The Sunday News
Mbongeni Msimanga, Sunday Leisure Correspondent
A ZIMBABWEAN hip-hop gospel group, PriestlyNation has clinched a lucrative recording deal with South Africa Broadcasting Corporation (SABC).
They become the first gospel hip-hop group from Bulawayo to clinch such a deal.
In an interview the group’s spokesperson Munyaradzi Mandaza said the deal would see their music being played on the South African broadcaster with the aim of casting their net wider.
Although they are little known on the Zimbabwean gospel scene, PriestlyNation has done well though they have struggled to fit into mainstream gospel music.
“The group released a mixtape that we gave to an SABC correspondent who listened to it, gave it to SABC studios and they liked it. Our main aim is to cast our net wide as this type of hip-hop has struggled to fit in mainstream gospel music,” he said.
Mandaza said they were confident that they would be accepted and command a large following down south.
For a genre associated with gangsters, thugs and lewdness, music lovers are always skeptical about gospel rap and hip-hop.
However, Mandaza said the Christian fraternity in Zimbabwe had now accepted they were singing the word of God.
He said hip-hop gospel captured the interest of young believers and many people had little understanding of what God intended to achieve through hip-hop.
“We simply sing about God and this genre has been accepted in Zimbabwe even by our elders in church. Am sure PriestlyNation will command a large following in the gospel fraternity in South Africa considering that they already have a market for the genre that has also grown,” said Mandaza.
In an endeavour to capture more audiences in the gospel market, Mandaza said they had also fused in kwaito and house music, something that attracted SABC to partner with the group.
“Our music also has a kwaito and house music feel to it, although we have a strong bias towards hip-hop that is our stronghold,” he said.
Mandaza added that they were happy to be the first gospel hip-hop group to clinch such a deal.
Although the group initially started with eight members, Mandaza said they had scaled down the group to three members.
“The group was founded in 2014. At the beginning the group had a complement of eight members but was reduced to three.
The group was originally born out of prayer and a lack of modern art and creativity in the body of arts,” he said.
Members of the group are Pride Ncube, Anesu and Anopa Mandigo.
