For the past two or three years, Zim Hip Hop has been making great strides as the genre tries to solidify itself among the top music genres in the country. This year alone, the genre has been the talk of the town. Zim Hip Hop artistes have worked so hard that on each and every big music show, there is a big chance that you will find one or two Zim Hip Hop artistes.
Artistes like Holy Ten, Voltz JT, Saintfloew and Kae Chaps have made great strides this year and headlined top music shows.
The above-mentioned artistes have also released great albums that have gone on to be the talk of the country, with fans debating on who had the better album.
Amongst the debates of who had the best Zim Hip Hop album this year, one name keeps popping up on different lists. Now the rapper might not be as popular as his peers commercially but in the Hip Hop community he is regarded as one of the finest.
His name is Jungle Loco, a Masvingo native.
As of now, if social media is anything to go by, Zim Hip Hop or rather rap fans are over the moon after the release of Jungle Loco’s latest album, Gwala Mnandi.
Dubbed the best conscious rap album by other music critics, Jungle Loco has shown that he is cut from a different cloth. His delivery, rhyme scheme, beat selection, cadence and the witty wordplay is unmatched. Some have gone on to say that he is so far the best vernacular rapper in the country.
In a country laden with top music producers and rappers, Jungle Loco is not shy to exhume and collaborate with rather “unknown” producers and rappers from his hometown Masvingo, aptly known as MasVegas.
The love he has for his city is amazing.
In Gwala Mnandi, Jungle Loco employed the services of Pepzee, Wescide Will, Hoolan Wolf, Cyber 101, Jonn the Producer, Visza, Bless Beats and CYP on production. On features, he roped in Tha Dawg, Skool Dem, D’ Varren, Visza, Kadem the Comic, Vulture, Dj Skqatta, Outspoken and Shian.
Gwala Mnandi is simply a cocktail made of different themes, or rather messages addressing the status quo. He churns out the messages of survival, love and hope as he tries to motivate and educate the Zimbabwean youth on different aspects of life.
In one of the songs, Ishe Komborera, he pleads with God to bless everything and everyone around him. He explains how Djs previously didn’t play his music and how the tables have now turned. He continues on the same trajectory on Mama Don’t Cry as he asks his mother not to worry as he is always trying to make ends meet.
Jungles flexes his witty wordplay on the track Flexx as he exudes that he is all for the streets just like any Hip Hop head around the world, he says “Ma streets ari loco kana Loco vari local” and he goes on to warn the young girls not to be manipulated and settle for less.
Gwala Mnandi contains some mind boggling quotable lines with the most famous being;
“Takanopfugama tikavahara meso, ndokubva tanamatira kuvhurwa meso” in Ishe Komborera,
“We can’t keep giving balls away, Tatelicious” in the album intro and,
“Muri ve godo nemakuwa, yall just waffle waffle/ I’m doubting your gender nekushaya chipfuva, Uncle Waffles” in Ma Energies.
Jungle’s story-telling game is next to unparalleled, and the complexity in his lyrics and wordplay is somehow mind boggling as I mentioned before.
Jungle is an enigma.
In demonstrating how mature he is in terms of music, Jungle arranged the music tracks in a way that will not be monotonous and he remains deep and conscious on almost all the tracks.
With the album receiving rave reviews and getting a lot of traction and attention, it has been nominated for the Best Album at this year’s Zim Hip Hop Awards and it has a very high chance of winning and that obviously depends on the criteria used in choosing the winner.
To keep the fire burning, Jungle Loco might need to drop follow up videos so that the projects remains relevant for a long time. Nowadays the streets tends to forget quickly.
Gwala Mnandi is available for streaming on local music streaming website Audiocus.
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