In the 90's, a fresh wave of new music hit the country enough to create a craze and change the way in which Zimbabweans would consume music forever. Hip Hop, hailing from New York and at the time two decades old and arriving in Harare a decade after the nation's liberation, crept up on a society that was beaming with endless possibilities of a new democracy. In the midst of all this growth, a powerful lyricist and performer, legend now, groundbreaker then who came up and rose to be the king of Hip Hop, his name is Tonderai Makoni a.k.a Kingpinn.
Kingpinn was not the first Hip Hop artist to come out of Zimbabwe, before him there had been a few Mcees. Shingirai (Mau Mau) easily comes to mind (although there are many other individuals and outfits that paved the way in the shadows) and since the Hip Hop/Rap fratenity is littered with individuals quickly out to look for a fight or "beef" as they call it, I will say this.
The flawless delivery of rhymes, his writing, overal construction and delivery of his Mceeing talent is one that the country had not seen before and will have to wait a bit longer to again see it. Kingpinn was a marvel to listen to and it was undoubtedly a proud moment of a nation that, until then, had largely been known for Sungura and Chimurenga music. It is this that has led me to believe that, Kingpinn is indeed the king of Hip Hop in Zimbabwe.
At this time you probably have questions and names of other hip hop artists active, non active, still perfoming or not perfoming that you want to throw in, which I believe is pefectly normal if you have been listening to music for some time. But then again, if you haven't been listening to music for a time, crossing genres and generations, you would not appreciate the differences in how the art has been delivered.
Consider trying to find a masterpiece better than Leonardo Da Vinci's Mona Lisa or Vincent van Gogh's The Starry Night. This form of art has been in existence for more than 40 000 years and many artists have come and gone but none have come close to achieving a piece of artwork as revered as the aforementioned. I have no doubt in my mind that the same can be true for other arts forms such as music. Michael Jackson in Pop, Elvis Prestly in Rock, Michael Jordan in Basketball, the list grows on but I assume there is a part here where you get the point.
Yes, once in time they will come an artists brave enough, at times good enough to disrupt or challenge the crown but until all bodies of work have been fully submitted, placed side to side in comparison, then we can fully comprehend the magnitude in which one individual or group would have successfully influenced an artform to greatness.
Because Hip Hop has largely become an aggressive egocentric bragging platform, at most what intrigues fans around the world is how nice and explicit it sounds as opposed to the content therein. For the few hip hop connoseurs, they would tell you that the latter characteristics as found in Nas, Common, Kendrick Lemar, some songs of Tupac have a larger role to play in society than that which is explicit and vilifies women (for example) for the sake of making a sound or a song.
In Kingpinn's music, there is a great love for achieving a mix between the rhyth, poetry (RAP) and real tangible content, something you can wrap your head around.
He summed it up quite nicely on his song Inaugaration;
"Mc's gettin involved and causing violence, flashin, talkin but gold chains and diamonds,
So i decided its time to break the silence, time to rise above all that, royal highness
Kingpinn representing Hip Hop's finest, anything less is in line ups behind us
Find us in your dictionary to define us , my name is under timeless!"
I sought out a conversation with Kingpinn's elder brother, Takura an artist on his own and a man who witnessed his little brother's metamorphosis. He can largely be held accountable to Kingpinn's rise in the grenre of Hip Hop as he too was aspiring to become one before he realised he had to "move out the way" as the King had arrived. Luckily for him he had a fall back plan, which was reggae music.
In the interview we touched on many things from family, school, music and Kingpinn's untimely death in Cape Town.
You can watch the interview here:
As a kid growing up in the streets of Harare in the nineties, I was exposed to a lot of things but the major would be the music in my life. My dad had a mean collection on vinyl which I would marvel at playing evertime I had the chance. When times changed and my brother bought a stereo with a CD changer and we sought of started another collection of Cd's and Tapes.
Eventually when Hip Hop came around, infusing the soul, jazz and blues influence, it was like a continuation or rather edification of sounds that I had grown up listening to.
King pinn reminded me of the Lost Boys, Tupac, Nas, N.W.A all rolled up in one.
I hope you enjoy the special "Remembering King Pinn" and to listen to some of his music go here.
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