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If #stoneboy doesn't reply within 24 hours, then he's a chicken and a bitter substandard Dancehall artist. The African Dancehall Kingship is no joke ting. Shattawale so far...

20,069 views • 5 months ago •via X (Twitter)

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Many people in Zim-dancehall do not want to hear this, but it is a local genre that will not go anywhere unless the artist is extremely talented, like Stonebwoy. This Jamaican aunty in the video is an example of why certain genres of music only make sense when performed by people from where they originated. Picture this aunty at Murambinda Growth point, Mbembesi, or Nkandla in KZN—she is able to deliver the bars because it is their music. They grew up listening to it from day one, and it uses their local language, it is like what Amapiano is to South Africans. How does a Zim-dancehall artist compete with the authentic thing on the global stage? Shabba Ranks once commented on how reggae dancehall has been murdered abroad. It is a bit like Swahili, it was made in Tanzania, killed in Kenya and buried in Uganda-ok, that is an East African joke. But seriously, while Zim-dancehall artists can draw inspiration from various sources and adapt different styles, there is undoubtedly a certain authenticity that comes from growing up immersed in the culture and language that shape a particular music genre. It is difficult for artists from other backgrounds to replicate the genuine connection and understanding that Jamaican artists have with reggae dancehall, given its roots is in their local language and culture. This inherent advantage makes it challenging for Zim-dancehall artists to achieve the same level of success and recognition on the global stage. I must take my hat off to artists like Stoneybwoy and Winky D, who have contributed to the evolution and growth of the dancehall genre by bringing new perspectives and creative ideas to the table in the Ghanian and Zimbabwean contexts respectively. Zim-dancehall artists have carved out a space for themselves within the genre and made a meaningful impact in Zimbabwe, especially those who focus on socio-political issues like Winky D, but international success will always be minimal if not elusive compared to their counterparts in Jamaica where the genre originated. Every genre needs to be international if the artists are going to get enough cheese. Whenever I am in Rwanda or Kenya or Nigeria, Amapiano will blares from car radios, wine bars and clubs, it is because it is authentic to South Africans. There is that one in a hundred artist, like Lucky Dube, Snow, or Alpha Blondy, who will break the mould, but they are outliers. This Jamaican aunty who is a vendor will bury the best we have in a sound clash, it is their music, it is their culture, it is their heritage. So let us dance along to Zim-dancehall, knowing full well that it will remain within the confines of our borders. Until such a time when our Zim-dancehall artists can go and play a show to a non-Zimbabwean audience, they remain local, not international! Zim-dancehall sounds the same way Chimurenga music or Sungura sounds to a Zimbabwean when being sung by a European or American, it doesn’t sound authentic at all outside our borders! Part of dancehall’s authenticity is the language used, Jamaican patois, we speak it like a child is learning to speak bar for a few who have lived in England or Jamaica and have mastered the language.

Hopewell Chin’ono

60,094 views • 1 year ago