adminBruce Ndlovu Showbiz Reporter
Bulawayo rapper Cal_Vin crowned his breakthrough year at the Zim Hip-Hop awards by walking away with three gongs last Thursday on a night that had its fair share of controversies.
Out of the seven categories in which he had been nominated for, the Luveve-born and bred wordsmith walked away with Song of the year (Zikhuphan’), Best male artiste of the year and Album of the year (Year Of The Vin) at the ceremony held at Club 1+1 Long Cheng Plaza in Harare.
However, in true hip-hop fashion, Cal_Vin’s victory was not without its controversies. In the midst of the celebrations, just after Cal_Vin received his Best male artiste of the year award, a contender in that category – Brice Mbada reportedly charged at the rapper. He was however restrained by the Bulawayo wordsmith’s entourage.
That was not the end of Mbada’s controversial interventions on the night as, in scenes reminiscent of Kanye West’s 2009 MTV award incident with Taylor Swift, he reportedly disrupted Guluva 7’s acceptance speech as he believed he was the rightful winner of the Best Newcomer award.
The controversy surrounding the awards served only to highlight the divisions between rappers in the strongholds of Harare and Bulawayo, with most artistes from the capital seemingly disputing the resurgence of artistes from Bulawayo.
The fallout continued this week, with rapper Junior Brown also disputing Cal_Vin’s Song of the year award. Brown highlighted that his song, ‘Maria’ was bigger and deserved the award over Cal_Vin’s Zikhuphan’.
“So what hip hop song did they say was bigger, hotter, had more downloads and was #1 on the charts for longer than #MARIA?” questioned Brown on his Facebook account.
A disheartened Cal_Vin responded asking his followers to enlighten Junior Brown of the impact of his music.
“Please help Jnr Brown . . . Bring him up to speed with reality and tell him that being over-played on ZiFM Stereo doesn’t guarantee you a Song Of The Year award Mr Brown.
“Zikhuphan’ is an all round hit son, and I’m not talking about Zimbabwe only. Do your research,” Cal_Vin posted on his Facebook account.
Cal_Vin yesterday acknowledged the rift saying although Brown and Mbada had come out in public with their displeasure, there had been more whispers of discontent behind the scenes.
“I’m in Harare to address this displeasure because it seems that some of the artistes here are really unhappy about what transpired at the awards.
“I didn’t even know about Mbada before Thursday night and Junior Brown’s reaction has been more surprising,” he said.
However, organisers of the awards ceremony seem to acknowledge the rise of the hip hop genre in Bulawayo as the chairman, Aldrian “Beefy” Harrison said next year’s ceremony will be held here as a way of promoting the genre.
Online Reporter