VIDEOS: TAMBISA VS SKUBU :WE BREAK IT DOWN (watch vids here)

This year has started with a lot of videos dropping, and the videos haven’t disappointed as well. Last week or so, we had #Mushikashika dropping and a lot of people received it well. These past couple of days, there has been some buzz over two videos, the official Tkae Chidz, “Skubu”, video and even more recently, award winning song by Tricky J, “Tambisa”. So whats with us pitting them against each other? Firstly, they all are pretty much similar, they both sound like spin offs from Peekay and Baba Shupi’s Ma1, they are both clubby, dancy, rump shaking (just check the videos) and both have videos better than Ma1’s video. Suffice to say, even Skubu artist made a comment on the social contention on which video is better,

So, here's our comment

If an advanced video has visual images that demonstrate an excellent relevance to the music and/or lyrics, or tells a story which follows the music and also that the lip synching/singing throughout appropriate increments during the video is performed in a professional manner that demonstrates comprehension of the lyrics, then “Tambisa” takes it. I mean the song is called “Tambisa Dako” meaning “make your butt dance” then well.. we had a enough of that in the video. Skubu, an ode Harare night life with particular reference to the dopest spots in the city, yes, we did see the change in venues which was well thought out and everything but hey, Tambisa had a better performance of it all. You have to admit that the dancer on Skubu had a variety of dances though… great stuff.

Both videos had a strong link to the objective of their message and the interpretation of that message to the video. Draw there…

What of the concept and development? Well, we had a cheeky but funny take on housemaid and employee situation going on running parallel to the dancing and rapping on the Tambisa video, then on SKUBU, we had the really good dancer babe, going really personal with TK, running parallel to the clubs shots with a healthy number of cameos and appearances (know your celebs people!!). both healthy concepts but if you look at the “Zvirinani” video directed by Chris Shoca and compare it with the SKUBU one that he also directed, then you see the similarity and might get bummed by the lack of variety he shows as a director, the white background… Come on guys! Agaaain! The visual interpretation on Tambisa showed an outstanding skill, showing some imagination and creativity in content and production techniques. In terms of superiority over SKUBU in an attempt to create a product that shows originality, well, we have seen that type of video many times before so, they are at par.

Finally, the technical bit, creative use of Lighting, audio balance, camera work , shots and angles that could provide impact if the editing used enhanced message, the graphics/titles. You know! Both videos have an acceptable video quality, Its always good to see different squads endorsing each other, that’s rare in this world full of...erm what do the rappers call it? yes, Hate. it was nice seeing Team Bhoo merchandise in a song that’s not theirs, nice move guys. Skubu did try to show the club hopping that's in the hook and the Tambisa boys surely put in a lot of work. We didn’t quite like the @[place-twitterhandles-here] that was going on, on the Tambisa video but the props, the dancing, shots and set on this one outclassed the ones on Skubu. This didn’t make the Skubu video bad, NO, it just made them superior to Tkae Chidz and squad. Hell, someone take us to Tricky J, we wanna know where that alley type set is.

Final verdict, both videos were crazy amazing, it’s a good way to start the year. However, “Tambisa” by Tricky J had a better video, not necessarily a better song but a better video. Actually, we wonder what the crowds who booed Tricky J’s particularly the gentleman who gave this irritated look, “who is Tricky J any way” look when he announced Tambisa as the people’s choice award winning song would say now.  

Hey, that’s just our opinion, we are just gonna track the views while you...check the vids out here

 Besides...who says the guys from PushZw know what they're talking about? this year's videos are on fire..this is proof
 #Tambisa

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtU3MWq7Pc

#Skubu

Skubu: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQqvN0pH_pA

Cutfface EP (Back 2 Basics) : REVIEW

When local hip hop began to be taken seriously, there was a balance between party jams and some of the more conventional thought provoking (sometimes slightly ignorant) joints that one couldn’t listen to with a silly smile on their faces, we liked that. We have been waiting for this one for the past five years or so. The last we heard of the two as a duo was “Findi” featuring Junior Brown. Dark Face and MC Cut have been an act since way before MMT, dropping remixes for tracks like “Spot light” by the girl group Ammunition and “Nerudo” by Cindy.

The projects opens up with a nicely cleaned up “Can you believe this” featuring Tinashe Makura. Smart opening to the EP as it is easy on the ear, “still got more verses than the kids up at Sunday School”. Dark Face’s verse on this one was a little less theatrical with more serious undertones than witty bars.

The second song on the EP is a Cypha. The beat was killer “if you cant nod to this one then you have no business listening to Hip Hop”. Chita, McKnife, award winning Tricky J, Young Nash, Prometheus feature on the song. Like any cypha, people always ask “who killed it” and our answer is… download it here and you tell us.

