Sundaymail Editor
Urban grooves founding producer Tatenda Jenami, better known as Take 5, is now a new man. The 31-year-old father of one, who not only abused alcohol but also dabbled in illicit substances, is now a born-again Christian and is no longer singing or producing secular music.
The producer is to urban grooves what PTK, Levels or JMP are to Zim dancehall; he together with TBA and Delani Makhalima helped popularise and give substance to the urban grooves movement at the turn of the millennium.
Take 5, who says he has been clean, that is, not taking alcohol, narcotics or even cigarettes since July 1 this year, is also claiming to be a prophet.
In an interview with The Sunday Mail Leisure at his studio in Greendale, Take 5 revealed that many musicians have drug and alcohol problems, although for professional reasons he could not mention them by their names.
“I have got so many popular artiste friends who are struggling with it, they want to stop, but it is not that easy,” said Take 5.
The musician, however, urged his former “worldly friends” to quit drugs and alcohol as they are the “devil’s instruments”.
“We smoked mbanje, took bronco and abused alcohol with people I prefer to just call my worldly friends. I have since lost all of them and that has given me more time to pray and read the word of God,” he said.
But how did the man who not so long ago sang: “Sunday vamwe vari kwa Makandiwa, isu tirikugocha tichidhakiwa” make such a turnaround?
“God had to take extreme measures to bring me to light,” said Take 5 making reference to several Bible verses, with particular emphasis on Apostle Saul who changed his name to Paul.
The producer/musician described a horror encounter he had with the police which led to his repentance.
“I got falsely accused and the CID (Criminal Investigation Department) was involved. They took me to a police station (name supplied) where they beat me up so bad and when I left the station I could not even walk,” narrated Take 5.
He says his brother-in-law, a pastor, who is married to his sister, who is also a pastor, picked him up from his jail cell and took him to his house. That was in late June.
“On all my previous visits to my sister’s place, she and her husband would always ask me to join them, but I would refuse. But on that particular Sunday, they did not have to ask, I volunteered.
“When I got to church, the moment I stepped into the church premises I felt free, like a heavy weight had been lifted off my shoulders. Church went well and we went back home to prepare for a legal battle by hiring lawyers and so forth,” said Take 5.
Monday came, and the legal battle Take 5 and his family had prepared for did not take place.
“Everything just stopped. The police, the friend who was falsely accusing me, the charges levelled against me, everything just went away and that is when God spoke to me,” narrated Take 5.
The artiste claims he had a conversation with God, where the Almighty asked him: “Do you know how many youths you took from me with your worldly music?”
“God said to me, I gave you a talent which you did not go to school for, so can you do something for me? What I gave you is so powerful. Bring back the youths you stole from me,” claims Take 5.
The musician, who says he is paying lobola for his girlfriend in December and planning a wedding for sometime next year, has since renamed his studio to Vhangeri Studios. But he says he will not ditch his name or the type of music he sings and produces.
“I am the guy that will bring coolness to gospel. I represent the youth and I do not want to sing boring music that the youths cannot identify with. We produce gospel hip-hop, rap music and R&B — cool gospel which ensures that when other youths are listening to Jay Z those who love gospel can listen to Take 5, Mudiwa, Flem B or Courtney Rusike and still look cool,” declared Take 5.
Take 5 said he was done operating from behind the scenes. “Now I’m no longer just the architect — I’m at the forefront. I’m the vessel being used by God and so I need to convey the message myself,” he said.
The musician is currently working on two singles titled “My Redeemer” and “Gore”, a traditional hymn.
“I’m working on a gospel album but I will release two singles first in a not-so-distant future. I have been anointed by God to be a prophet and I’m busy with His other work so I can’t be specific with the dates,” said Take 5.
Take 5 says although he has lost his worldly friends he has found new ones and repaired his broken relationship with his family.
“Because I was high, I couldn’t spend five minutes with my mother, I avoided my father and I was in constant battles with my sisters. But I am happy now because all that is behind me — now I have friends I can trust, I can live with my mother for five minutes and not be afraid of what they might say,” said Take 5.
He added: “There are people that are going to see God using me and they will say I was in an orgy with him. But I’m not the first sinful man to be chosen by God to reclaim his dominion over his people, the Bible is full of such people.”
Take 5’s sister, Pastor Grace Mudzenda, who witnessed Take 5’s turnaround, said: “Of course people will doubt that the mbanje smoker and alcoholic has indeed turned a corner, but that is how God works.
“We want to thank God for this miracle. It is true that Take 5 is now a new man walking the path of the godly. Tatenda or Take 5, as you call him, gave his life to Christ — this is a new Take 5.
“Just like what happened to Saul who later became Paul, a transformation done by God happens in the blink of an eye. Read 2 Corinthians 5:17 — it says ‘therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old one has passed away; behold, the new has come’,” said Pastor Mudzenda.
Could this be Take 5’s new life or are we witnessing another Beverly Sibanda-Walter Magaya drama?
Only time will tell.
Online Reporter