your music would have is between the distance from my hand and the refuse in a  bin! Guys printing CDs doesn’t cost much. The costs are honestly negligible. Please do just that.

The fans also won’t buy your CD if you cannot invest in yourself (which I feel is a big problem with Zim artists). Just because I said invest in yourself doesn’t mean we’re saying print t – shirts.  We mean the simple things; there are a lot of marketing gimmicks that you can do for free to make your music known to us. Look at Noble Stylez; he took on one of the most happening stables in the country and made noise on Facebook until he was heard. Now people know him. Now people know that there’s something called “Masofa panze”.  Or look what Few Kings did at the Big Chill; having guys in crowns sell the CDs, a website. It’s the little things like that, that can make a scrooge buy your CD.  At the same time sometimes artistes must be willing to spend money.

…Because gosh you videos are appalling..

We cannot be the only Zimbabweans tired of videos without concepts or themes that come from Zimbabwean artists. How hilarious is the church concept on the King Shaddy “Machira Chete” video? Or who remembers the wonderful simplicity of the Simba Tagz video for “Stronger”? If you suck at conceptualizing, get someone who can help you. We are tired of videos that look like you were only given a day to come up with a concept.

And fellow fans, I’m sure we’re all tired of projects that obviously had no time invested in them. You listen to it and it just sounds like this guy was rushed through production. The content is stupid, the quality just as bad. Like seriously, on average, how much time do our local artists spend on their albums/mixtapes? And to make it worse, when it’s done, this guy just gets up on a random Tuesday morning and posts that his album is out! What? I mean, WHAT? Your album is out? What album? You’ve been working on an album? Not even a countdown?!? Is that really hard? “Guys, my Mixtape drops in X days”. Just push a little, do some makeshift marketing. ANYTHING really!

Guys look. I work a shitty 8-5 job. I have a shitty boss, who’s on my case every breathing moment. This right here...(*waves a wad f $1 notes)...is hard earned cash. You need to show me that you are worth it. Some albums sound like they were competed in a matter of weeks, like someone rushed you to release your album. The result: shoddy workmanship! I’m not about to take my wallet out and pay for that music. People cry that there’s no corporate partnership with the music industry. Corporate will not partner with you solely on the basis of you having three or four records that are on born-free-crew-level rotation on radio and in the clubs. They will also look at the package that is you the artiste and that is where the decision to partner comes. Stunner seriously reinvented himself(or his lady at the time did so) and he got a lot of corporate buy-in, Winky D created the Ninja brand and it resulted in a lot of corporate buy-in. If it was about how many of your songs were hits, Roki would have corporate buy in as well, but we all know that is a good product with flawed packaging!

So our view, make yourself a brand, invest in the little things, invest in some of the big things, take time on your projects and give us the best of you. You’ll be surprised how many people may actually pay for your work.

PUSH

WHO SHALL BE THE LAST WOMAN STANDING?

Yes, the nominees are out and we are wondering what the outcome is going to be. We shall start our watch with those individuals that make the world go round. So we have a wrestling ring with , Alvina in one corner, DJ Naida in another, Trae Young in the third corner and PUSH watching it all in the last one (in a ring with three lovely ladies…NICE!). Help us here, who shall be the best femcee.

Videos

We have seen Naida in one really crazily dope video which was a feature. Trae Yung, like Naida on a vid with other MC’s had a really nice vid also. Alvina? We are still waiting for it, cause all we got were behind the scenes shots to a video that hasn’t came out.

Radio

DJ Naida pretty much owned it at one particular time. We mean that literaly, she ran a show on one of the local radio stations(and we heard a lot of Naida on that show). Trae Yung broke onto radio before Alvina, and whenever she gets a song on radio, it’s another hit. Alvina, probably gets the most requests on radio, whether she is just featuring or it’s actually her own song. That’s how dope she is

Looks

Hehehehe…while we’re on this we watched a couple of videos. Naida looked wonderful in that video with the Trinidad and Tobago goons, though her music is what tugs at us most, you cant ignore the hot curves; Trae Yung is hot, I think we can stop there. She’s HOT, it’s her music. Alvina, er, we saw her on that Zvidhori video..and to tell the truth, she almost saved the video!

Lyricism

Naida, well, doesn’t go all conscious a lot, she is the BEST ENTERTAINER in this ring, mostly turn uppy music. Trae Yung, is the one who actually has the most depth amongst the three. Alvina undoubtedly has the best punchlines in the ring right now.

