The Sunday Mail
Dennis Chimanzi
TWO of the country’s exciting hip-hop artistes have sensationally dismissed their rival Holy Ten’s latest album “Energy” as a “half-baked and hurriedly done” project.
Holy Ten’s new album, which was launched amid pomp and fanfare on June 11 is being viewed by many as a flop.
It came out barely a day after sungura maestro Alick Macheso had released his latest album “Tinosvitswa Nashe”.
Players in the hip-hop genre, among them fellow hip-hop artistes, took to the social media where they disapproved of “Energy”.
Nkosilathi Sibiya, an upcoming hip-hop artiste who is affectionately known as Voltz Jt did not mince his words.
He described Holy Ten’s latest 10-track offering as “chaff.”
“I have always been his fan and follower. His recent release was hurriedly done and does not meet the standards that he set on his other previous releases,” Voltz Jt said in an interview with The Sunday Mail Society.
He further accused Holy Ten of being “big-headed and arrogant”.
“This all goes down to arrogance. Holy Ten is very arrogant and he thinks that he is the best Zim hip-hop artiste. He also thinks that he cannot compete with anyone, hence he rushed to produce this half-baked album wrongly assuming it will just make the grade,” added Voltz Jt.
Similar sentiments were also echoed by Ti Gonzi.
But Holy Ten said he took his time and did a great job on the project.
He, however, blamed the lukewarm response to the timing of his album launch.
“To be honest with you, my album is very good. I, however, miscalculated and made the grave mistake of launching the album at the same time Macheso (Alick) was also launching his,” reckons Holy Ten.
“We cannot fool ourselves and try to compare some of us with the likes of Macheso. He is in a league of his own, the same league with the late Dr Oliver Mtukudzi. In comparison, we are mere kids.”
But Ti Gonzi begged to differ.
“We are talking about two completely different genres here. The people that follow sungura are not the same as those that follow hip-hop. This excuse, therefore, falls away,” said Ti Gonzi, whose real name is Tinashe Gonzara.
Adrian “Beefy” Harrison, the Zim-hip-hop awards founder said it is still too early to judge and conclude that Holy Ten’s album is a flop.
“It is still too early to make conclusions. Remember the album was launched barely a week ago. Anything can happen in music,” Harrison said.
Harrison added that it was a dog-eat-dog affair in Zim hip-hop.
“Competition is very stiff and those that falter will bite the dust in the long run, especially during awards time.”
