WHY WE DIDNT BLOG YOUR S*#@ !

We do not believe in using profane language, don't let the title mislead you, read on and you will get it!

Girls used to namedrop our local rappers...make sure they called you Tendai while the rest of us called you Tehn. Now they never admit in public that they know you guys..Hip Hop. Deceased

Hello Mr / Miss Rapper, PUSHZW has not posted any new blog post of late. Are we apologetic,eeeh slightly. However, we shall be sincere, its not totally our fault. We would love to tell you about how blogging about YOUR career is something we do  late night or weekends when YOU will be turning up on cheap vodka and with overly made up girls who lie about the HOTNESS of YOUR JAM buuuuut...This is NON-PAYING! Its OUR DATA, TIME, EFFORT...what do we get from this? At best, free tickets to The Zim Hip Hop awards if we are fortunate enough to get nominated for re-tweeting your data file links to less than pleasing badly mastered material. Worse off, the Hip Hop awards are a pain to go through too, if its not the late starts, its the bad sound, if that's not the problem, its the organization..we could go on..but long story short, We ain't getting jack but satisfaction of YOU actually making it in the Music Industry. Trust us, we are really more eager for you succeed than you think. Just because there is no post about your new "hit" do not assume it means we didn't listen.

But here's WHY we didn't blog your s*#@

Lets start with some of the leaders of the game, Junior Brown , Marcques, we will never forgive your performances at the AKA show. Junior Brown gave us an accapella performance. Accapella. Are you telling me I was there to watch Junior Brown go Karaoke?? I'm sure that was also an eye opener as to how much music you DON'T have and we thought your Shoko performance would have fixed that. Dai kufunga kwebenzi nhai? Marques had who on stage at the AKA show? singing? oh ok. Lets go to the music they did drop since then, "Maria" and "Who got Next"...sigh.. Breezy, we would have expected a video for Maria, for an example,  go to a darkened room, have a light bulb swinging, illuminating your depressed face Mr Brown, while you sit on a stool and sing Maria Maria Mariaaaaaa! You can thank us later for the idea! Our point, more could have been done on that song, it could have been promoted more, hell,we know Zifm will play you anyway, how about a video, cinematic, lyric video, ANYTHING.  Lets not even talk about Morning Glory, that was addressed by Mr Zunguza in  the "state of the nation address" jam Marcques "leaked.." well, They say it was leaked. It was okaaay, just didn't really move us. Here's whats funny, HE STILL HASN'T DROPPED NUTHIN EITHER! We don't hear him featuring on songs anymore.. That album better drop fast because we hear the word IRRELEVANCE is starting to get louder than the clickety clack of the keyboard as we type.

Which gets us to one of our biggest reasons for not talking about your s*#@, Dear artist, your music doesn't appeal to us, not only is it un-entertaining, it doesn't do ANYTHING to us, it lacks the WOW factor, it doesn't provoke us to be happy, or sad, or hyper or to be proud of you! So yes, even if you do release a follow up dope jam, we wont give it a second thought because YOU didn't give much of it either when you dropped your first jam. A lot of Zim Hip Hop artistes and R & B artistes know how to rap and sing,  How to make a song, however? A BIG FAT NO. If the studio that you record in does not have studio monitors, get your stuff mastered elsewhere, if it takes a day to get a song done, dusted and out..don't send it to us, have other bloggers talk about you s*#@. Sometimes we cant even hear what these artistes are saying, the songs have no structure, the verses are boring and so much noise...pure and utter WHACKERY! 

Lets be honest, 2013 is soon going to be three years ago, I bet you Tehn Diamond will still be performing Happy (first heard of in 2011 at the awards and won an award Zim Hip Hop laaater), Madrinks the remix..and having us go through that awful journey of love (pills and potions blah blah frikkin blah...just don't sing that s*#@ )! Mr Diamond, we miss you! the SOTG you, the really cocky NON SINGING YOU. A lot of people said Tehn used to be Mr Untouchable and lots didn't like his attitude,in hindsight, He shouldve stayed that way. He isn't cool no more! All the beads and the clothes you always recycle on videos and stuff don't fit the COOL we want you to have as THE CHOSEN ONE for ZIM! Tehn had lots of swag when He was MR SOTG both in his music and as the image of Tehn Diamond, I kid you not, we don't care what the economy is like, I shouldn't always see my favorite rapper wear the same outfit! But lets take it to the music, "Sumudza Gumbo"...bruuuh! I have never heard a greater wastage of lyrics than on that song. WE JUST CANT BEAR IT.  Really though, that song was as tired as the Simbatagz and Iceprince "Dont Leave Me Remix". All that hype for thaaaat SHOW TIME!! .. no man! "Daijes in the Sky", such a nice title, but Tehn..singing isn't doing it for us. Maybe the fans soon to be hounding our mailboxes like it. Hell, the song hasn't dropped like the Perfect Tehn, we should call it "THE PERFECT WHEN??!!" 

 Matter of fact, we listened to TRK's The Come Up 2 and we couldn't help but think that if Tehn had stayed as Tehn (Mr SOTG Tehn), he would have sounded as nice as TRK on that Mixtape but alas, he had to get the beads.... Side note, we think, The Come Up (the first one) wasn't as yay! The sequel to that showed a lot of growth, we might just review it, Growth and progression is what we like, unlike the next set of rappers we wanna talk about

WHERE THE HELL DID MMT GO? You know what, Marcques was right, ONLY ONE rapper in MMT is still a rapper, MC Cut, as to if he will ever really get thaaat song, (remember the wow factor) is really up to him. Maybe he is happy introducing other rappers on stage, We would rather hear him introduced! Such talent, such a crew, they revived the game...now??

