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Lovemore Meya Review Correspondent
In our culture, it has always been the norm for women to address gender disparities in the society, fighting hard to get their voices heard. However, this is changing with male voices echoing loud for the society to treat women as subjects rather than objects.

One such kind of a voice is being brought to everyone’s attention by upcoming Afro hip-hop musician, Shona Guy. Shona Guy speaks his mind in a self-titled album. The album has three singles – “Zimbabwe Anthem,” “Uchidai” and “Enough is Enough” – which are taken from his forthcoming 15-track mix tape called “Pretty Girls”.

“I am an Afro hip-hop artiste drawing my inspiration from my strong African music elements such as the call-and -respond pattern with the inclusion of mbira, marimba among other traditional instruments. My music also emanates from my Shona roots, echoing societies’ different voices through the themes that I employ, which seek to deal with gender issues. My message cautions men to stop the abuse of women but treat them like queens,” he said.

He said, he decided to take gender disparities head on and fight on the women’s side after realising the big roles they play in the society. “If we look at women, no one can dispute the bigger roles they play in raising children, keeping families intact. Though some people might think differently, but I decided to disseminate the message in a hip-hop genre, which I believe is not only for the youths,” he said.

He said it will get to the older generation through the lyrical content he devised that talks about issues affecting communities. “My themes are meant to preserve the country’s cultural heritage. “In compositions, I consider culture, concepts and clarity in my lyrics for my fans to clearly hear my music which is a powerful tool for communication,” he said.

The 23-year-old artiste’s creativity has lured his mentor, Rute Mbangwa to feature on his track “Enough is Enough”. The track comments on how men should treat women and he said working with Rute was a huge thing for his brand. Rute said: “I enjoyed his message when we were in the studio helping him and this convinced me to feature on one of his tracks.

“Because hearing such a message from a young man like him talking so passionately about this subject made me believe that we are reaching a turning point,” she said. Born Tinaye Sagomba, and hailing from Zvimba, the artiste did his primary education at David Livingstone then went to Churchill Boys High where he started music in 2007 as a member of the school pipe band.

He attended the Zimbabwe College of Music and graduated with a Diploma in Ethnomusicology.