Public Eye

Naida, well, we hate to say, is always in something, sometimes it’s not because of her, sometimes well it is. Controversial tweets and Facebook rants, victim of rapper punchlines blah blah blah. Trae Yung, is very very humble, never braggy or boasty, we aint got dirt on her at all, she’s about her music. Alvina, besides being in Team Rehab which is always in some issue or the other also isn’t in any ones bad books so far, but then again, when she’s not on radio she’s not in anyone’s books – almost nonexistent and will that be her downfall?

Progress

Naida has contributed the most in the ring. She is for FEMCEE power, she is always busy on one project or the next and they always work out really well. Trae Yung, seems focused, also looks like she has got her own grind on lock, album launches, sales, videos, etc. Alvina? Some of the nicest features, Mau Mau, MMT but we feel like we need more songs and actual projects.

Uniqueness

Naida, stands out because, she  works hard, she is in our faces, she is approachable and has a wide array of musical associations. Your all rounder. Trae Yung, she stands  out for us because she is what you would say “does her own thing”. To us it looks like she isn’t dependent on the big names in the game to have a great album which is also in the running for album of the year. Alvina unlike both these rappers, is very different. Shona raps, punchlines that are scary, and she always sounds angry. She has her own style

Verdict?

That’s up to you, all of them has very great pluses and maybe not so cool attributes…we shall see…come 11 December. See you at the awards

PUSH

MMT LP : ALBUM REVIEW

We waited and it came out, we whipped our $3.00 and bought the album. After having pretty much all the singles they released go on number one on one or more charts on local radio, here is what we think about their whole album The MMT-LP

1.       Wake Up!

You read the track list and you’re like...”oh,  Wake Up? ok, I know that one, then you here the unmistakeable voice of Dj Munya introducing the song, good intro guys!

“homwe dzakazvimba se face yekwa Tin Tin”,

 “Ima need a Big B&%$ ,like DJ Naida”,

Just some of the lines from the first track we heard from the group when they first hit the market. The controversial song they used to propel themselves into our lives, phones, and computers and onto radio. The same song, nothing changed and we still like it...and are still too scared to recite it public.

2.       Handei

Tatea went it alone on this one, with the rest of the team on the hook. Tatea da Mc isn’t the best rap lyricist out there but we have got to put him up there when it comes to delivery and his delivery as he tells this story of a decision to take the music industry by the horns is a good listen, charismatic and well done. We do have an issue with the mastering on this one, some parts of the song have the beat overshadowing the H town King. The beat, was shockingly really head bopping. Its that type of instrumental you want to nod your head to with half a mean mug. The poem at the beginning, Nice! The content is clear and the song we will recommend to anyone. “kwete zva Themba comes to town ne 8 gig re dzungu”

3.       Zvidhori

Erm..we know this song, you know this song; we love it you love it...what more do you want? These guys gave us a term to use on babes without being impolite. The instrumental again, another reason why YoungNash  is one of the best producers this year. The single is naughty, entertaining deserving of praise and plays. The similes and metaphors are relentlessly funny and witty, the delivery by the trio was on point and its one of those that we have witnessed rumps shaking too….alot!

4.       Slow Down Feat Anonzi Xndr

They feature the Rehab ENT boss on this song. Whenever Xndr sings,, you might either like it a lot or like it not. We had a split decision amongst the PUSH team on what we thought of the feature. The instrumental not too aggressive but enjoyable, the raps on the song were nice (as usual) MC Cut did it the most for us. “ndakushupa kunge inlaw”. But we cant forget this line “even if the coin is tails, still getting head”

5.       All the Way feat Tinashe Makura

We are not going to say anything about the subject matter! We know everyone loves this subject matter. Who doesn’t love a nice “close the door and hopes she takes it all off song” We can already see how their minds work. Tinashe Makura is obviously talented in his own right but we thought the pre-chorus after the first verse could’ve done with a little more sprucing up, but we like the rest. Another thing, now we ain’t tryna be meeting the boys from MMT while we with our girls! “I’m the CEO in my company now she wants ,me all up in her business”

6.       Ngirozi feat Tinashe Makura

Our eyebrows got raised a bit when on the tracklist we saw one artist featured twice on songs that come after each other. Then we heard the song, GOSH! There is something about the simplicity of the acoustic feel of instrumental coupled with Tinashe’s  vocals that make this one of the best Hip Hop love songs we have heard this year. It’s a nice calm song to listen to. There seemed to be a consensus here with the PUSH team though that Ngirozi is a better song than the previous one (you see why they shouldn’t have been one after another? We’re comparing now).

