I seem to come across so many people who doubt our ‘youthful’ Zimbabwean genres. Hip Hop falls in that category. Not many have faith in our MCs. I guess it boils down to preference, though I am so tired of hearing peeps bigging up old school music like nothing new is nice. Not! Anyway before I get carried away this week I got hold of the debut album by Karizma. He is the man who gave you the ever popular Red Bull Song around 2004/5.
He is part of KYN Records headed by Begotten Sun of the Asi Chii Nhai fame. Karizma’s Pen & Lighter EP is testimony to the growing breed of current MCs. Young and full of energy with those bassline thumping beats that you gotta nod to. The album starts off with Hands Up which was dropped as the lead single a few months ago and damn, I love the track. Sometimes you just have to put the ‘Haterade’ down and give thanks where it is due. The song is simply hot and I’m down for the semi mellow flow as well. By any means I always prefer a good start to an album; it gives me more cause to listen further. I have to say production-wise the album is quite something. Zimbabwean Hip Hop is hot and like Karizma says on Hands Up “…f**k what you heard in fact f**k what they telling you!”
If you into dance floor type bangers on a hip hop tip then get a copy of this CD and listen to Get Wild because that is a party track to mash up the scene. That song does things to me each time I listen. The only problem I have with it is the song is too short mhani! Throughout the whole CD I marvel at how Karizma flows. Man can rap. Period. With that sometimes comes one or two problems and for me his biggest downfall is rapping about ‘how nice he is.’ A song, maybe 2 is fine but when you exceed that you suppress other possible concepts. I would have loved to hear a song about who Karizma is as a person, a love song with some emotional expression etc. In one word: Versatility. A collabo would have done the album good as well. All this adds an extra dimension to the music, which is what The Pen & Lighter EP lacked.
I was impressed by Let Me Politik which is a song urging people to keep on going strong if they have a dream. It’s great to see some positive lyrics, add to the talent. Other songs to watch out for are When The Sun Comes Up and The Banger. Overall, it is a good album that hip hop heads will dig and Karizma surely raises the bar among the MCs.
Get it @ http://www.itskarizma.com
Cover Art – 6.5/10
Music – 7/10
Mixing & Mastering – 8/10
‘I Like Factor’ – 6/10
The Banger