The Sunday News
DESPITE winning an award recently, hip-hop artiste Nonkululeko Vundla, affectionately known as Black Bird, remains venomous about the selection process which she described as a sham and shoddy and says more should be done to professionalise the whole nomination process.
She is arguably one of the best female emcees Africa can boast of and one of the few female artistes who has managed to make a mark in her chosen genre.
Among her recent bragging rights include launching of a new 30-minute hip-hop television programme, The Hot Box, on ZBCtv.
Her recent award for the Best Female Rapper at the Zimbabwe Hip Hop Awards together with the other three nominations for the Zimbabwe Hip Hop Awards for Best Video, Best Promoter (for Hot Box) and Best Hip-Hop Journalist are also among her swank-case offerings.
Having loudly spoken against the same awards last year where she attacked the selection processes, Sunday Leisure correspondent Bruce Chimani (BC) sought out comments from the Bulawayo born but Harare based rapper to hear her thoughts on the recent nomination. Excerpts of the interview are below.
BC: Congratulations on your award. So what are your thoughts on the award and also the nominations this year in light of last year’s fracas?
BB: I was very happy to be finally nominated for the awards. Even though in the past I have come out and made it clear that their lack of transparency was worrying, I think this year they did well by opening up the nomination process to everyone thus giving people like me a chance to submit entries. In the past a list of nominees was just released and no one knew how they were chosen. I have been working hard for Zim hip-hop for the past 10 years and getting four nominations feels like that much deserved prize. The nominations and awards mean the hip-hop community finally sees the labour of love I have been putting into the game.
I was, however, expecting the Best Video award but once again I feel they failed to acknowledge the hard work which I and the co-director, Andy Cutta put in. The video is the only one on Channel O. I still say its quality versus quantity – and quality should always win. Having lots of fans and mass appeal doesn’t mean that something is on point.
Seems to me most of our awards are a sham as the selection process is shady and popularity is rewarded more than hard-work and skill. I am speaking across the board here – not just my award. We need to pull up our socks and do a proper job on these awards.
BC: When did the love for hip-hop grip you and how did that come about?
BB: I fell in love with hip-hop in the 90s when I was a little kid in primary school. From about the age of nine I was hooked. My older brother Ntuntu was a hip-hop head so he was always blasting the dopiest emcees that were on the scene at the time – Wu Tang Clan, Common, Guru, Tupac Shakur, Notorious BIG and all of them. From there the love and passion for rap just grew.
BC: In my view, you have contributed so much to the local arts landscape as an emcee. What are some of your recent achievements?
BB: Apart from having a video for Waiting for Love on Channel O and other international TV shows and websites, I have also dropped my third album, Black Excellence, where the track features. Also on the album is a collaboration called One Afrika with an Ethiopian poet Nebila Abdulmelik. Perhaps one of my greatest achievements this year has been the launch of my TV show on national television. The Hot Box has been my opportunity to push the genre to a wider audience.
For a few months I also had a radio show called The Hot Box on Zambian radio station called Zambezi FM. The show promoted Sadc rappers and I worked with Lwazi “Kompozitioner” Mpoko and Naboth “Rizla” Rimayi from Da Grapevine on the show.
BC: What have been some of the challenges you have faced recently?
BB: I think like all Zimbabweans the financial challenges have been very real. I know with being an English rapper I disadvantage myself because most promoters call sungura and dancehall artistes to their shows. So with very few gigs worth the effort I have had to be creative in coming up with other revenue streams.
Another challenge has been the lack of appreciation from the Zimbabwean audience. People keep saying sound more Zimbabwean then we will like your hip-hop more, but they are missing the point. Hip-hop is a universal language.
Now I have just come to accept that there are those Zimbabweans who love Black Bird and the kind of music I make. Others just don’t get it. They say a prophet is never acknowledged in his own home, this is a sad but true reality that I have come to terms with.
BC: Where would you say the local rap industry has done well so far?
BB: Zim hip-hop has done well in that it’s growing at a phenomenal rate. Everyday there are new rappers, new producers and new studios pushing their products out. Not all of it is that great but that’s where it all begins. Some of it, however, is super fantastic and I am impressed by the standard the youngsters are setting. I am especially impressed with the producers who are in their late teens to early 20s – they are making bangers and I am working with more and more kids these days. The young producers have their fingers on the pulse and are eager to prove a point so they are producing gems as a result.
BC: Interesting. So with all these props that you give, where would you say we have missed it?
BB: Where some hip-hop artistes are getting it wrong is when you try so hard to sound like someone you are not. This has two extremes. Some emcees try so hard to sound American its ridiculous. They are terrible imitations of Lil Wayne and it sucks when their pronunciation and content is so fake.
The other extreme is trying to please the public opinion of what “Zimbabwean” sounds like. When you force the traditional instruments and style onto a song that just was meant to be a straight-up hip-hop track, then you aren’t being true to yourself. Just be yourself, if that’s Shona rap on mbira, then go for it.
If its kasi rap in Ndebele then do it. If it’s English rap on a commercial beat then just make sure you deliver with excellence. Being true to self is hard for rappers because there are pressures from all angles.
BC: What could we expect from you in the near future?
BB: There is a lot coming from me in 2015 so people can just stay glued to the Press for more details. I am now being managed by a lady in New York. Her name is Stacey McVaigh from Mad Management. Things are going well so far and we are getting in synergy with each other. Stacey is a mom like me so I know the focus that’s needed to make this happen is there because we are both family women.
Thanks to Stacey I have signed a one album deal with a label called Lathan Entertainment which is based in Washington, DC. Right now there are also plans for a remix to Waiting for love featuring US rapper, Chosin. Its guns blazing as I take Zim hip-hop to the world.
