In the last few years, Zim hip hop and Zimdancehall have not only rose to the pinnacles of popular music but they have become the defining genres of Zimbabwean music.
You cannot speak about Zimbabwean music without mentioning the two. Be it on the radio waves, at a music festival, in the club, or on a bluetooth speaker in any neighbourhood, the two genres have become inescapable.
This has inevitably brought about the debate of who rules the roost between them. A debate that is not a new phenomenon in Zimbabwean music. In the battleground of public opinion chimurenga has faced off against mbira, sungura against dendera, urban grooves against everyone, and now it is Zim hip hop and Zimdancehall locking horns.
According to narratives in the public sphere Zimdancehall was king for years, then a new crop of hip hop artists arrived and ended dancehall's dominance, then the situation was flipped over again with a new crop of dancehall artists ending hip hop's dominance.
Now if you're reading this for a definitive answer on which genre is bigger by the numbers, then the answer is Zimdancehall, it has always been Zimdancehall. However if you're interested in a more nuanced conversation on how the two genres stand then read on.
To talk about how things stand in the present, we have to first go back to the past. You see Zim hip hop and Zimdancehall have a lot more that unites them than that which separates them. For instance, in their early beginnings they were both under the banner of urban grooves. This was right at the turn of the millennium.
Zimdancehall was first to truly define itself as a distinct genre separate from the broader urban grooves movement. At the forefront were names such as Winky D, Sniper Storm and King Labash. The sound they brought to life easily resonated with the public and through the perseverance of the artists and producers, it made its way from the underground to the mainstream.
Sniper StormLong before Spotify and Apple Music were even an idea Zimdancehall established an unrivalled distribution model through Zimbabwe's public transport. A Zimdancehall song released on a Monday, would be played to half of Harare by the time the week was over, a reach far beyond even the best of Spotify placements.
Now it wasn't just the effective distribution that made the music popular, but it's connection to Zimbabwe's youthful population. You see both Zimdancehall and Zim hip hop are genres were lyricism is of importance and explicity is second nature. So telling stories that resonate with your audience is of paramount importance and Zimdancehall did this well right from the start.
By the end of the 2000s Zimdancehall had its own award show (already having hosted multiple editions) and the likes of Winky D were headlining HIFA (Harare International Festival of the Arts) and sharing the stage with names like Sean Paul and Akon.
Zim hip hop on the other end slightly faltered in its exit from the urban grooves banner. While the likes of Stunner, Maskiri and ExQ had been successful as rapper's under that multi genre movement, Zim hip hop struggled to find its legs on its own. It became the bougie uptown cousin who presented well but seemed like an outcast at family gatherings.
The storytelling simply didn't connect on a large scale, that is until the late 2010s. In came the likes of Takura, Ti Gonzi, and Crooger. During this period there was a shift in the craft of Zimbabwean rap. Both in the stories the music told and the language the stories were told in. While this shift was happening, Covid-19 arrived, a key catalyst to Zim hip hop's rise.
TakuraThe pandemic arrived with lockdowns and this disrupted Zimdancehall's distribution model. All of a sudden the genre no longer had dominance on what people listened to on a daily basis. This reprieve and the need for a population at home 24/7 to be entertained, gave Zim hip hop the moment it needed. The stories the genre was now telling found their audience and the sound blossomed.
The likes of Holy Ten, Voltz JT, and Saintfloew propelled the genre to new heights, and somehow during this same time Zimdancehall became less connected to the youth. You see the leading names in dancehall, such as Winky D, Killer T, and Freeman had now been in the music space for over a decade. They were no long releasing music driven by youthful exuberance and their core fans were now well into their 20s, in a country with an average of 18.
Holy TenThe supposed fall of Zimdancehall in this period wasn't a lack of commercial success but a lack of connection with the Zimbabwean youth. This was the feeling until names like Jnr Spragga, Hulengende, and Madedido stepped up. More than a few have said that they've brought something new to the music space, but I think that they've brought something Zimdancehall had lost.
What the new crop of Zimdancehall artists is doing is reminiscent of the late Soul Jah Love. Not only was he a storyteller of the ghetto but he had a distinct cadence and vocal use that was widely loved, and this has inspired a new generation artists.
Soul Jah Love with a young Jnr SpraggaIn looking back, Zimdancehall has found itself again. The sound is once again brazen and provocative, qualities that have been constant for its counterparts in Zim hip hop, and the two are now not only the most popular genres in the country but the voices of the youth.
The debate of Zimdancehall vs Zim hip hop has fresh legs, and as things stand if you can defend your position enough you'll be on the winning side. Well at least for that day, because a new release will arrive tomorrow and the discussion begins again.
What genre do you think is currently winning the battle?