Dingo Duke Boldly Professes His Love For Africa In His Song ‘Dark & Lovely’

By Takudzwa Hillary Chiwanza

Without any contestation, we live in a world that makes Africans feel bad for just existing. We live in a world that tells Black people they are not fit to claim a place on this planet. A Black person must feel terribly wrong for their skin colour, and as such must be excluded from all spaces.

But this is what Dingo Duke is taking a stand against in his song Dark & Lovely – in which, without being fazed, tells the world how much he loves his skin colour, how he feels to be royalty for the simple fact that he is a Black person living in Zimbabwe, Africa.

The consciousness he radiates is not something to take for granted. He boldly takes on tough narratives which many decide to shy away from. And one cannot resist loving his all the lyrics he blesses us with. Mainstream ideas through Western movies, series, music videos, and even social media will tell you that something is inherently wrong with you just because of your skin colour. But in this contemporary age where unity is needed more than ever, should we still dwell on such retrogressive ideas? This is exactly what Dingo Duke is asking us in Dark & Lovely.

“I’m a melanin king and I’m proud right now … I’m dark and lovely I won’t change that now … Cause you know that I ball like a black king, cause there’s a lot of beauty in my dark skin ...” Perhaps in this highly consumerist society, this is just the message we need. Undoubtedly. There is power in your Afro. There are blessings in your skin colour.

He painstakingly attempts to give a glimpse of how the self-hatred of Africans has been caused by centuries of imperialism and colonialism, a fair attempt in all honesty. But what he is mainly telling us is that we should be fearlessly proud of our sovereignty and heritage – those are our inalienable sources of dignity and self-worth. And that no one should wrest that from us. We should ball like the black kings we are.

He infuses Thomas Mapfumo’s Vanhu Vatema at the end of the song, and on conscious hip-hop sounds, it is a worthy attempt. Chimurenga sounds combined with dope Zimbabwean hip-hop sounds are blissful to the ears. And Dingo Duke has been riding on that Shebeen rap for the longest. 

You can listen to Dark & Lovely by Dingo Duke via this YouTube link and tell us what you think.