So yesterday we gave you the part
one of our review of the awards, mostly our concerns before the show and what
we feared. None the less, because we love the genre so much and will never give
up on it, come awards night, we were clad in our nice rig and off we went to 7
Arts for Hip Hop’s premiere event of the year.
If you were following the live
tweets form our handle @PUSHzw, you will notice we didn’t arrive exactly at 19:30
when the gates opened. We were holding
our hearts in our mouths at the fear of the $15 cover charge and the fact that
some people made what looked like a deliberate move to get people away from the
awards and celebrate Hip Hop across the road, BUT, we did it again. The people
stayed true, once we saw, the sexy dresses, done up weaves, suits and ties,
really packed parking lot, we knew, ooooh we knew it. The Zim Hip Hop Awards,
was “where da party at”
Even from outside, you could tell
that it wasn’t just another show, because yes, beautiful people, your heavy
weights with their plus ones having snap shots taken on the backdrop and all
around. One of the most impressive things was the fact that, there was no
disorder in as far as getting in was involved, no crowd squashing or
unpleasantly menacing security. One of the not so impressive things was the
starting two hours late, again. We heard one rapper say, “how can it have
started, Stunner, who is supposed to perform first, only just arrived”. Ah
well, that’s one for whoever manages the performing artists for next year.
The performances
Yes, if you didn’t get to see
them, well, we saw a whole of tablets held up to record it all. ( you probably
know someone who knows someone who did ). We loved Rhythm Family who showed a lot of skill, beat-boxing jams from the
National Anthem to “Party Yatanga”. The crowd loved them too. The host of the
evening Munya Chodzonga, who still
showed up and MC’d the whole event even though his co-host didn’t come. He held
his own and should also be given a pat
on the back,. Alvina, came up on stage with Ishy X and his partner Foster, as
they performed “Gogogoi” which had a good number of people in the crowd
standing and dancing to. Then came, Kuti Pwee, which surprised us because, it
was a whole new version, with Alvina singing on the chorus and a BIG SURPRISE
PERFOMANCE verse from femcee Blackbird.
Yes, Sinbad from K-Town also
performed, with his spunky hot looking trio of ladies. Two who looked oh so
active, dancing in sync and even if the sound let him down a bit. We liked how
he did his performance. The freestyle battle, was, well… It had its moments; we
didn’t get to see Noble Stylez. Alka Nemo won it but we have to commend the
tall rapper from Mutare who we think did us proud. Ice Rockspin, showed up on
stage, ten seconds after his song started playing (cringe). Breeze, was one of
the memorable performers his song “ Manyepo”. It a was good performance, he took to the stage
alone and killed it.
The group K.L.A.P obviously put a
lot of thought into their performance, they were the only ones who had props,
coz when the lights went on, we saw a gangsters all seated playing cards, two
sexy ladies,.too dope. Mudiwa also perfomed, he had dancers on stage who brought
it and nailed it. He was clearly lip syncing and we still don’t know what he
was throwing at people. Marcques was the
last one to perform. Got in with his love jam “Break your Heart” then of course
got the ladies shaking it with “Zunguza”. He also had two dancers on stage
shaking it. We still don’t known if it was part of the get up but Schingy got
on stage with his partner and placed an old school radio right in front of
Marcques then popped a bottle of Champagne, froth going all over the place. It
all made up a good performance though.
The winners…and the losers
Did the back up judges do a good
job? We have put the full list of winners at the bottom but some of the
highlights include, the best dance crew, which were the Hood Crankers, the best promoter being Magamba (same guys who give you the Shoko festival). It seemed that
it was only obvious that Kapital K
would be the recipient for Best Diaspora as well as Marcques as the best newcomer. Few
Kings as a crew and as individuals took most of the”talked about” awards,
going home with the best group and best album. Their producer Take Fizzo took the best producer, Tehn Diamond grabbing the best male, Junior Brown scooping the MVP and Song
of the year. The best female hip hop artist was won by Trae Yung with St Ignatius Chishawasha’s Overdose Boys taking the best High School act. Another tightly contested category was the best
collaboration which MMT took home
and Best Radio DJ going to Davies Mugadza. Individually, Mudiwa took the most home, grabbing three awards, best gospel, best
video and the people’s choice award.
The Biggest Looser?
Well, by now its obvious, anyone
who lost hope, who pulled back, who did not positively criticise the awards. Anyone
who thought that the awards wouldn’t go on without them, was the biggest loser!
The awards were graced by The Deputy Minister of Information, Media and Broadcasting
Services, Supa Mandiwanzira and the Chairperson of the Miss Zimbabwe Trust Mary
Mubaiwa Chiwenga. Some of the notables such as MC Cut and Junior Brown, Noble
Stylez and Trae Yung weren’t at the awards but we were happy to see the legendary
Mau Mau, Comrade Fatso, Out Spoken, Lochnation, Stephanie K, Tatea Da MC all at
the awards.
Lots still has to be done, but
with small victories we know that the brand will grow even bigger and better. There
are some small things which we feel that at this point, the Zim Hip Hop Awards
Team really disappointed us on, such as start time, we eventually left pretty
much at mid night, some how, they should get things started earlier, whether
people want to mix and mingle outside or not. By now, it’s inexcusable to have
names spelt wrong, FUEL KINGS, NO WEEDS? It was also disheartening to see that some of the
stage performances weren’t as smooth; we really didn’t like the idea of seeing
people walking across the stage mid presentation or performance, even if they
were behind the DJ’s. Not so sure about having or not having a podium, or
actually familiarising the presenters with what they are supposed to be doing
when they get on stage. Some just talked for too long, others forgot to say the
nominees, and in some cases there seemed to be a lack of communication between
the sound guys, DJ’s and presenters. We feel like it doesn’t take money (which
most people want to use as an excuse for underperforming) but just plain old
organisation, effective stage management and rehearsal to fix these things.
To close off, we really have to
thank Adrian Harris and his team. It’s been three years, running, certain
programmes such as F.A.C.E.Z show how much Hip Hop can be an instrument for
good in the society. We as bloggers often sound harsh and unforgiving and
sometimes against such initiatives but PUSH applauds the Zim Hip Hop Awards. Where
else would we see Zi-FM stereo and StarFM dj’s shaking it in short white
numbers but besides the awards? Where else will you see the H town King in an
white tux but besides the Zim Hip Hop Awards. Where else is Zim Hip Hop most
celebrated each year but besides the Zim Hip Hop Awards.
The list of Winners
Best Positive Social
Contribution – Jibilika Best Solo Dancer – Adrian Zinasi Best Cooperate Supporter Supporting Hip Hop – Arizona Spur Best Album Art- Road to Fame (Crooger, design by Mykol Riley) Best High School Act - Overdose Boys Best Dance Crew – Hood Crankers Best Promoter – Magamba Network BestOnlineMedia-
African Hip Hop Blog Best Diaspora Act – Kapital K Best Radio DJ – Davies Mugadza Best Producer – Take Fizzo Best club DJ - P-Styles Best Collaboration - Zvidhori Remix :
MMT featuring Stunner, Alvina, Boi Mac, SimbaTagz and DJ Smylie Best
album – The Feeling Aint Fair : Few Kings Best Video - 10/10 : Mudiwa Best Newcomer- Marcques Lifetime Achievement Award – Chiwoniso Maraire
Best
Group - Few Kings Best Female - Trae Yung Best Male - Tehn Diamond Best Gospel Act – Mudiwa Best FreeStyle – Alka Nemo MVP
– Junior Brown People’s Choice Award – Mudiwa Song of the Year – Madrinks : Junior
Brown
@PUSHzw
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