Zim Hip Hop Awards Launch: A Good Party But…

The Zimbabwe Hip Hop Awards launched the road to its 2015 edition this past Saturday at The Grain.

The attendance was pretty good and the crowd seemed to have a good time. People dressed up and that was key. Always been a bit irritated by people not dressing up for the occasion.

Spotted there were guys like Shayzar, Tehn Diamond, Xndr, comedians Michael K, Seb Diesel and Simba teh Comic King among others.

On any other night it did seem like a great party.

However, three hours into the party – that is when we left – there was not one Zimbabwean hip hop song that had ever been played. We played everything from Snoop Dogg to Cassper Nyovest to Mi Casa and some Jamaican dude but not one single Zimbabwean hip hop song on a night when the awards were being launched.

Whatever the reasoning behind all that was, we have no idea. It makes very little sense. In point of fact, it makes no sense. How can we claim that the people do not take the game seriously when it is not respected by its leaders? Chucknosis is a great music selector and mixer and we would have loved to see his skills on local music.

Then there was something weird that happened. A couple of women in the audience who made some noise during some speech. The response from the speech-giver who we were told was called Jackson – apologies if we are wrong on his name – , was to insult the women, calling them groupies and that the night was not about them. How do you say something like that to the fans? They are the critical component in turning your hobby into a business.

This is not in any way suggesting that this will be a reflection of how the event itself will be. We are pretty sure Aldrian ‘Beefy’ Harrison and his team are working hard to shed the controversy that the awards have come with over the last couple of years. However this is all part of it. Do things completely. The artists are struggling for play in any of the clubs out there. This was the chance to give them all the play they could stomach.

That said, all the best to them.