I am not going to be underground for long: King Dube

Winner of the “Best Underground Artist of the Year” at the recently held Changamire Hip hop Awards, has declared that he has what it takes to be recognized and will not be an underground artist much longer.

After releasing an album, The Rebirth, early this year, King Dube was quickly nominated and picked to be the Best Underground Artist of the year by Changamire Festival.

“It feels good to be nominated as the Best Underground artist of the year, its progression but honestly I am aiming for bigger accolades. I am not going to be underground for long,” says hip hop maverick King Dube.

Though the artist just hit the Zimbabwean scene recently, he has been doing music for a while. His music career started in his early teens whilst living in Halifax, Nova Scotia. At the age of 17, King moved to Toronto Ontario where he really took on music.

Born in Japan and then moving to Canada’s Halifax, Nova Scotia and then Zimbabwe, King has a heart tearing story and he tells it the only way he know how – through his music.

“My inspiration to make music is the environment I grew up in. Halifax, was a ghetto rich in African-Canadian history and where my love for Hip Hop and R’n’B really started. It was an environment that nurtured authentic Hip Hop because we really lived among the drug dealers, pimps and prostitutes.

Sadly some of these people ended up being who we looked up to because these where the only successful black people you would see,” narrates King.

King’s exposure influences his music as he sings about a lot of diverse issues like, love, hate, betrayal, trauma, poverty, racism, happiness, determination, money, power, respect, violence, loyalty, royalty, the list is endless.

“I try to use my music to paint a picture of my life, 90% of the music I create is full of facts and stories
that can be recalled,” he states.

Meanwhile, beyond winning best underground artist of the year award and releasing “The Rebirth” album, King has been asked to perform on NashTV’s Hotspot and is already working on his other album expected out early next year.