7.       Vanozviziva feat Marcques

“...kunge mufundisi paXimex, Havana dhiri ava”

This song was a MC Cut solo with deep voiced stable-mate award nominee,  Marcques. We are not going to lie, this song has the most different feel from most of the songs on the LP but it will definitely be a favourite for many. The partnership of these two artistes makes for a really good track, we bumping to it and we do wanna know! The beat is what many call sick and MC Cut murdered it. “she just went Zii kunge station yeku Newlands”

8.       Party Yatanga feat Darkfface

Another of the four hits that MMT released prior to the LP release.  MMT have proved to us that when its “turn up” songs, that is their area of expertise. That being said...”call it musanganoooooo, kunge party!”  Some people love criticising digital beats, its such people who would be put to shame when they’d listen to such a song.  Its not too loud, they aren’t shouting but still you cant not like it. Could be one of the best on the album

9.       Clear feat Kapital K, Alkamai, Munetsi

Its like watching, the Jamaican 100 metre relay team at the Olympics! It had been long since we heard a cypher-like line up going hard on a beat. This is what you get when you mix, a freestyle legend, a punchline expert an three of the illest rappers in Zimbabwe. No wonder why the abbreviation MMT could mean “..the Murder Murder Team..”

10.   Chakaipa feat Dhadza D

“Hatibatike, nzvee kunge ZESA/ Ane bhora ndiye anomarkwa Iniesta”

A song that transcends two genres, has one of the kings of Zim Dancehall, produced by one of the dopest  Zim Reggae producers, recently took lead on a local radio chart, was the anthem at exclusively Dancehall  get up…you want more?  A word of advice; only listen to it on a good sound system otherwise you may miss out on the little big things!

11.   Harvest (we just tryna eat) feat O-25

Mariachi features the talents of Showtime artiste O-25 to tell a story of the pain of an artiste and speaks on losing love and opportunities. Harvest sounds like a heartfelt song where he also makes reference to recent history. Saddish, full of emotion song, it takes us back to the Mariachi of “The Mariachi Code”. When that comes up, another issue is brought to light, the fact that “Mzukuru” sounds like this other American rapper who is married to Beyonce. O-25 did a good job on the song, his vocals impressive as he carried the emotion of the song. Thanks guy.

12.   FUNERAL

      This has got to be one of the realest songs done by MMT. Looks at our fears of death and what legacies we’ll leave behind. This is a song that everyone should be able to relate to.  Taken from the view of a person being at their own funeral, all the regrets, bad choices and such...nemimba dzakasiiwa naMariachi!  After all was said an done, that ending with the mamutora nhai baba..gosh!! The take on death that each MC took makes it so easy to understand. Poetry in motion. It will be a number one  for most hardcore hip hop heads.

13.   Zvidhori (remix) feat DJ Smylie, Simba-Tagz, Alvina, Stunner, Boi Mac

One thing is for sure: this is one of the best remixes of any song to ever come out of Zimbabwe! An all Star line up that only made an already hot track even hotter. Everyone on this song did well. Sadly their video for the song left a lot of people disappointed.

14.   Thank you feat Fungai Nengare

MMT closes off the LP with a message. To the haters…again. We believe that Fungai Nengare holds his own when it comes to male vocalists in Zimbabwe but we were not 100% impressed on the song. MMT on the other hand did what they do best. There is an obvious anger from two of them, it is well expressed.  You have got to appreciate the word play these boys display on the song though.  

MMT have all too often been accused of being shallow in their content; singing only about the party scene and turn up and getting drunk and girls. The album shows their other side, it is ultimately a very HIP HOP album, mostly talking to the industry and it has a handful of deep tracks that the normal person can relate to. These are the likes of Handei, Harvest, Funeral and Thank you. They even did songs for the ladies, which some may not be sure if thats their stronghold.

