Zimbabwe – Pitygritty: the new hip hop ambassador
By Kenneth Matimaire – MUTARE – The country’s hip hop industry has witnessed a steady flow of emcees emerging over the past decades, varying in their degree of success.
Pitygritty holding his selftitled debut album
Though it is unclear on who to honour for the progress of the genre, credit should be equated to some of the prominent local rap gods, Metaphysics, Mau Mau, the late King Pinn and Mizchif for putting the country on the global market.
After the successive dominance of these rap gurus, the country has been waiting for a new breed of MCs to fit in their shoes and propel “rhythm and poetry” to dizzy heights.
Out of the notable names such as Teih Diamond, Munesti, Blackbird and POY, Mutare’s very own Roger Hukuimwe better known as Pitygritty in rap circles can arguably be crowned as the country’s new hip hop ambassador.
The Pretoria based lyricist has been receiving tremendous recognition in the rap music industry down south.
He has been selected amongst 10 best newcomers in Mzansi after making a noisy entrance in the international music scene two years ago.
Pitygritty was recently voted as the best newcomer in the South African leading hip hop magazine – Hype.
This comes after the crunchy beat rapper dominated music charts in recognised SA radio stations. He first made his big break with his mix-tape – “Comin’ At Ya, Live and Direct,” in 2010 before releasing his debut self-titled album last year.
New hip hop prodigies, Curtis Wandaz and Pitygritty
The mix-tape received overwhelming and favourable radio airplay on YFM and 5FM, respectively. It carried a hit single called “Hello,” which shot up to number one on the former radio station.
Having made such commendable progress, Pitygritty said he is pushing on developing his record label, What We Drop Entertainment. He co-founded the label with his brother, Curtis Wandaz in 2009.
The laidback rapper said they have currently signed five artists, three Zimbabweans and two South Africans.
“This label has been a name ever since I started music but we decided to establish it formally in 2009. At the moment we have signed several artistes. We have Codi and Span (SA), Snypa Kidd, Solz and Kastro from Zimbabwe,” he said.
Pitygritty’s young brother and label co-founder Curtis Wandaz said, “We want to concentrate with these artistes first, finish their project and see how they go. Maybe after that we can start talking about searching for new talent.”
The Hukuimwe brothers are set to work on their separate mix-tape project, likely to be released early next year.
