TWO high school friends namely Wilson “The Dot’ Matarutso and
Blessing “Crisswiss” Bejile ‘s musical dream has turned into reality with their latest collaboration taking the local Hip Hop space by storm.
The Bulawayo bred duo ‘s song titled ‘Bad Vibes’ , debuted on the ZiFM world chart (OK Top 40) -where it occupied position number 4 last week.
The song pregnant with hard hitting bars and great artistry, is taken off the album Room 328 (The Bridge).
It features the Midas Touch of singer cum actress Lee McHoney, Vic Jita, Uno XO and was produced by Rayo Beats.
The song has received rave reviews and is poised to illuminate the hip hop scene.
The duo met at Christian Brothers College where they were part of a hip hop outfit called Fat Boys and were to later split after high school.
In an interview with Zim Morning Post this week, the duo said they were optimistic their music will stand it’s ground in the game.
“My music is inspired by feelings and emotions, past and present experiences, stories – those of my own, those of family and those of friends. Though at times it could also be creative story telling,” said Crisswiss.
He said he is inspired by both local and international hip hop heads.
“My local inspirations are Lee McHoney, Uno XO, Vic Jita, Real Shona, The Muse; and I’m proud to say we worked with all these artist on our album – Room 328: The Bridgeview.
Asaph, Killer T, Jah Prayzah – they are way too many to mention them all. I vibe with a lot of local music,” he said.
The Dot chipped in and said he was inspired by Grammy award winning Brian Soko and the late national hero Oliver Mtukudzi’s art and work ethic .
He added that the country has abundant talent which needs nurturing and education on some principles of the game.
“The local music industry is bubbling with an abundance of young talent that is sprouting from all corners of the land. “Despite the various challenges that we face through socioeconomic factors, I do believe the Zimbabwe Arts Industry is on the right path to become a major exporter in the Arts,”The Dot noted.
“More information and knowledge on the nitty gritties like publishing, licensing, copyright law, need to be imparted to us in order to help grow the industry beyond leaps and bounds,”he added.
Besides his latest collaboration with Crisswiss, he has done other projects namely ‘Songs 4 Ladies EP (2016)’,
‘So Far So Good (2017) and
Somewhere in Zimbabwe EP (2019).
Asked on how he got his stage name , he replied:
“It’s a metaphor for how everything poem or Literature wise ends with the Dot character.”
Meanwhile, local Hip Hop industry players face a major Herculean task to eclipse Zim dancehall genre, but critics point out that the genres have different markets and demographics .