Lets go to some of the recent happenings, Kapital K dropped an EP, You see Mr Keezy, we think you are one of the nicest, but it always seems as if every song has to be about bottles/Sex with Unamed Peoples Girlfriends/ Clubs in Cape Town/ ...repeat. We listened to the whole EP... and didn't blog about it, why? loud as it was, only one song really did it for us, that would make for a very bad post. How collaborations or working with producers who bring the best out of you like SimbaTagz on "high" because as far as we are concerned that's the only hit you got...or do you want us to go to the days of Lil' Keith

The team that makes the music that most people will "say they enjoy"...SHOWTIME. the stable with the best pre-release grind. No one works as hard as Showtime on social Media music hyping. and they are not afraid to invest time into it to. This is of course when they don't pull as surprise immediate EP/Mixtape drop that 20 people download. We remember following the road to Reverb 7's "Friends Season 1" - then the digital booklet it came with! damn! that put most international CD packages to shame. Hats off to you. Showtime does however utterly suck and post release. They never talk about a song for more than 3 days after its release. it's like they have the attention spans of 3-year olds on a sugar high. Some of the music they released into the wind had the chance to change the face of young Zimbabwean music. I guess they are too busy being cool to notice huh?

Team Bho, we have a confession, your IMAGE and grind.. AMAAAAZING, whether other bloggers or podcasters like talking smack about your sneakers we don't care. However, the music yall make is just sometimes boring. You guys spend more time topless and exhibiting your dirty innerwear than perfecting your craft. What really saves you are your performances and visibility, hell they are as visible as Anonzi Xndrs relationship advice hashtags, we wish he would drop more hits than hashtags though. Team Rehab used to be the heart beat of Zim hip hop but now.. [insert crickets chirping here]....

Lets take a moment to talk about Bulawayo rappers lest they start dedesaring, kuyema, being cry babies about How Harare this Harare that. Nxa imusic yenyu ingachazi mafethu kayichazi! (if your music ain't entertaining, it ain't entertaining). Don't hate the player, hate the game, or just PLAY BETTER! For example, these guys play better, Yung Tyran, Calvin, Naboth Rizla, POY (yes, KeSummer was dope). Those ones, we like...a lot! Go through our blogs, you will see them. However, whats with always calling out Stunner / Pokello on cyphas  though, is there nothing else to rap about? If Calvin can get played on air then murder people on their own jams (yes XQ ) then, get one of Africa's BEST RAPPERS to feature on a jam, drop an EP, then an album, damn right you can! Stop complaining, Bulawayo has better Hip Hop than Harare right now anyway, grind smarter..not harder magents!

KiddActive, GZE, Calvin, Meyniak, Sharky, Team Bho, thank you guys for keeping some semblance of hope in the game, Peakay is definitely not a rapper anymore...He last rapped when Ill Ceey was secular..damn...before he became the mature Courtney Antipas. We dare them to nominate him as one!

We think that FTR and Abnorm are a good working couple from Blow Hard Records, we have never liked the name but the only thing that went wrong on Love Begets Love was when Abnorm seemed to roll over his words on some lines. It wasn't perfect,that jam was fire, just the finer bits guys,THE FINER BITS, so yeah, we didn't blog about it, Yes, That and Killin em, which was a twitter name for so long that Mr FTR had to take it down. Ftr and Abnorm make great sounding music in terms of quality but how many time do the weak raps have to get saved by a feature? Although FTR killed it on the Marukaz remix. However, He is just like Junior Brown and not dropping an album or a song, we really don't care anymore. Damn right you killed em, you killed em with silence and meh...

We had to use strong words on a femcee before we posted this, She had asked us "what will it take for us to blog about her new jam"

So lets get this straight ladies, DONT EVER COMPETE against other girls, compete against the whole game! From Drake to bloody Lexxii Alejai. Lets STOP using the word femcee (its now the F-word).We have always stressed that with how music is accessible everywhere, one has to fight for space on my and everyone else's playlist as we have become very trigger happy with the delete button! Zim rappers have to STOP making mediocre music, we loved that after #SHOKOFESTIVAL, Joe Black, went on a rant about how we need to be honest about how crappy or how good we are, MisRed has constantly stressed about the importance of perfecting our own music. Why do I have the latest Game but not your track, simple, your stuff sounds like it was recorded on a phone and the rhymes are as old school as Noble Stylz's fashion sense! Fight to be on our playlists, fight to be on radio, not by bribing DJ's coz that don't work, but by being DOPE! Stop telling each other lies, have different people listen to your song before you release it, don't put us on no whatsapp broadcast list, we don't download sometimes, JUST BE GOOD, Here's an exercise, play your favorite international rappers song to the end, then play your song, if they are at par, YOU ARE READY, if they aren't, quit Hip Hop or WORK TOWARDS BEING BETTER!

I bet you guys are gonna be arguing about who deserves awards this year. If I was Beefy or whoever is running it this year...I wouldn't give anyone anything...except maybe Calvin.

In plane English, this is what we hope people take from this post

Master the Art of Making a good Song/ Album

We flock to shows where rappers from outside our country rap in languages we don't know. Why? Its because they make good music. Its not about the language, its the whole package. Its not about where you are from, its how good the song is. Pass the song to your Ex girlfriend and or boyfriend, have a DJ listen to it, hear what they say, improve! Sound changes every year, try to not get lost in experimentation though, RAISE THE BAR! Make it count, make it nice, If you are paying money for a beat, get the files too, make noise if your producer didn't master it right, play it on a radio with no sub-woofers, listen to every detail, correct the flaws, make the fan happy!

