KaLife(2007) - Stunner

Mr Dhaf Korera is back in 2007 with his sophomore offering, KaLife. After the immense success of his debut album ‘Hameno’ with hits like the title track, Unondidadisa, Dhaf Korera and so on, one can only wonder how anyone can bounce back the second time around.

Muface akaipa pakubatisa maStatement mhani! The guy is gifted when it comes to witty lyrics. I wish I could say the same for his rapping style which is OK, no more than that. Lyrically he is well ahead of many Urban Groovers and that makes him one of the best on the scene at the moment. Like ‘Hameno’ this album is plastered with collaborations which gives it that versatility for the listener. Thus far Stunner gets it right; variety is indeed the spice of life. He features artists like Thulani Nyashanu Mpofu on the mellow sounding Handichada, Brian on Ndakakumirira which has a video currently doing rounds on ZTV. For the internet savvy you can check the video for Ndichakumirira out on YouTube and don’t expect much either. It was poorly done but we’ll dissect videos another time. Possibly the best collaboration on the album is Song Yangu featuring ex-Mrs Roki, Pauline a.k.a Mai Sky. The song is produced by man of the moment, MacDee with an unmistakable local sound. This song might turn a few heads and win Stunner many a fan.

The song KaLife is a deep insight into the hardships of growing up in the ghetto. All along I have known Stunner as a ‘loverboy’ (probably explained by his friendship naExQue) but undoubtedly his lyrical content has matured. With lyrics like ‘Dai Gideon Gono aigara kuDombotombo… Dai Sam Levy Village yakaiswa kuAmaveni, Dai Phillip Chiyangwa aikwira nesu makombi, zvimwe dai makombi edu achiita kunge mukati mendenge…’, you can really see how serious the issue at hand is yet not being able to resist a chuckle about his delivery. Handizi Bharanzi sees Stunner crown himself the number one local rapper, a crown he will face stiff competition and hatred for. This song alone will surely make him one of the industry’s most hated artists. Despite the good some songs were just too hard to swallow. Kusasa Newe ft Jnr Brown & Roki sounded half finished from the beat to the vocals and Mukadzi Akadai instrumental sounded like a clone of The Whisper Song by Ying Yang Twins (ko originality nhai varume?).

All said and done, it’s a good come back from Stunner and marks his intention to hang around for a very long time.

Cover Art – 1/10 (this is as bad as album covers get)
Music – 6/10
Mixing and Mastering – 6/10
‘I Like Factor’ – 5/10

Ndakakumirira ft Brian