Life after Cal_Vin

Bruce Ndlovu, Sunday Life Reporter
ONLY a day after Cal_Vin’s memorial, kwaito kingpin Mawiza for a moment thought that a car accident was about to take his life, the same that it had claimed his friend and mentor last year.

While driving his beloved VW Caddie along 12th Avenue after the Major League concert last Sunday, Mawiza was jolted into shock after hearing a large boom which was preceded only by a set of flashing light.

That incident, coming after an action-packed gig, was another reminder of the fleeting nature of life, which is here one minute and gone the next.

Mawiza knows this only too well after he woke on the morning of Sunday, 25 October last year to find that he had lost a dear comrade in the world of music.

Cal_Vin was a lot of things to a lot of people – he was a son, a father and beacon of light in the world of hip-hop.

For Mawiza however, he was a leader, a man who put Kontrol Tribe, a motley crew of wordsmiths, on his shoulders and was determined to see all their dreams come through.

A year after his death, they are still coming to terms with a loss which meant that, for the first time in their careers, they had to work with different people.

“2021 was different for me because I started working with a new producer since the passing of Cal_Vin,” Mawiza told Sunday Life.

“This was a different experience for me because we had already started on my second album when he passed away but I could not access the stuff that was in the studio due to complications that were there and the studio being closed.

I decided not to stop making music so I linked up with Skido and we another version of the 2021 song that I made with Cal_Vin.

“This one was an Amapiano version. It was my first single after the passing of Cal_Vin. Then made BTD and I was thinking maybe I should make an album while on the other hand I thought I was working with someone that I have never worked with let me first see where the Extended Play would take us.

Then boom we did Entumbane koGogo and in February we released it and it was success. It was a new sound and I was experimenting but people loved it.

We later released some visuals shot by Marcus,” he said.

While the loss of Cal_Vin was devastating, Mawiza says he realised early that the music had to go on, he had to sink or swim.

“All these people are new to me because I felt that let me build my own stable because all this time everything that I have been doing was done together with Cal_Vin but ever since he passed, I decided to begin working with other people. As of now, I really have no complaint.

I think I did well in 2021. I worked hard, despite the challenges presented by the lockdown and the fact that I had to do a lot of things on my own, I consider it a success.

You know some of us have no managers and in the past Cal_Vin used to handle everything but I’m grateful that I learnt a lot from home and I’m able to continue from where he left.

“I feel like Vin prepared me for all of this. Being with him in the studios was something else because he was someone who would motivate you and also someone with a lot of ideas. I feel like he was preparing me for all of this because I learnt a lot from him over the years. I did not have a lot of challenges although the studio is just not the same without him,” he says.

Cal_Vin was a rare breed of artiste in local music circles. He was a rapper, producer, record label boss and artiste manager all rolled into one. It was after his loss that Mawiza realised that they no longer had a titan who would sometimes sacrifice diplomacy to fight industry heavyweights on behalf of his charges.

“He was the whole package. He could almost do everything alone. One thing I learnt from him is that when you don’t have resources, don’t moan about it, just continue learning how to do things on your own.

For music to come out to the public, a lot of money is required for marketing and stuff and sometimes that money is not there. We were doing a lot of things on our own. From recording to videos, we were doing that on our own. He taught us to reach out to people, because sometimes we cry that we don’t get support yet we don’t approach people.

“Cal_Vin knew his worth. He taught us not beware and never get used in the industry. As a person that loved to speak the truth and perhaps that’s why he was the most hated in the industry.

People would end up misunderstand him because he would fight our battles for us. he would say ‘guys I haven’t made it yet but I have reached a certain level and so you guys can sit back and let me fight for you’. He would fight for airplay, bookings and other things. I learnt to recognise my own worth from working with him. It’s important to tell promoters that this what I’m worth.

He taught me not never box myself, to help others and pass the button because that is what he did for us,” he said.

While he continues to mourn his mentor, Mawiza said, as his stature grows in the music industry after several hits, he recognised the need to also start uplifting other young artistes in the same way that Cal_Vin had done for him.

“Pantsula Graduate was a success and Entumbane koGogo is making waves. So, I can’t complain. I want to give back to the industry because I am where I am because someone took it upon themselves to help me. So, I want to also focus and help the young talent that is there right now,” he said.