Image is Everything

Vanity is a bad thing, looking the part is an obligation. We have met lots of personalities and they look the part. When you see Ruvheneko Parirenyatwa ANYWHERE... she got swag!! You instantly want to associate with her, Tatea Da MC, actually looked like a rapper, SWAG! Ammara Brown, Shingi Mau Mau, Team Bho, they ALWAYS looks the part in public. Once you choose to be a musician, you have to wear the uniform 24/7. Whether you are rehearsing, walking down the street, in a kombi or wherever, you need to look presentable because we really do judge a book by its cover.Lets stop looking like struggling artists. Most album artworks have improved and we are great full but please INVEST IN YOUR IMAGE, its an extension of your music!

Don't go quiet for too long, we will forget you

Whoever idea it was to not drop content, fooled yall! Lets say you make an album for a sound that's popular in 2015, you decide that the timing ain't right, so you wait for three years and drop in 2018, the sound would have changed, fans would have grown up, then you complain that we don't blog your S*#@, we mightz actually do it, as a #ThrowBackThursday. Next thing, content makes you stay relevant, if you aren't going to drop an album, make it a mix tape, take other peoples beats, rap on them! Feature more, collaborate. You wont get cooperate sponsorship because you were hot THREE YEARS AGO!

Performances can make or break your career

A lot of people who perform Hip Hop at say HIFA, are people we don't really know, but they turn the place up, eg, True Vibe Nation. They make sure that their performances are epic! In an age where piracy is killing digital sales, performances and shows have become the cash cow for musicians. Now, if you don't work on your performance, you don't practice, you show up to shows late, its always back tracks, your movement is wrong, then don't send us a press release to your weak stuff. We wont tell our respected readers where you are because YOU might give US a bad name!  

If you got to this part, we would like you to know that we shall and never use profanity in our posts, lest the title misleads you, here's what it really meant for us, read between the lines and improve your craft, understand these four bars

"We know the post might have been long /

 The language a bit too strong /

But Your music really sucks

Thats why we wont blog about your s*#@

@pushzw

WHY YOU SHOULD LISTEN TO B.A.E & LOVE TRIANGLES: RAP LOVE SONGS

It seems like this year will have some variety after all, that and a lot of lady snatching. Last week and a day ago Alpha Centauri and FTR respectively dropped love jams. Not quite love as both of them dwell on the forbidden nature of it all. So since some people had gotten used to turn up turn up jams with the incentive being their ability to make rumps move, here is we think you should have these heart moving jams

Side guy emotions explained

We are absolutely thrilled to find that the two songs essentially put into words, feelings behind two sides of the coin of guys dipping their fingers in somebody else's honey pot! Or hands in another brother’s cookie jar (whatever works). Alpha Centauri explores the  "I want to steal your girl", side of it. In his release statement he says

...This song is about a “situationship where a guy falls for another man’s girl. The girl seems interested and leads him to a point where he develops genuine feelings for her and is willing to fight to make her his girl. However, her previous relationship remains intact and since he is ready to put her first he wants to know if she is willing to put him “before anybody else"...

 Yeap, he is that punk all boyfriends dread. FTR's on the other hand is the punk people would kill (nudge nudge wink wink) because he is pretty much sleeping with someone’s woman. Top it all off, the girl likes it! The reason why we had such detail is that, THEY BROUGHT IT OUT WELL. Lots of rappers don’t go that descriptive anymore but it seems like all it took was being side guys to make it happen. Thank you!

The productions are on point!

Let’s start with Love Triangles this time. Noone doubts the productions of Blow Hard Records (eish the name though)... However the quality of productions can often be judged better when we strip down all those loud 808's, MMG type bass lines and just noise. They showed us that they are very capable of making a really dope love jam. We heard Alpha Centauri's previous album. He has the type of music which hinges on complex harmonies and pseudo futuristic patterns. Mastering and overall production of music aren’t things that are difficult for him and his team. This type of sound is his home ground so obviously no problems there.

Structure and stuff

The name of the song to begin with BAE (Before Anybody Else), sweet stuff innit! The two verses on this song of some-o-pure sob story tale (it’s a good one, the type rom coms are made of) are simple to follow, the second being the more “getting out of the friendzone” determination packed one. On Love Triangles, Its pretty intense too coz its FTR telling off the girl that he don’t want her no more (hit and run will ya?), Chorus, then Tru North crying for more, man! Dee girls aint loyal though! You know why we getting emotional, it’s because they wrote them well!

Samples and Features

Former Major playaz R & B specialist Chyllur drops a really cool mellowed down chorus for us and Surprise surprise, an unknown but really pleasure to hear girl rapping, Tru North does the second verse. Introduction into the game? We hope so!  Samples can be hard to deal with, where to use them, how to use them? On BAE, Alpha rides on the instrumental with them placed appropriately in the background. Using the right ones to go with his subject matter made something difficult look easy...

Bars, Lyrics…

“Who could plan to trip and fall and still know where to stand” Alpha Centauri

"to me you a scheming devious, minor/ messing with me major/ ..” see what FTR did there

“The grass is greener till you water your own/ so when u call me your queen I know your bed is my throne” Tru North (we heard the lyrics, he ain't call you no queen, he said you devious!!)

This and more is all why we think these songs are worth downloading and listening too! So get Alpha Centauri’s BAE over on this link and FTR featuring Chyllur and Tru Norths Love Triangle over here!

