City artistes excited over hip hop awards nominations

Daisy Jeremani Entertainment Editor
Bulawayo artistes are ecstatic after they were nominated in the Zimbabwean hip hop awards which will be co-hosted by Vimbai Mutinhiri and Munyaradzi Chidzonga at 7 Arts in Harare. The show is in its third year running. Mutinhiri and Chidzonga are former Big Brother Africa stars and both have a lot of experience in film and broadcasting.

In an interview, Naboth Rizla Rimayi, who was nominated in the Best Promoter category, said it was humbling to be nominated for his effort.

“Hip hop is a difficult genre to break into and every time someone acknowledges the work you put in, it is always inspiring. We hope more Bulawayo representatives will be nominated next time as we feel this city has a lot of talent that needs recognition in order for it to grow,” he said.

Rizla, who founded promotions entity Da-Grape-Vine, said they have a lot to offer and only needed corporate help to push their projects.
Polite Tichivangana, known to his peers as P2daoh, from KLAP movement, said he was happy with the criteria used to come up with the nominees.

The producer was nominated in the Best Producer category and said it was exciting to be recognised for their effort.

“It means a lot to me. Younger artistes will realise that one needs to invest time and money in their craft in order for them to get their name out there,” said P2daoh.

A number of artistes from the city are in the running in a number of categories. Among these are Mark Vusani (Best Club DJ) Antivirus, (Best Dance Crew) and POY (Best Male and Best Promoter).

Heavyweights in the genre Stunner, Maskiri, Jnr Brown, Mudiwa and Tehn Diamond will battle it out in the People’s Choice Awards.
The other hotly contested category is the Song of the Year where the songs Zunguza (Marques), Chibhodhoro (Stunner), Happy (Tehn Diamond|), Zvidhori (MMT) and Madrinks (Jnr Brown) will be voted for by the public.