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Stunner

Tafadzwa Zimoyo Arts Reporter
In a rare occasion in the history of hip-hop in Zimbabwe, Desmond Chideme a.k.a Stunner proved that he is a force to reckon with through his successful album launch held last Friday at Pablo’z VIP in Borrowdale.

The album “If I Die Tonight” has 16 tracks featuring some of Zimbabwe’s prominent musicians who include Albert Nyathi, Jah Prayzah, Logun, Mudiwa, Kapital K, Sir Ford, Ngoni Kambarami and Trigger among others.

The glitz and glamour affair, which attracted the who-is-who in social networks and fashion industry, was held under the theme “Black Tie” with many attendees donning the themed colours.

Socialites, business moguls, musicians, models, designers, producers and movie directors thronged the event and among them were Summer Rose, Spencer Madziya, Simon Itayi Mungazi, Olinda Chapel, Anonzi Xander, Elton Bryce, Cindy, Ex Q, Ngoni Kambarami, Giva, Andy Cutta, Candice Mwakalyelye and Rumbidzai Takawira among others.

It later became the battle of who was the best dressed apart from guests enjoying free drinks and food courtesy of the Tazzoita Cash Records.

Kambarami was the master of ceremony while P Stylez was on the decks.

Sources revealed that more than $5 000 was spent on refreshments with close to $20 000 budgeted for the album launch.

The event saw two Jamaican dancehall stars Kapital K and Sir Ford gracing the occassion and later joining Stunner on stage for an electrifying performance.

Songs like “Mugara Ndega” and “Ndiri Humble” managed to wow the crowd as people sang along while “Switch” — a dance song which features Ba Shupi — was crowd’s favourite. Stunner and wife Olinda walked on to the red carpet and they were joined by Olinda’s son and a friend before the duo from Jamaica joined them.

Visiting Sir Ford said he was happy to be in Zimbabwe.

“It feels like I am in Paradise, what we hear about this country is not what it is,” he said.

In an interview, Stunner’s manager Godfrey Bakasa said he was overwhelmed with how the corporate world responded to the launch.

“All went according to plan and this is a milestone not for my artiste only but for myself too, considering my shift from dancehall to hip-hop. We have a lot coming on and now we are focusing on the video shoots,” he said.

Stunner later shot some videos with the Jamaican stars.

However, rating the album, it seems Stunner is maturing although he uses the same tone on all songs with too many hooks.

Somehow the music still has attributes of the same Stunner who made headlines with “Team Hombe” and “Dhafu Korera”.

Will the new album make it considering there are a lot of them being released this period?

So far, he can be rated as king of hip-hop locally with such successful and well-choerographed album launch, especially in the genre were some are failing to produce a well-polished single.