But all this might just be us saying things, heres where you can get more that we say

Or just follow us on twitter @pushzw or like our page on Facebook here

MIX-TAPE KING COURTNEY ANTIPAS DROPS EP :LWSOM Vol 2 REVIEW

We have always maintained that sometimes, the results of the Zim Hip Hop awards are far from pleasing; this isn’t any further from the truth with regards to Gospel hip hop categories. In the class Hip Hop Courtney Antipas formerly known as Illceey easily makes it to the top of our list. Actually, even when we take him out of the bracket of Gospel Hip Hop, Courtney Antipas easily surpasses a majority of Zim Rappers. (Tell em I said that!). Last week, Courtney dropped LIVE WISE STATE OF MIND Volume 2, here is our song by song review

Intro (reflection)

The moment we heard the jazzy, old soul kind of strings that Courtney chose to use (instead of some loud, bang clang, get our attention type intro), we immediately knew that it was no rookie material. The one minute forty second long intro seems to be a poetic recital, essentially an exposé on society’s hypocritical nature to choose the easy way out, i.e., lies, money, prosperity gospel etc. Ends with a bold affirmation of his resolve

Tha Blood

“All about the blood like we gang bangin”, like whaaaat? Did he just say that on a gospel song? Yep, that’s the type of chorus you can expect from Courtney.  It’s one thing to master the craft of creating punchlines, however, one needs to understand that it gets harder to craft them within the confines of Gospel rap without sounding Bible Bashy (annoyingly preachy with a hint of prejudicial judging). With Courtney Antipas though, the lines have detail that connect to the world outside the church but relating to the source of his content (bible), for an example, “the old rugged cross more than just a chain hangin” see that? Jesus pieces? Old rugged cross? Connect it makes sense right! The song follows a dancy type of new school trap type music. The bass isn’t too loud which might bum some out but it’s still good!

Forever Girl

This is a love song, straight up love song. The song features Prayer Soul who does an excellent job at singing the chorus and backing the whole thing up. The song is a sharp comparison to the love longs we have in rap music which mostly center on the sexual objectification of the women. This one pretty much places the wifey-material girl on a pedestal rather than the size if her bottom, the fairness of her skin or the fact that she can twerk.  Besides it being on the surface, the expression of love and praise to the ideal girl, it’s really Courtney Antipas talking about how men should treat women and vice versa i.e. “the best thing I ever did? Put a ring on her”, marriage, or “so when them other shawties step to me, I be like I got my girl with me” faithfulness.

NOMB (None Of My Business)

He has no kind words for floss or brag rap at all. This song will probably be a favourite for many, up tempo, loud and it packs a direct message at ignorant, materialistic rap music. The structuring of the lines have him switch styles and patterns in each verse. We liked how he would change pace depending on the variations of the instrumental.  It’s that song that you can do that Yeezy “N***as in Paris” dance. Basically the song says, “ stop talking about the stuff that you have because its none of my business” We had it on repeat. The song ends with an out of breath Courtney closing up a set explaining what’s really important.

Where I’m going

The sombre atmosphere created by this song is overwhelming.  The first verse is an honest admission of how any rap artist in Africa must feel. The truth behind the picture of how he feels in this song is so clearly explained that you understand the struggle of being an artist in a world that doesn't appreciate it. The subject matter isn’t new from Hip Hop. “Will I get Paid” by Dizzy Don, “Angels Say” by Tehn Diamond (sort of), “Munodei” by MMT all carry similar messages. However, the Courtney Antipas one targets the pain to a prayer, “all I know is I need you Lord to show me the right way”. The second verse is filled with sadder undercurrents, (some really tear jerking stuff). It’s the reality that in Zimbabwe, It’s still almost impossible to live on rap music and that really sucks. It’s a very open and transparent song/ prayer for direction, protection and strength.

Penga Tione

On a mostly dub-step beat, this is a, for-lack-of-a-better-phrase “Turn up” song, of course all in the context of the associated spiritual subject matter. It features J-Bars who delivers brilliantly on the song.  Probably targeting critics who downplay the radical methods of expression of praise to Christian deity, the song encourages living differently in the midst of being called crazy.

Overview

So why would we call him the King of Mixtapes? Check his repertoire! Courtney Antipas has been for years delivering fully packages mixtapes and EP’s that have seen him tour with some of the worlds and regions finest rappers! Your average MC hasn’t seen past your cities toll gate with his half- baked album.

To the EP itself, Live Wise State of Mind Vol 2, now takes the best EP this year (for us) joining the  Cutfface EP (Back 2 Basics) which dropped earlier this year. To begin with LWSOM Vol 2, has a bit of everything all in the context of the title. The two features don’t mess the project up, the production is good but what’s most impressive is the delivery on each song. Every song here besides the first and last one have very distinct and different messages. They were well addressed and articulated. While most Hip Hop artists may be able to write a song, some don’t know which beats to choose for that song, which tone to use on that song or who to feature on the song. Courtney Antipas has mastered that art well, changing the way he sounds with the song and not being monotonous as the EP goes.

It seems like he has a thing against prosperity gospel rappers though, if only it were possible to know who they were…

Any bad sides, well, its short, but it is an EP, we shall not complain. Get the LIVE WISE STATE OF

 MIND Volume 2 here or stream and download it from this link 

You think this is all nonsense, read more of beautiful nonsense from  PUSH OVER HERE or just follow us on twitter @PUSHZW

NEW ALBUM + REVIEW : WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING

We have been waiting for it, now it’s here. The rap trio, The Art Departments, “While You Were Sleeping” album is out now! You see, when you go out and say that the industry has been sleeping on you and you offer the industry an album, you have to show us that we were wrong for sleeping on you. Fortunately, we were lucky enough to have the album for over a weekend and as it drops, here’s what we thought about it.

