By Tawanda Chari
You don’t get (on a
strictly regular basis) superfluous musical experiences in Zimbabwean Hip Hop
that are more alluring than when a rapper fervently augments the poetic
elements of their rhymes with a speaker-shattering beat — this in itself being a
core tenet of all anthems that slap hard.
Such a tenet embodies
the fundamental criterion of all old and latest Zim Hip Hop songs [singles,
EPs, and albums) that are really good.
Hustle, love, motivation,
and respect are the themes that encompass Gwanda-based rapper Thembani Patrick
Sibanda’s (otherwise known as TenRicks) overarching motto.
The first listen of
his latest offering leaves one with a tentative verdict that TenRicks has come
flying off his blocks sounding like he wants to eat.
The best way to put
it is, there’s a certain hunger, drive and gritty bite behind his music. He proudly
celebrates where he’s from with sufficient clarity, but he doesn't sound like
he likes where he’s at with convincing particularity.
Every interpretation
of music is [in the final analysis] subjective, and people are motivated by
different things, so there is no single way to define a “motivational”
hip-hop song . You just know one when it smacks you; it gets you hyped, and
makes you move.
ZeroEightFour (084) EP by TenRicks, produced by the talented KudahKay,
is a beacon marking hip-hop territory in Gwanda — it is a statement of intent
that Zim Hip Hop in Gwanda is very much alive and surging.
It is a glimpse of
what the duo can cook if they decide to make an album. TenRicks is not a
newcomer to the nuances and difficulties of this cut-throat game: he did his
first recording in his early teenage days.
What is apparent is
that he has embodied his hometown’s underdog spirit. It’s hardly surprising. It
is as predictable as it gets especially when it comes to rappers from smaller
towns.
The EP starts with
Thembani rapping for his life on a Kudahkay haunting production. More than
anything, though, it’s a snippet of a hungry and determined 24-year-old who’s
been waiting too long for this moment to waste.
The two time TESMA award-winning
hip-hop artist was born in Harare and lived a part of his early childhood in
Bulawayo. He then did his primary education at Senondo and his secondary
education at Gwanda High School.
TenRicks comes from a
business-oriented family — one which he says was always baffled as to why he
would take the music route instead of tending to the business ventures.
“I thought I should
try something different since there was an artist in the family, [me]; everyone
is focusing on the business side and I wanted my success to come from a
different angle and introduce something new into the family”, he said.
But that is all extra
stuff now: what matters is that he is doing what he loves now by actually
releasing the music and representing Gwanda with all the capabilities at his
disposal.
He exudes an undying
passion to make room for his music to continuously grow, improve, and spread to
other parts of the country.
You can stream/download
084 (ZeroEightFour), a 10-track solo EP by Gwanda-based rapper
TenRicks, on the Audiomack and YouTube links below and tell us what you think:
Audiomack - https://audiomack.com/tenricks-1/song/voice-of-the-streets
YouTube - https://youtu.be/KUubIDgwv98
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