Album accessibility,no downloads, if you have listened to this album, then you probably bought it. So we are guessing a good number of people out of Harare might not have got it yet.  What did we not like about this album? Not too many things. We have to highlight that, on one of the songs, we think the mastering could’ve been better. The R n B artists  on some of the songs could’ve had their vocals a little more balanced. There is a lot of emphasis on the subject of them being “hated on”. They could be critiscised for dwelling a bit too  much. In their defence though, we could then say they have every reason to talk about it. Are they not the crew which has been receiving the most flack from other artists, bloggers, rival fans etc… well they are. Sometimes however, the way they reference or address the hate may be seen as picking fights by onlookers and potential fans.We don’t know how much that may make or break their careers.

The songs and themes captured on this album are entertaining, witty, not monotonous and  creative. They chose a good number of features (and good ones for that, Kapital K, Alvina, Marcques, Incredible Mu, Dadza D) thus one song will never sound like the previous one. Even though it has 14 tracks, it easy to finish in one go, how can you not when four of the songs are chart toppers. The fact they also exclusively let each MC have their own song worked in their favour.

One other thing about the trio is that, unlike most MC’s in Zimbabwe, their lyricism relates to Zimbabwe. They use punch lines, metaphors and similes all related to Zimbabwean things and common scenarios that we all can easily relate to. We are thankfull (finaly) that they have got Mariachi rapping in vernacular now and when he does, the usual comment that people have that he has a tendency of sounding like Jay Z also goes away.

The perhaps best aspect of this album is that it really it is close to home.  The songs which we hadn’t heard are heartfelt, real, emotional, poetic and who thought that the boys who we only knew for singing naughty controversial songs could pull that off? That is what Hip Hop is and that is what a Hip Hop fans want (but could be an issue for a person who is a casual listener… just saying)

All in all listening to the album you cannot help but watch the growth of three artistes as a group and as individual artistes. Cause hey...lets agree on this, they were above average individually but as a group they do prove  to be special. One producer recently called it word play, but we say it like this; vakomana veHip Hop vanodenha. Twitter recently showed that Amara brown made reference to one of the lines from Handei where Tatea mentions people who he says are riding n their father’s fame. This is what we’ve come to expect from MMT. They are the industry’s social commentators, some of their opnions are shared by a lot of people who may never have the chance to actually say it. MMT, however seem not to care about dwelling on touchy issues. They picked their role in the industry and they do it well.

What do we give it, 3.7/5

FOUR REASONS WHY ZIM HIP HOP FANS SUCK

A great number of Zimbabweans are deserving of this title but before we go any further, you should know this; It’s not a flattering one. When it comes to music, a lot of people want to be online fans only, they will “like” their favourite artist’s status, they will comment ever so rowdily but do absolutely nothing beyond just that. It’s that friend who only hears that song on radio, or on a friends phone or see’s it on a machine, is quick to whip out their USB cable, a handy memory card or switch on their Bluetooth to get that song, but they NEVER actually make an effort to download it themselves. If you are that one person who always confirms attendance on events but are never seen at the Big Chill, or whichever, if all you do is “like” links but do not have any download history on your phone or PC whatsoever…Then you are as good as those guys who stalk a girl because she has a nice profile pic, and are dumb enough to religiously register your “LIKE” on a comment such as “my tummy is sore”… yes you, YOU ARE NOTHING BUT A FACEBOOK FAN!

This weekend at the Harare gardens, a large number of LOCAL Dancehall artists’ performed at show that had been tagged the ‘Battle of the ghettos’ the place was alive till after four o’clock in the morning. We asked ourselves, how come this hardly happens for Zim-Hip Hop. Most of the time, we run to blame the artists for not trying hard enough, once we are done, we blame the promoters, and if we stop crying about them we go on and pull the ‘hip hop doesn’t have any cooperate support’ line. Now as we happily point our fingers to different stakeholders we forget the proverbial thumb pointing back at us. Here are some of the problems we have with Zim Hip Hop Fans

We always Cry but Never Buy

How many of you who are staunch fans of say, FewKings bought a copy of “The Feeling Aint fair”. Yes we get it that they put it up for download but, you like them so much and you SUPPORT LOCAL MUSIC’ don’t you? How many of copped a disc? How many of you are incessantly complaining about how The MMT-LP is not spread all around the CBD? Yes, we get that they could've done better but more than half of you are in the CBD every day and you just can’t run to Eastgate, the post office or maybe for others Sam Levi or Avondale to get it?  We love having our word on beef, on pictures, on videos, on sex tapes and on songs, we all love being mini bloggers but we still can’t take that $1-5 and buy a CD!