The album starts off with an intro that summarises pretty much all the songs on the album, but it’s not one of those intros we can say a whole looot about, let’s go to the first song.

Bang:

This song was the official second single from their album. The instrumental was appropriate for the song. We won’t say much about this one, because we already talked about it here

For The Money

It’s that song that has never ceasing affirmation of what rappers/ hustlers/ anyone really will do to get money. Only this one was more centred on them. The flows switching content slightly between first, second and third verse, Tone LakeSide on that gotta grow up tip, the second was on the more retrospective of how irrelevant Illsicker was before and the third being about what we do for the money, “sell a shirt for $3.00” anything but selling cough mixture hopefully. Veiltorn laid a beat that people could dance to, not full out shake it but move to slightly.

Ride with us

This was the introduction we got to the Art Department. The PHD produced and Alaina featured song as explained in one our blogs is really a “we will have the last laugh” typa jam. Message to the unbelievers of the crew that they are “fly with the Desert Eagles”.. well, we get the message fellas, you have guns and you don’t want us to ride with you. The feeling of being underrated is one that most rappers in Zim and albeit, the world over have, however not most of them can put the words in song and bring it out properly. The Art Department did a good job at this. Alaina was great on the chorus vocally but we think a lot more could’ve been done there in terms of the wording.

Drunk in The Morning

This song excludes Navy Seal. The beat is not vicious or hard so much that you nod so hard your neck hurts or anything. BUT, the title of the song and the content are misleading. One would think “Drunk in the morning” would have more to do with being drunk in the morning, e.g, we were partying all night and woke up drunk in the morning, but more than anything  else they were talking about the city having their backs or yes again, getting money (it would be hard to get money if you are drunk in the morning to be honest, unless of course you drink for a living). The good thing is the delivery of the verses was top notch but it’s one of those songs which leave you thinking “so what are these guys really saying because we don’t see the connection between the phrase “drunk in the morning” and the song itself…except on the chorus.

All night

Once this song goes on, you magically turn the volume up and get a head dance going. Navy Seal starts it off like he was born with the beat on his tongue! The synthesiser effects that jump in mid verse make you wonder who the hell produced such artistry! Good thing we have the answer, PHD! By that time, you are in the chorus which sounds oh so delectable, Rob Illsicker takes over, more effects are added as he murders the second verse like Navy did in the first. The song is a party jam straight from 2003! As the third verse starts, some effects are removed, we get a closer feel of Tone Lakeside who like the first two verse owners kills it with finesse. The song is so good Navy comes back with a bridge like thing and magically, you press replay. WHAT MORE CAN WE SAY!

Dreams of a man

After “All night” the feel of this song sobers us up. “Dreams of a man” sounds like a more mature, poetic, real and honest version of “For the money”. Robbie to us had the verse which we feel stood out, the word play and how he just carries the mood of the song without the usual rap “the more that I get colder the more I write again, the more that I feel lonely , the more I can hold this mic again” , something really special about the verse. If one thought that these guys weren’t lyrical, it’s the song that shows you that they are.

Cooling Off

The reason why this song is good is really because you just can’t find anything wrong with it, NOTHING! It was not made for radio exactly but it would still be good for radio. It’s a drink in cup song or driving home from a lit situation type of song. The really lovely bit of the song is that it was produced by PHD who produced the two songs before this one on the track list. The guy is versatile. It might not be played like “All Night” but it will probably never leave your play list. “ you know we international, the flow is metaphysic” If this was a play on words with the name of  the diaspora legend MC Metaphysics then… good one Navy

Bring it Back

Navy seal goes solo on this TR Hitz produced song. Like “All night” it’s straight out of the early-mid two thousands. You immediately confirm that Navy Seal was probably influenced by Aftermath/ G Unit / Dr Dre sound. The awesome thing about it all is that he left the song in a body bag. We think it’s one of the best songs on the album. Party jam but it still packs a major gangster punch.

Set It Off

“Beats I am f**king the beats up, means I am leaving em pregnant, which means you gotta get these f**king beats some contraceptive”

This is a straight up street, gangster rap sounding; take no prisoners, ME AND MY CREW ARE BETTER THAN YOUR CREW type of song. First Class showed us why he is named that way. We thought this song was a killer till we heard the third verse, after that we had no words, just listen to it.

Like This

Braggadocio flows, The song seems to be supposed to get our hands up but, with the current way in which turn up songs are done, it might not be the most possible thing to do with the song. Not too much stands out about the song. it’s a good song. It doesn’t hold a candle to some of the better moments on the album.

Top of the World

This track is a motivational song. “why fly when you can walk on water”, it’s all about being on the top of the world without the fear of falling. The mellow nature of the song and the message behind it merge to take the message through to the listener. It was a good way to close the album. It has a good balance content wise, a more intimate and honest version of the come up of the crew. The Grind continues

The Over view

This collaborative effort was a success. The Art Department have excellent synergy, their articulation of their manner was well presented. They don’t sound like they are confused about what sound they want to present or what they are associated with. There is an undeniable American Hip Hop from the peak of the 50 Cent, G- Unit era influence in this album. Strong hints of Aftermath type Dr Dre, 2002-2006 type of hip hop are underlying characteristics of their music. These are especially apparent in “All Night” and “Bring it back.

