The Sunday Mail
Andrew Moyo
THE hip-hop scene has been dominated by male rappers but there are some iron ladies who have managed to hold their own behind the mic.
Armed with catchy lyrics, smooth flows and solid punch lines, BlacPerl, real name Chiedza Babra Maswera, is regarded as one of the best female rappers in the country.
Last weekend she proved why she deserves to be in the upper echelons of Zim hip-hop when she dropped her first solo album, “The Blac Diary”, at The Volt.
The 12-track album is a masterpiece, with the artiste recruiting some of the industry’s heavyweights such as Ti Gonzi, Legend Elly, Noble Styles, Sharky, Probeats and spoken word maestro Madzitateguru.
Having done collaborative projects with Noble Styles in the past, the 21-year-old rapper had already curved her stack in the industry, winning a Zim Hip-Hop Award last year for Best Female.
The album launch was a massive success with many celebrities and socialites including Mzimba, Russo, CST, Nesto, Faith Candy, Tererai and Yo Highness among others, gracing the event.
The rapper did not disappoint when she took to the stage, performing some of the songs off the new project, supported by the featured artistes.
She performed tracks that include “Bho Zvekuti”, “My Time”, “Izwi”, “Mashoko”, “Ndoda Kuva Newe”, “Ndonwa SaNoah”, “They do Thega”, “Pakaipa Kudaro” and “Mhururu”.
Speaking after the launch, BlacPerl said the album was actually a diary of sorts, traversing across various themes.
“The Blac Diary’ is a fusion of a lot of sounds and emotion, which I would liken to your typical diary,” said BlacPerl.
“It is like a journey that takes you to a lot of places spiritually and emotionally, acting as a vessel that the listener has to decide what to put in it.”
While the songs on the album have different themes, combined they tell a story of success and defying barriers. The song “Bho Zvekuti”, which has received favourable airplay, is one of the potential hits on the album, with the artiste singing about celebrating what people achieve in life.
The hip-hop album would not be complete without some bragging and the artiste did just that with the help of Noble Styles and Ti Gonzi on the song “My Time”.
“On this particular song I was declaring my queen status in the game and I had to call in some of the best lyricists that I know to also claim their thrones on the track.”
Another song that has the make of a good party anthem is “Ndomwa SaNoah”, where the rapper featured Yo Highness with both artistes combining well on the captivating beat.
Throwing in a beat boxer and spoken word artiste (Probeats and Madzitateguru respectively) added a unique artistic flare to the project.
“When I was looking for artistes that I wanted to feature on the project, I had to identify the act I knew would be best for a particular song, which is why I did not just collaborate with fellow rappers but also included a beat boxer, a poet and a dancehall artiste.”
The album was recorded at Bazuka Studios with Casper Beats, Fun F and Mclyne on the production team.
