Could Few Kings be the answer to the long-standing question on whether hip-hop from Zimbabwe will make a national impact and an international breakthrough?
Three weeks ago the star-studded hip-hop group dropped their second album, ‘Feeling Aint Fear’, pregnant with meaning, relevance, and boldness laced with well-crafted beats it has taken me several days to decipher and digest the contents.
Few Kings made up of rappers Tehn Diamond, Junior Brown and producer Take Fizzo emerged from a sabbatical since we had the drinks and despite a lot of young cats working so hard to fill the void it seems the three kings never gave away their crown.
Zimbojam caught up with Tehn to find out more.
“We never left, we merely stuck to the plan we always had, to come together and then to strengthen the whole by plying our trade as individual artists. What we can promise is that the wait for the next Few Kings offering won’t be another four years,” said Tehn Diamond.
True to the title, the song ‘Mamero’ fearlessly opens up with President Mugabe’s speech at a rally bemoaning police corrupt behaviour. The song narrates the ordeal faced by motorists on the road at the hands of menacing police officers.
Then there is ’15 Billion’ a figure which is synonymous with the diamond money that allegedly went missing but what’s striking is how they cleverly used the line in a rare but candid message directed at promoters who manipulate and take local artists for granted. Opening with a phone conversation between Vijay Hundu and dancehall star, Snipper whom they offered fifty dollars to perform at the Morgan Heritage concert.
Popular socialite and ex-wife to fellow rapper Stunner finds herself on the album too with the song ‘Vaskana Ava’ which samples one of her outbursts and the rappers go on to encourage men to treat their women well and spoil them with goodies.
“The main message we hoped to convey with this album was one of love. Love for our country. Love for the beautiful people who make up this country. Love for the fathers who raised us to be Kings. Love for the Queens of 263. Love for the hip-hop genre in Zimbabwe. And the best way we could do this was by speaking truth to power on issues that others ignore or skirt around in hip-hop particularly,” added Tehn.
Of late a lot of music hits globally feature sampled old school beats or lyrics and Few Kings proved to be masters at this.
There are two songs that can easily get you to shed a tear. An emotionally compelling remake of ‘Svovi yangu’ a Tuku hit now renamed ‘Stuck in the Clouds’ is a classic blend of two worlds and magic. As if that was not enough the group waxed lyrical to Vabati Vehvangeri’s ‘Kutaura Nemi’ and gave it a new feeling and vibe. It’s probably one of my best songs on the album.
The album answers many critics who seldom say a lot of local hip-hop lacks reliability. Tehn conceded that for too long Zim Hip-Hop has been afraid to truly represent the people, and The Feeling Aint Fear seeks to challenge and end that.
“We have always made music in the true style of hip-hop, we’ve always drawn from our honest experiences and presented them in a way that people can relate. As hip-hop artists and more specifically as leaders in the genre, we had a responsibility to once again paint a picture that was honest and true. In a word, Few Kings is and always will be the definition of realness.
“More than anything the strength and courage to follow through with our mission came from the faith with have in God above all else, the love and support poured into us from our mothers (The Few Queens) .”
A very diverse and well-balanced album which just didn’t approach the controversial and important subjects with artistry and finesse, but the lighter issues too.
Most of the songs on the album contain a certain perspective of truth about Zimbabwean society. Amongst the police corruption, the child abuse and blessed culture and the ultimate hope by every Zimbabwean the world over love and have a good time.
Overall its a good project and tracks ‘Bum Bum’ and ’15 Billion’ are already topping the charts on ZiFM and StarFM.
The group is currently on a national tour titled ‘Kings of the Summer Tour’ which will see them take the album to several cities, neighborhoods in Harare and South Africa.