We are top class snobs

We would much rather attend a show with a foreign artist on the line up first before we go and support our own. We somehow think we are better than our own damn countrymen. To top it all off, we are so choosy when it comes to venues. For an example, how many of you would attend a show at The Harare Gardens (Unless foreigners or really rich people endorse it first i.e. HIFA) as opposed to 7 arts. We always feel so entitled to royal treatment so much we want our artists to pull off a Madison Square Gardens show so that we may go. What we forget is that, sometimes it’s not about how classy the venue is, Is it central? Yes, are the hiring charges reasonable? Yes, is it accessible? Yes! That is why some of your artist may choose the rather not so up town venue as compared to another. But you being you, got too much swag right, you would never go a to place that already has a stage built just for musical shows because you are too superstar to pay $5 for your local hip hopper right. You would rather pay $15 for a South African who will give you one hour’s worth of backtracking…where…at the Harare Gardens!

We are stingy, we think Internet is enough

Well it isn’t! We just said in  our opening statements that it isn’t. Do the math, your average producer may charge an artist anything between, $50 and $800 for one song. The artist has to fork out that amount of money eight to twenty one times to come up with a mixtape or album. That makes it on average $450 to $6400 given that we are working with an eight track album. That’s just for the studio time, we haven’t factored in the amount of money spent travelling up and down from home to studio, the amount of money spent printing cd’s, paying for the internet to post links that you wont  click on because “ah well, I’d rather get that [PLACE AMERICAN RAPPERS NAME HERE] album. (mind you, that rapper will only come to Zim when the rest of the world doesn’t like him anymore). After that, the artist has bills to pay and because he has a life too, he has to look presentable to you guys as we all know Zimbabweans love criticising artists on how cheap their dressing looks. After all is said and done, when the artist decides to only stream their music but not actually have it available for download we run out of steam and not care about the album at all. So because you are oh so economical  with your measly couple of dollars, the artist decides to organise a show so he can get some money out of his artistry, then comes the next problem…

We never show up

Album releases, parties, festivals, or just shows, we love saying we are going, but never really go. When the weekend is all said and done, our artist would have had a handful of their friends showing up. Some of the fans would have got free tickets and left early because, somehow its empty. Every single time the artist has to pull a “thanks for the love fam” line coz really he is greatful that he at least a quarter of the people who said they would attend actually did attend. When the absentees, review the show the next morning,  we run to blame the marketing, but forget that, its their marketing that you lied to and said you would attend, the marketing actually did a good job because, you did know about the show, the charge, the venue and what not did you not?. We then say that there is no cooperate support but forget that big money only comes where there are significant numbers to invest in. Ask dancehall fans, when there is show, they all go, when cooperates see this, they invest. But hip hop fans DONT go, when cooperates see this, they WONT take out a cent! So who is the problem, your artist for having a fake facebook fan or you the fan, for only being a fan…on facebook.

So change your ways, be more appreciative, more supportive to any form of Hip Hop, buy the clothing, buy the CD's. Go to the shows. Dont be backseat about it. 

PUSH

AN ARTIST TO BE WARY OF : ALPHA CENTAURI and SIZE 6

One of our first articles was a profile on a teenage artist called “Youngnash”. At that time no one else blogged or even talked about him, except his stable mates and chums. A year and a half later, he became respected for making instrumentals for more than three number one singles in Zim Hip Hop. Our point being, we see what most don’t. Today we are going to run short profiles on two artists who will be the first of many who have either sent their profiles and music or we have come across to be worth putting out there. That is what we do, we are PUSH

 Alpha Centauri

                                                     

As we are making this profile, we are playing the DJ Stuff produced, first single, “Dream Killers”, from his Mixtape which he has entitled “The Method”. Alpha Centauri's (Sean Chigumba), first single focuses on the fears, the uncertainty, the negative energy that most artists have to go through  to make it in the cut-throat Hip Hop industry that hardly shows any love. To any artist who has ever embarked on the chase of musical success, it serves as an encouragement not to stop. (WE ADVISE YOU TO LISTEN TO IT). He is going to release a new song on Saturday the 9th of November called "Drop It Low" feat Anonimous Brain. It is set to be a summer jam so, crank up your downloaders. Follow him on twitter @iamCentauri and get his song, (which we have had on repeat ) on this link 

http://soundcloud.com/centaurimusic/dream-killers

Size 6

So we happened to bump into the TAZOITA CASH RECORDS front man, Stunner, a couple of days ago at Rehab ENT. He was in the company of a lovely young lady who was in the process of composing an interesting sounding (we hope will be out soon) song. The girl has more than just yellow skin, she has a talent! Push introduces to you, RnB and Hip Hop artist, SIZE 6.