Question is, is there a problem with it all? Most Zimbabwean MC’s are looking hard for the next exclusively Zim sound? There is this “originality” thing that Zim rappers have been told to look for but in the case of the Art Department, they seem to have taken all that and flushed it down the toilet. When you listen to the album again and again (like we did) you see as Navy says, that they make music for real G’s, that he will still wear Timberland boots to church. THEY DON’T WANT TO SOUND ALL VERNAC OR ZIMBO LIKE. We think that it was a bold approach and they nailed it. Their choice in words, phrases, metaphors and similes really sound like they are from some neighbourhood in New York but for some strange reason, it’s not irritating, it’s really good.

One thing that we noticed is that in as much as the songs are different, they all pretty much talk about the same thing, “I am outchea hustling, tryna get paid, don’t mess with my crew,” and repeat. We were not going to let them go especially with “Drunk in the morning”. The album is pretty long too, slightly monotonous sometimes mostly because of the content. The other noticeable (could be) flaw is that, unless you listen to the whole album at least three times, you might have a hard time picking out which one is Rob Illsicker, which one is Tone Lakeside, you might just hear  Navy Seal because of a slightly different voice and style. Our issue here is that, they all have the same style. Compare this with other groups, say G- Unit or MMT, their individual differences in style make us anticipate what X will rap like in the next song, as in say, at the beginning of the song when the beat drops, it’s a healthy thing to always be prompted to have a , “I wonder what Tone Lakeside will sound like on this beat”. However, because of their similarity, we can kind of predict what will happen.

The Art Department have songs that are nicely cleaned out, mastered, flawless in delivery. There aren’t any words out of place, the instrumentals are balanced perfectly, chosen appropriately for their content and just sound beautifully mastered. They are disciplined in their approach; one can tell that they put a lot of thought in this project. They respected the art and the producers didn’t give them a shoddy job of it. We have nothing but praise for the technical team, the producers of the song, the ones who arranged the songs and the artwork. The only feature on the song, Alaina, didn’t do a bad job either and we hope to see the visuals of some of the songs.

In conclusion, this album has brought a sound which we had missed from Hip Hop in general. We are so used to the trappy DJ Mustard sounds, loud bass, ear tearing beats or slightly pop going Nigeria records where men dance but these guys kept the G in HIP HOP. They stuck with the theme and truth be told, we have been sleeping on them.

You don’t have to take our word, just download the album here and see if we are calling a bluff or we are PUSHING THE SOUND HARD.

Rating 3.5/5

Valentines Season RnB: Mik & Mile - Like Oooh [NEW VIDEO!!]

2015 has started on a very hectic tip, artists have been churning videos out non - stop. so much so, we are having a hard time keeping up. The song Like Ooh is one we got to hear some time last year and we couldn't resist but write an article on the young man Mik when we found out it was part of his Ep titled The Listen Ep; mostly produced by Team Rehab Anonzi Xndr and Delani Makhalima. Like Ooh was produce by Anonzi Xndr.

Before we go any further, if you haven't heard this song and you think there is no young RnB in Zimbabwe, you have clearly been looking in the wrong places. a sound like this one is truly refreshing in a country where good singers either end up in urban grooves or are forced to go the Jazz path so that they are more "marketable" as brands. these young boys have come out giving us a sound that is pure RnB and wow, they do it quite well. these two are very talented, great voices that make you wonder where they were when we had to listen to Pax Afro and Slice? why the people who go to Start Brite think they can sing when there is talent like this? and who on earth is deciding what gets played at radio stations if they are not playing this?

Our advice from here on is two pronged: ladies, don't watch this with your man or he will catch you dreamily looking at these two boys with their "I-can-dance-but-I-wont-all-out-dance" moves; guys, download the song for her (valentines package), watch the video and learns some moves on swooping in on those girls.

The video was shot in good quality and was well scripted; the song is appreciative of a girl, and how some girls just get you feeling some typa way. We're glad Mik and Mile didn't cramp the video with an attempt at putting a long winding story-line into it. you can tell they put time into and it wasn't a rushed project with the different shots in it. We were at a 50-50 split on deciding on the indoor shots but they were quite nice; the natural feel of the quality then brings a certain realism to the shots and you can appreciate the cuteness of time spent fooling around with your girl indoors, makes you forget that its acting. The garden scenes during the Mile verse proved for an environment fitting of the lyrics and what he was saying to the girl.

Now as PUSHzw we are dedicating this small paragraph to the beautiful ladies in the video. That is all.

Love songs are a difficult area to write for and do videos for because its very difficult to escape "cheesy", we would like to applaud these gentlemen for the fine effort and not at any point making us feel like it was cheesy. If it had been another NSSA house shot video ka! Its really nice to be able to see local videos that we aren't embarrassed to share with our snobby friends who think local is always hideous!

Okay you can watch the Video below and tell us what you think

As usual its us, your favorite Know-it-all bloggers, please remember to

Push.Ur.Sound.Hard [P.U.S.H]

...and follow us on twitter @pushzw and like our Facebook Page PUSHzw(notice how we didnt say 'please'?)

Mik - @hypemik

Mile - @263Mile 

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

THE PROMISED REVIEW : ZIM HIP HOP AWARDS

Awards are supposed to exist to make industries better, to recognise the hard workers for the year and push others to work hard so as to get their acknowledgement...to assist everyone in bench-marking. Each and every year for four years now, ZHHA does the opposite. I would like to blame them for the 6 month industry silence that we had this year! Who wanted to work when the only overall industry recognition was biased?

ZHHA 2014, just when we thought that ZHHA had given us progress, Beefy and his team showed why they are the best at what they do. Heck, they've been doing it for FOUR years...that's experience!!

