Bulawayo is the hip-hop capital: MUSE

Mthabisi Tshuma, Showbiz Correspondent
Following the recent clash between Zimdancehall musician Enzo Ishall and rapper Holy Ten on the Zim hip-hop supremacy, outspoken hip-hop musician MUSE has said his home city, Bulawayo is the hip-hop capital thus rappers who are not from the city should not claim the genre’s throne.

MUSE (born Peter Chester) was speaking following the feud that helped bring attention to the local hip-hop genre. The two artistes had a fair exchange of words on social media and in a series of songs with the likes of Maskiri and R Peels also joining in. This beef kept music lovers entertained as they also got to listen to new music as the artistes dissed each other.

This is hip-hop. It is a genre of contest and MUSE has joined in saying people should know that Bulawayo is the genre’s capital so the king will naturally be from the city. He said he will let all this known by the release of a track called Pressure next week.

“Bulawayo has always been and will always be the capital of hip-hop. We’re a cultural city and the hub of hip-hop. If it weren’t for this city, there would be no Blaqs (videographer) who started with hip-hop, Andy Cutta (videographer), POY, Takura, Asaph, the late Cal Vin and MUSE. These are the best in what they do and they have defined what art and hip-hop is in their line of trade,” he said.

For the up-and-coming single that will be accompanied by a video as MUSE wants it to be a complete project that will hammer his point, he featured MTV Music Awards nominee Asaph. The video that was shot in Bulawayo was directed by the multi-award-winning Andy Cutta.

He said the video will be launched on a number digital platforms on Friday.

“This will be my second project with Asaph. Professionally I only want to work with the best and Asaph is a great guy outside of the studio and we get along.

“Talking hip hop, he’s a spitter and we sound good together. We balance each other very well and that’s why I opted to work with him,” he said.

MUSE is riding high with his recent track, I want that stirred controversy because of its raunchy visuals that feature model Roxxie. Roxxie and MUSE’s seductive moves helped propel the video bringing a controversial tag to the brand MUSE.

Born Peter Chester in Bulawayo, MUSE relocated to Pennsylvania at the age of six, where he grew up and discovered his love for music, taking an interest in jazz, RnB and Hip-hop. Upon returning to Bulawayo he released his first mixtape titled Exquisite Lyrics Volume One and singles like Adore You, Don’t Start and Rise and Fall. — @mthabisi_mthire.