adminPraise Masvosva
POPULAR urban grooves outfit, Xtra Large, is celebrating 20 years of existence in the music industry.
Xtra Large, which comprises the duo of Jimmie “Swaggah Jim” Mangenzi and Norman “Likkle N” Manwere, announced its arrival on the music scene in 2003 after releasing their first album Walembe.
The album has the hit song Uriroja and Wafawanaka, among others.
It was produced at That Squad which later rebranded to Chamhembe.
In an interview, Swaggah Jim said he owes his success to God for taking them this far.
“It’s God from day one. It’s unbelievable that it’s already 20 years since we got into the industry.
“Many people have died and bands have dissolved, but Xtra Large is still intact.
“After releasing our second album Large and In Charge, we got a hit Kushamura Newe which was produced by Flash Gordon.
“In 2006, we did an album titled Still at Large with MacDee and it had songs like Aiwa Mukoma, Roja Dance.
“We worked with MacDee and made a number of hits like Muti wemusango, House Ghero and Small House, among others,” he said.
Swaggah Jim also said in 2011 they teamed up with ExQ on the project Xpandables Project.
“In the project Xpandables, we had a popular song Me One Day featuring Roki and it was produced by Joseph Madziyire.
“Two years later the Xpandables got back together and we did a couple of singles, but the one that made waves was Girlfriend featuring Guspy Warrior.
“It was produced by Tman of Mount Zion and from there we went on to work with Tman as Xtra Large,” he said
Similar sentiments were echoed by Likkle N.
“We have this brotherly relationship; we met in primary school and went to the same high school.
“At some point, we worked for the same company before getting into music.
“I think those people who fight vanenge vakasanganiswa nemusic, so they become more like workmates, but we became a family from way back.
“We have more than 15 albums to date and a couple of EPs.
“Throughout these years, we have managed to win some accolades although it’s not been an easy road.
“The game has changed a lot since we started and we have been doing everything in our capacity to adapt to the new ways of doing things and stay afloat and to stay relevant,” he said.
Asked if they are going to celebrate, Likkle N said:
“If we manage to secure sponsorship, our main aim is to make a Live DVD recording which narrates our musical journey.
“We plan to release more songs as a way of celebrating this milestone.
“We also plan to have a big show; we are the only duo or group to survive this long.”
They are currently enjoying rave reviews of songs off their latest album Abnormal Load, which has songs like Blue Tick featuring Sanii Makhalima and Maskodobo featuring Jah Prayzah.
Online Reporter