Oh yes, Tehn Diamond is also on the EP, I guess if you had been team [place name here], you have to deal with the “working together” vibe this year. Crimson blue sings to the chorus on “Thank you”. Tehn Diamond on this song sounds like why we liked him in the first place that “SOTG3” sounding Tehn. The song sends gratitude to all those to who have been vibing it to them “you are welcome guys”.

You can do it, If you have a younger sibling, take a second to play this song for them. On this Farida Caprice featured song, they really play the mentor role (straight up life coach type of song), and by that we mean REALLY MENTOR! We like it, it’s almost like that “I can” song by Nas. So the basic message is, stay in school.

The last song has a more uppy beat, (mean mug and tell em to go to hell… or school like the previous song said). Trae Yung opens up the song, passes it to Cut “I gotta keep it coming like a porno star” erh em… I guess, they are really going in.

Verdict?

We have always been fans of the duo, MC CUT and Dark Face, they are very different, where MC Cut shines with a higher pitched voice and clever punchlines, Dark face backs up with a heavy set street voice and presence. It’s a good pair. Unlike most of the music that’s called Hip Hop these days, this EP probably isn’t for those who don’t like Hip Hop in its raw state. It might not be Wu Tang Clan or Crook Ave but it definitely isn’t Young Thug or “Zunguza”. We got to talk to MC Cut and he explained that, Hip Hop has to get back to “spittin”, the art, when music speaks for itself and not the hashtags or little meaningless arguments. The three producers, Russell G, Xndr and YoungNash who worked on the music did a good job, but that’s our opinion, download and listen to the Cutfface EP (Back2Basics) here

 OH yah.. did we mention that there is hardly any vernacular.. just saying..

@pushzw

#Mushikashika (Ghetto Life) Sets The Bar High For 2015 Videos (watch Video here)

the artwork for #Mushikashika

“Porisi nekanzuru zvakadzvanyaaaaaa”

Kombi surfing?

A week or so back we had a track sent to us, we had seen it’s hype doing the rounds on social media and we was like “hmmmmmmmm, Mushikashika, wonder what this will be about.” Mushikashika (Ghetto Life) is a track by NickBwai that features Cuttybeats, Zarzu, Vito and Gfingers, produced by CuttyBeats who co – produced Junior Brown’s#Maria. If there is something we have learnt from listening to CuttyBeatsproduced songs it’s that there is a certain richness and clarity in the sound that he produces; clean music without too much going on. In our books, he deserves to be rated up there with some of the local big guys.

The song looks into the life of every working and or non working Zimbo out there, talking about how we all have the different goals we are chasing and different means we are using to get there. #Mushikashika talks about the struggle for those in search of money, trying to make a living. Not just the usual rapper “I’m out here in the streets chasing paper, making records for my fans” struggle. These guys talked about everyone’s struggle from the airtime dude to the CD dudes who make sure none of our artists get an income… all of them. The instrumental is awesome, with a guitar riff that has a sound that will have you thinking of the days when we watched “Everyone’s Child” on ZTV, when ZTV wasn’t too bad. The deliveries were on point as well, we heard some Gze sounding flows but hey, Stunner and Mudiwa taught us that no one owns a style in Zimbabwe.

smell an endorsement here

So while we here at PUSHzw were busy slacking and enjoying the song, procrastinating on the post we started getting the pictures from the behind the scenes, then a short clip of the work in progress. Yes! After viewing the video last night we know now… these guys have come guns blazing with a great song and what could be one of the best videos for Zim Hip Hop in a while. The video was directed by CuttyBeats (jack of all trades much) and Gze directed the video and we gotta hand it to them...panotodiwa slow clap apa!

No attempts to give us shy amateur twerkers or mediocre beauty yellow bones awkwardly touching rappers faces. It was straight up shots of Harare, the beautifully filthy sunshine city and people at their daily hustles, grinding away, and scenery of the Harare ghetto with its outside sinks. One of our favorite shots was from the top of kombis taken from Market Square; you can tell the guys had a blast shooting this video. Going around Mpedzanhamo around Mbare to show us the picture they had painted in their song. It was a great match of what we had heard and what we finally saw.

is this my good side?

At the end of the day the song is great, with the wonderful quality of the shots they took for the video, it has the potential to be a modern day soundtrack to a movie about Zimbabwean life...hell this isn’t a Turn up track, but it is the soundtrack to our Zimbabwean lives.

Mushikashika turned out to be a breath of fresh air from the majority of Zimbabwean videos so disjointed from the audio and obviously lacking a script. These guys have the blueprint for making a good video and other artists will have to put in as much work if they want to be taken seriously. I hope people took notes.

Enough of our talking! Honestly! These PUSHzw guys think they know it all... watch the video below

Remember to always

Push Ur Sound Hard


Thank you for reading.Did you think this post was utter crap? click here read some more of our crap