What we have learnt is that the Size 6 has vocals that many musicians are still trying to master and to top it all of, she can rap too. All we can say is that after listening to the songs, her future in the industry is bright. She is originally from Gweru and joined the TAZOITA CASH RECORDS outfit at the beginning of the year. Size 6 (Mellissa Moyo) is a student at the University of Zimbabwe and according to the outfit, will drop a video soon.We got a link for the song SET ME FREE that she did with fellow stablemate Shastro and BEJAI MARI at  

http://www.reverbnation.com/stunnertazzoitacashrecords 

NEWS SO FAR AS THE STREETS SAY

We have to apologise to the readers and the Hip Hop industry for our absence these past couple of days. We had pressing business to attend to, however we are back! A lot of things have been happening in this beautiful industry, some bad, some shocking, some, well, really all up to you. This is what the streets have been saying, a recap of the happenings

Begotten Sun Drops diss track

The ‘super manager’ as one blogger calls him dropped a song “LIGHTS OUT” that apparently took shots at rap trio MMT and a couple of other people in the industry. The song was dropped a day before the trio released their album “The MMT-LP” on the 30^th. The song release comes as the backdrop of a whole lot of talk of escalating tensions between the Few Kings and MMT. However both groups claim there isn’t beef so hey. Lets see how that unfolds

Black bird releases Dope vid

The veteran femcee released an awesome video for the song “waiting for love”. What was particularly outstanding besides the good quality of the video itself were the rumors that the rapper Tatea Da MC, who featured in the video, was in a secret relationship with Black bird. As you know, we aren’t gossip mongers so we really didn’t look into that much but hey, the streets love talking.

DJ Naida rants on Facebook

Another pissed off MC, or femcee, DJ Naida, who has been putting in good work for females in the industry lashed out at Blackbird sighting that Black bird had been “on her case” and what not. It looks as though to us that there seem to be some deep rooted issues between the two individuals. Who is to know, we hope that they resolve their issue soon and we can hear more good music.

Rogue AMVIS Facebook account releases fake MMT-LP

We were shocked to find out that a rogue AMVIS account called AMVIS Baby released an “MMT-LP” for download. After much speculation as to the reason why a respected stable such as AMVIS would pull such a move, the front man Krypmac, came out to clear their name. We have since been told by AMVIS management that, the account that leaked a fake MMT-LP was a Rogue and fake AMVIS outfit that was possibly trying to create enmity between Team Rehab and AMVIS. We are hopefull that it did not cause too much damage to both brands.

MMT drops the MMT-LP

The much awaited album, (which we had rightfully placed on our list of most anticipated albums) was finally released on the 31^st of October. The trio, released their album last Friday with the hard copy being sold as at 1500 hours that day. The trio launched a  #BuyZimHipHop campaign starting off with the sale of their album at $3.00 at Music store, Shop 12 at the ZimPost complex.  We purchased a copy and are still in the process of penning the review which shall be out at the end of this week.

Few Kings, Amara Brown Kill it at The Big Chill

Yes, we heard they did awesome stuff. That is what we love to hear!! Word on the street says that the trio and the songstress made a good showing at the Star FM event.  Their album’s hard copy was also being sold at the event and we hear the people enjoyed themselves. We hope we shall get to see the rest of their shows but hands up to the crew for giving the people what the people want.

Two categories for Zim Hip Hop awards released

Two of the categories for the Zim Hip Hop awards were released on Monday at a press conference in the capital. The categories are The People’s Choice awards and The Song of the year award. News has it that the awards shall take place on the 11^th of December 2013 whilst voting closes on the 5^th of December 2013.  The awards administration spoke at the press conference on the voting process and that it shall be done online together with via a short code 39436.

The nominees for the People’s Choice  award are

·         Maskiri

·         Jnr Brown

·         Stunner

·         Mudiwa

·         Tehn Diamond

The nominees for the Song of the year are

·         Chibhodoro           - Stunner

·         Happy                   - Tehn Diamond

·         Zunguza                 - Marcques

·         Zvidhori                -MMT

·         Madrinks              - Jnr Brown

fFor more Hip Hop news, stick with us this week as we have more to give.

PUSH