ZHHA 2014 looked promising, having had not too many complaints on the nominees’ side (lack of complaints could have been our “they should just do whatever, not like they ever listen to us anyway..) This year they really tried in that department. Of course there’s always one or two, but the generality of it was that they did well with the nominees. Their job was of course made easy by the lack of really ground breaking, relevant Hip Hop for most of the year.

The fans and the artists didn't disappoint, everybody dressed up for the night. Everyone was looking beautiful as they always do...the rain tried to ruin the mood but hey, it wasn't going to spoil our awards night..That's Beefy's job.

First awards of the night were well deserved awards, McPotar (who had by far the most consistent blog in 2014), Sindiso Dube, Mark Vusani, DNA...these were all very deserving award winners. The problems came with the awards everyone came to see.

Unlike last year where we had a publicized panel (though they dropped out at the 11th hour) we kinda knew who was responsible for the decisions, this year we certainly didn’t know. We must've missed the memo. Noise broke out in the last quarter of the awards, artists and fans alike chanted "BullSh*t! BullSh*t!" and we can't blame them.

PUSHzw would like to take this moment to thank HAKEEM for doing what no one else who went on stage would do. Saying what most people felt was the truth. Who needs Kanye?? However, to say that Tehn Diamond deserved what Peekay isn’t exactly something we would stand to agree with, Ma One Vs Simudza Gumbo? (bearing in mind that its awards for 2014)

These are the categories where we think the noise erupted from, and where we think Beefy and his awards did his thing:

BEST DIASPORA: Rhyme Assassin. Sarai muchiita Digest that.

BEST ALBUM: It went to Blood Money Jacob - POY. Look, it was a good album, good, content wise but also an album people didn’t hear. How much of it was played on Radio? (which we believe is part of the criteria for nomination) How much of it did people hear? The Category had Albums like Masofa Panze 2 and the Many Moods of Trae Yung all with better airplay and content that was just as good. Our winner of the night though should've been THE MMT LP. That album was so good most of the music of the night was from it! How else could you get people bumping if you didn’t play the MMT LP? It had great songs that went viral a good quality product. You would think that after the great introduction Stunner gave the award, ZHHA would have respected people enough to give it to the rightful winner.

BEST NEWCOMER: PEE KAY. Maybe we shouldn’t talk about this one because we don’t know what criteria they use for Newcomer. We remember very clearly a song with PeeKay in it more than four years ago, when he was still skinny, Ill Ceey was still secular...and Ill Ceey was still Ill Ceey. PeeKay with Illceey on Blue Jeans is from when we were in high school, and now it’s been a year since we graduated from Varsity and they give him BEST NEWCOMER. Utter F$#ckery! This award had fresh blood more deserving of a chance to be recognised and they gave it to the guy who is probably a lotta rappers' role model. Young Bulawayo rapper Cal_Vin was killing it, Nash Da King, had a good song this this year, Masofa Panze 2 artist Noble Stylz was on fire...and the awards panel killed all hopes for new acts. Who knows next year, they might put Xndr, Junior Brown or BETTER, the Major Playaz!!

BEST FEMALE: BLACKBIRD. What?? I mean “what?” Put your hands in the air if you heard more BlackBird than Trae Yung this year or any BlackBird actually, No takers? We thought so. Hanzi nhingi akapihwa award ranhingi.. #NDIKOKO. Plus, Blackbird is very Loud pa mic...barely survived with our ear drums. But she did tell us that she is the only rapper on Channel O from Zim… ah well!

PEOPLES CHOICE: Tricky J, The boy had a really good song, and if numbers don’t lie, the he won because more people voted for him than your artiste of choice, If you want your expression felt on this one, GET MORE PEOPLE TO VOTE FOR YOUR ARTISTES!

What still pisses us off about ZHHA

1.      TIME, Gosh, if you say you shall start at 1900 then start at 1900, at least at 1930, not TWO hours late, AGAIN!

2.      VIP, nominees, free for all…we will only be serious about it… for the first hour of the awards

3.      SOUND..SOUND…SOUND..

4.      If they don’t treat these awards with the importance that is due, neither will we!

5.      Can you switch off the lights,… switch off the lights!! This should be all cleared at rehearsals folks.

6.      Control your people, the audience becomes rowdy, irritable and plane simple out of control. This happened last year too

The Good bits

1.      Turn out, maybe the smaller venue gave it a better effect but it’s cool to know we have fans

2.      The visual aid for the and nominee list call out was a little more organised this year

3.      Back drop, smile and take a picture, don’t we all just love feeling cool!

4.      The drama moment had a slightly lighter side to it, though it was really disappointing, it did make for a somewhat, moment of entertainment

5.      Free Style battle, short, precise and we all liked the winner. Together with performances from Calvin, High Definition, Amard, they did put in great work. Team Bho always with something surprising on stage. It’s all hip hop.

h

@pushzw

MASOFA PANZE 2 : ALBUM REVIEW

This album really has to be one of if not the best Hip Hop album to come out this year. I bet you this...if you try to quote a line from Noble Stylz’s songs you end up with the whole song on your paper. Best Vernac MC? we don’t really see the challengers. This album is a lovely collection of songs, well chosen by the Artist

1.maBornFree

“tamba game inonzi Josiah, panda mubhawa tongogaraaaaaaaa”

Arguably, PushZW favourite  track off the album and it just had to be track number one; this song got us hooked on to the album, there was no way we were gonna end here. The bars from Noble just drop one after another, you enjoy the song throughout, it just flows. Trae Yung’s inclusion was no mistake, her verse (and declaration that she is Queen of Hip Hop) really got us going.

