Nowadays, it seems like it is so easy to reach stardom; and in some cases it is! Let’s be honest, living in the digital age has left so many chances to become rich and famous. Two things are for certain: if it’s Hip Hop in anyway, you can go viral, if it is a child showing their talents, you can go viral. Continue reading “Dizmo, a New Zambian Star”
Category: Zambia
Cleo Ice Queen Keeps It Sexy
According to Kabanda Slayman, a blogger for the Zed Corner blogging site, Cleo Ice Queen is apart of the top 10 sexist Zambian artist. As apart of keeping this image, she is the brand ambassador for Maximum Diva Female Condoms, she talks about it openly in her music, and even her apparel reflects her sex appeal.
F E M A L E
How does an Under Armour commercial display the full potentiality of feminine athleticism and power? They could set the whole video to a Sampa the Great song, for one.
A Zambian-born, Botswanan-raised artist with a point to prove, Sampa the Great has distinguished herself as not only one of Africa’s great female MCs, but one of the world’s great MCs— female or not— and her music serves to support this claim. Embracing the role of feminist inspiration and all-around skilled MC, Sampa the Great’s F E M A L E possesses a powerful and uplifting message about the power of women around the world. Its lines acknowledge just how much respect women deserve in a society that constantly allows accomplished females to go unrecognized. She also mentions the power in African women, and the importance of recognizing our roots and how they contribute to our strength. She mentions the power of women struggling economically, the power of women fighting everyday to reach their goals, and the power of women to get out and continue to achieve more. Continue reading “F E M A L E”
PilAto, back at it again…
Fumba Chama, also known as PilAto, is a Zambian rapper from Ndola. This very controversial artist doesn’t just stop at the meaning of his name (PilAto: People in Lyrical Arena Taking Over), but he has recently fled Zambia because of death threats due to his latest song, “Koswe Mumpoto” which translates into “Rat in the Pot.”https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Xk3zmuSvAYw The “rat(s)” just so happens to be President Edgar Lungu and the Patriotic Front (FP). They are referred to as rats because they take everything, even things they do not need, like a rat. Continue reading “PilAto, back at it again…”
Bomb$hell Paving the Way – Alannah Baiyina
Bomb$hell, formally known as Bwalya Sophie Chibesakunda, born and raised in Zambia, on Hip-Hop and Rap music. Continue reading “Bomb$hell Paving the Way – Alannah Baiyina”
Chile Has A Great Story To Tell!
Chileshe Kasuba, widely known as Chile, is a Zambian rapper, singer, producer and sound engineer based in Ukraine. He was introduced to hip hop music through his cousins in the late 90’s and ever since then has the loved and practiced the art. Growing up on the Copperbelt region of Zambia, which is considered the HQ of hip hop in Zambia,Chile learned a handful of things about the art of music and hip hop in particular.
Chile’s sound is predominantly influenced by west coast rap, a touch of R&B/Pop and his love for house music also makes its way into some of his music. A recording artist since 2005, Chile has been recording music for a while, but just recently got into the production aspect of the art in 2013. After a move to Ukraine to further his studies he deemed it necessary to learn and acquire extensive knowledge in production and sound engineering. Ever since then he has been nominated for several awards in Ukraine and is currently signed to an indie label he co-owns called AZM.inc.
He hopes to one day share his stories, experiences, love and hope to the world through music. He wants to shine a light on Africa, a place he holds dear to his heart. I got the opportunity to listen to his single called Loud Silence. Loud Silence is a love story about deceit, hope and the painful truth. This song tells a story about how the love of his life walked out of his life one day. She made a promise that she would always come back but it didn’t turn out that way. He planned his entire life around this one person, but unfortunately nothing went as planned. I love songs that tell stories, I would listen to this when I was going through a heart-break to feel like I wasn’t going through my hard times alone. Chile is that one artist that many that have listened to his music say he does have a unique sound and the world should look out for him.
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Cleo Ice Queen
Clememtia Mulenga aka Cleo Ice Queen is a hip-hop artist that was born in Zambia.
In a 2013 article on luskatimes.com some background regarding Cleo is provided. She is 22 years old and began listening to hip hop music at age 6, and started rapping herself when she was Zambia. 11 years old.
In an interview with Slam Dunk TV (sdtv) Cleo explains that she moved from her hometown in 2007 to South Africa. In the Slam Dunk interview it is explained that Cleo moved to South Africa to attend college, which forced her to put music on hold for a while, but in 2011 Cleo decided to pursue music as a career.
Luskatimes reports that Cleo is known for working with various artists from all over Africa, and has a few hit songs in Zambia, where she was born. In her bio posted on reverbnation, she is said to have started in an all-girl trio band called South West Divas (S.W.D.) that performed a variety of genres, Hip-Hop, R&B, Soul, Pop, Ragga and Dance.
It was explained that her alias “Ice Queen” was derived from her love of jewelry; in hip-hop jargon jewelry is referred to as “ice”. As a result of her love of jewelry she refers to herself as a businesswoman, because she launched a successful business selling a variety of jewelry, such as silver and water pearls.
Even though Cleo is successfully exploiting the natural resources of Africa, my impression is that Cleo strives to be compared with the popular American rappers that wear the exhibit the bling and extravagant fashions.
It seems that Cleo has some notoriety in Zambia, but she is not well-known outside of Africa. As a matter of fact the artists with who she has recently collaborated with are African artists, such as Crisis from Zambia, Hanni of Big Brother Africa, and LIC of Nigeria, to name a few.
http://www.lusakatimes.com/2012/03/19/upcoming-female-rapper-icequeen/
http://www.sdrtv.com/2012/03/up-close-and-personal-with-cleo-ice.html
Princess Mwamba
Sarah Mwamba, aka Princess Mwamba was born in Zambia, on May 1990. She enjoyed music and dancing when she lived in Zambia with her family, but it was not until they moved to the U.S. that her serious interest in music developed. Princess Mwamba explains in an interview with lusakatimes.com that she began rapping in 2010, and is asked a question regarding the male dominance of hip-hop and what message she wants her audience to get from her music. She responded that she wants her listeners to find in her music a positive message that tells women to enjoy life and not, “…selling sex and their bodies in the music…”
Unlike some female U.S. rappers, Mwamba wants her music to present an authentic and more positive image of women. Simone Walker, in an article entitled, “Females in Hip-Hop” criticizes U.S. female rappers, and in her opinion lyrical skills don’t really matter and real talent is not needed to be a successful female rap artist in the U.S. Walker states, “if a female artist puts on an outfit that promotes sexuality auto tune can make up in the areas where she lacks creativity. This is not the type of artist Mwamba strives to be; her music is fun, yet sends the message that she is in control; this is evident in her 2011 single, “I am a Princess”
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It is not surprising to find that Princess Mwamba’s response to the question of who inspires her musically, she mentions Brenda Fassie, who usually speaks an African language she does not even understand, yet still appreciates her musicality. I was curious to know what Fassie’s music was like. Brenda Fassie was a South African artist, who was described as a pop singer, whose drug habits interfered with her career; her life was cut short due to a drug overdose in 2004, when she was 40 years old (sahistory.org). Here is an example of her music:
After listening to Fassie’s music, Princess Mwambe’s musical role model, it was not surprising to hear that much of her own music sounds more like dance/ pop music than hip-hop. Songs such as “Intimidated” and “Haters” have a techno dance quality to them. Then, on the song “Michael Jackson” it is apparent that she has been influenced by U.S. male pop and hip-hop artists, and on that song references the Wutang clan.