2. Nyanzvi ft BlacPerl

“hanzi nd’chabuda game, havafariri kuona Noble ane Crown/ Hanzi nd’chabuda asi handis’ kubuda seAlbum raJunior Brown”

You know, coming from maBorn Free, this was a perferct song choice. The song that features Masofa Panze Queen, BlacPerl makes for a good partnership. BlacPerl’s ability to smoothly transition between rapping and singing..this young lady is seriously talented, definitely worth keeping an eye on. We can clearly see why the social media circles have been making so much noise about this.

3. Kudakwashe

“…koshesha ruzivo kupinda mari/… tese tirivatadzi muporofita haasi Mwari”

We don’t remember hearing a word of English in this song...yes a single word! Kudakwashe was a purely vernac record. A really deep song that seems to talk about life, its difficulty and people walking together but reminding that the ultimate faith should be placed in God. There is this almost out of body experience that one is prompted to get when they hear this song. The bridge, the chorus, it was just really good. It’s like converting a well written Shona poem to a song.

4. Patinosangana feat Arnold Gara

The guy goes ultra-soft on this one, The Arnold Gara featured song is a very well documented description of long distance relationship pains and longing to be with ones lover. At first we thought it was a mourning song about a lost lover. It can be used in both situations. We would like to focus on Arnold Gara, we haven’t heard of him before but his well-balanced (vocally) chorus and verse on the song we loved a lot, we hope you like it too. We also hope to hear more from him.

5. Supa Sub ft Quonfused

“back on pole position saBev atiza Prophet Magaya”

After maBornFree and Nyanzvi this is the closest to a really free and maybe “turn up” song. Quonfused kills it on the chorus and on his verse in this song that generally says that the industry is boring now and whats neded is the Suer sub – Masofa Panze. Truthfully right no it does look like that is the case. We didn’t know what to do; dance (maclarks) or just enjoy Noble’s wordplay. The song has definite Zim Dancehall Undertones. We did the whole PUUUULOOOO thing when we got the part where Noble ran an undistrupted number of bars rhyming with one rhyme scheme JUST LISTEN TO IT

6. Dai Maiziva ft BlacPerl

We first heard this song at The Shoko Festival 2014. The song is a two pronged story about a girl (BlacPerl) who narrates the unfortunate situation involving an unplanned pregnancy, sexual abuse and prostitution. Noble carries on the song on the second and third verse with a case of an irresponsible musician and lifestyle. The song again has a chilled feel to it, a little more thought provoking like “Kudakwashe”. It was oh so emotional how the song really tackles the issues of the abuse of women in the capacity of mothers and girls at large.

7. Success

Its not the usual to hear Noble rapping over a sampled beat. The instrumental to this song is a lot different from the usual Noble Styles-Maskiri type beats. It’s pretty much about Success, the way one doesn’t understand it or comprehend it. This song is really a “I’m better than yall” clothed in a pseudo message about his inability to understand success.

8. Let me Know

One of the songs with the most different feel on the album is the let me know that features Mr Noxxa. The past couple of weeks we have heard a couple of Mr Noxxa records and concluded that this guy is just NOT LIKED ABOUT ENOUGH. “Let me know” has (we hope this will not be offensive) a feel that can be likened to a great blend between urban grooves and R &B..the blend that was the original Urban grooves sound before Russo came to town. A love song where the girl has started acting up and crossing borders of ratchetry and Noble is just asking the girl to show him love before he thinks there’s no love and moves on. Great verses from Stylz and Mr Noxxa did not slack! Great track all round.

9. “Vakafa vakazorora” featuring Meister and BlacPerl

“Meister, Masofa Panze tapinda, me and my brother in the game takuita Adam na Madinda”

“chinzwa wordplay, right, mashoko aya akutamba sele/ I run this game single handedly saSomandla Ndebele”

A very rare thing happened on the third verse, having three rappers interchanging on one verse, quite impressed. This another favourite in the PushZw team. Its probably the song with the most witty lines in the whole album LOVE IT!

10. Zim Hip Hop

“shona rapper akaita mbiri nemabig moves/ ndiwe unotanga kushedzera kuti ava urban grooves”

This song is an address to the Zim Hip hop industry that he refers to as a person that he is talking to.  A great message that doesn’t target any artist but just urges the industry to make the right decisions for growth and wants a situation of no factions. The song really asks about the elephant in the room which is, why is there such a class system, a disparity between the way rappers who spit in vernacular and those who don’t? Why people like South African Hip Hop more than the local… we could go on but, this song is one of those you have to hear for yourself.

11. Tsamba Yekupedzisira

This is a very personal song whose opening verse is a letter to his parents. It is a praise to his praise for raising him. The next verse is even more, for lack of a better word “sweeeeeeeeeet”. It’s a letter style verse addressing his daughter. The last verse is addressed to his brother, deceased as you will hear at the end of the verse. Krimz produced a really soul full sounding beat to go with the song. Another really properly done song.

Overveiw

Noble Stylez, has grown so much ever since Masofa Panze (the first one). This album is a little more relaxed compared to the first one. The mastering is better, the instrumentals are not ear disturbing, to be honest, this album is one of the best Hip Hop albums released this year if not the best. He chose the features well. We don’t quite know why BlacPerl had to be featured three times but thank goodness the young lady knows how to sing.

What we didn’t like

Well, the album artwork is not as good as his first one, COME ON NOBLE!!

4.0/5.0

The album is available on OLOVA  from googleplay or from OLOVA and from @noblestylz get a copy and hear for yourself!!

@pushzw