Got put on to Tatea Da Mc by my bro @RufaroD a while back when he dropped a Video of "H-Town". Click below to watch.
Thought the kid was dope. Refreshing young energy/swag, and cockiness that had an authentic-ness that many rappers his age totally lack. The over 31500 hits, show that he's connected with a mass of people who some rapper believe don't exist. I mean, shiiii, looking at the stats on his YouTube for the dope Artwell directed Vid, you get to see that is in the 9 month the vids been up, he has gone outside of the Zim boarders and reached RSA, Bots etc. Crazy Facebook referrals, i.e: peeps actually sharing the video on their wall etc, and damn near 8000 views on Mobile devices… MOBILE!!! Damn doggy, this kid is someone to watch for real.
So when I saw a link to his tape, it was a no brainer! Click! Download! iTunes… iPhone! lets ride!
When I started listening, I immediately figured after track 3 that there was something wrong! Looked at my phone and ALAS…
NO track numbers on my phone?? Songs arranged in alphabetical order!! Shiiii. Ok back to iTunes, whats gone wrong…
Still no track numbers. big fuck up with the ID3 tags, hence had to go back to the folder and start putting in track numbers to try and hear the project the way Tatea intended it and not get the intro in the middle followed by 2 skits etc. (note MC's ID3 tags are important otherwise you tape/alums won't play in the right order!) annoying, Yes, train smash, not really.
Track 1: Intro
Simple beat beats and bas and horns, by Tags (no credits but heard it in the lyrics), sounds very intro. A great start. Lyrically he sets the listener up for what to expect… rhyme skeems… well very, rhyme at the end of the bar type swag… hmmm
Track 2: Tatea Akapea
Ok, same type of simplistic rhyme skeem braggadocio. This time with the Shona spliced in with a decent result. The Chorus is reminiscent of that shit Mike Jones used to do with the Pitched down Chopped and Screwed vibe "Tatea Akapenga" time 7 ending with "Anopenga ". Best punchline "Get a bolt cutter, I got thing locked". Beat "Synthy 808 bounce" swag. again… hmmmm
Track 3: Like We do
OK, RnB feature ting. Mixing is slightly weird here, coz unlike track 1 and 2, Tatea's vocals are not as upfront. Sounds multi tracked, and muffled by the "hey hey hey" in the background. The Singer sits well in the mix however, think they where trying to get the "Ah Ah a a a Ah" to sound like a stutter dj effect, but the singer just sang it. And I can swear I've heard a similar american hook.
Oh yeah; Trey Song… Say Ah….
Immoral rip! come guys
Track 4: Skit
An Ode to the HATERS hahahaha, peeps talking shit about him "Why he call himself HTOW King"! Then he rolls through and they switch! Hahahaha. We all know that swag. The word "Nigger" is used over 20 times though… dramatic effect I guess.
Track 5: H-Town
Swaggy swaggy. Beat is dope, well arranged and a great female vocal on the hook. one of the standouts so far. Starting to feel very "Northern Suburbs" coz the pronunciation of "Matombo" is mor "matow-mbow"! Again no credits in the ID3 tags or included in the Zip so can't tell y'all who was where.
Track 5: Swagga Iri Tii
Ahhh Ja-fakens… U'll know me at them don't on right. The whole gruff voice and having lived 15 years with real Jamacians, totally false patois.
I'm sick, mu-rwe-ray…" again shona through out is very private school, sounds like its on purpose. Ja-faken hook not to bad when in shona, however quite inaudible. Beat dope, but starting to sound samey samey u get me.
fuck it, I'm biased… skip!
Track 06: Dreamer
Ok, more synths… Strong vocal singer at the beginning, beat again samey as previous. More internalised lyrics from Tatea. However, delivery doesn't sound introspective, but rather triumphant. No pain in the vocal. actually sounds mathematical and simplistic in the rhyme skeem. The opportunity to convey emotion is missed here.
Track 08: Could You Be:
Autotune… seriously. 2012? Ok. Beat starts with a dope guitar riff on a different note to the beat that starts, that then disappears. Chorus with auto tune really isn't my thing with the wealth of people with great vocal as already utilised on previous tracks. Again, as a Love track, there is almost zero emotions in Tatea's vocals. sounds like he was going through the motions. feels like "I need a love song" not like a man who say "I'm in love so i'm writing a song".
Track 09: Skit
Not great a Ndebele, but sounds like a skit repeat of the previous skit, but lampooning our Nguni bro's and their mockery.
Track 10: H-Town (This is my City)
Ok, this may be the version with Tatea alone. the previous one may have had other guys rapping. again, no credits, can tell. However the chorus hook is missed better in the previous version. The Girls vocals have harmonies and depth, on this one she sound flat?? /0\ hmmmmm. And the auto tune is more obvious.
Track 11: Ndiri Pahasha (Watch The Throne)
Starts with the same "ascending" Rick Ross like power up as a few of these tracks. More Vernacular on this. Sounds less MaDale-Dale shona. More Swagga, this time taking shots at unnamed "wanna be Jigga" rappers ***cough***
"Call me Barry, coz ndini nine Munandi" isn't it Barry Manandi?? sure it is, went to school with the guy.
Anyway dope track.
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So, if ur looking for lyricism, or production that pushes the envelope? Go elsewhere. You won't find the complex rhyme skeems, multi-sylabic rhymes, concept songs, or a lot of creativity.
This project is a mixtape, so production values etc aren't on any sort of high budget swag. Its got a cookie-cutter feel, where you don't feel like u get the know the artist, or his abilities, but you get a taste of his potential. As a "mixtape" you have to compare the "H-Town King" to the SOTG3 mixtape by "H-Town Boy" Tehn Diamond. They're miles apart.
Production wise, the influence has to be the cats who do a lot of Ricky Rosé's stuff. In the box, computer FLStudio/Reason swag. Lots of Synths, lots of 808's. As a Zimbabwean project, you hear a lot of H-Town, and Zim references and Shona incorporated in the rhymes, but you don't really get the rich "Zimbabwean" sound that a lot of our peers in other african countries are managing to infuse in their own music, to personalise their "home" swag.
Lyrics, like I kept mentioning, will not have u running to the rewind button. you won't get the "Ooooooh" moment u get when u hear a crazy double entandre a la Jay-Z "Not only am I fly, but I'm also not Play'n/Plane" or mUnetsi "In Genreal, I'm hot to death - Mujuru!". You won't get the graphic word play a la Tehn Diamond "Once couldn't look at a Mic, now I look at it like Mike, the heavenly being, who Beat it, and came Bad, made a milli from Billi jean…". The ignorance isn't MC Chita "Butsu to the Face" and the Vernac isn't Jnr Brown "Jani dziriTii" swag.
But here you gets a much younger man, putting a good foot forward in what I believe will be long career. I mean, kid was born when I was starting high School. I totally get how much work it is to even get to the point where he is currently in our seriously tough country. Tatea will keep working, finding himself, his 'sound', broadening is experiences and fine tuning his skills.
If Aliens came down and said "take us to your king" in a few years time, I think we would seriously be looking at taking em to Tatea… However, if they land today… We'd have to send them elsewhere
Kuda Musasiwa
Telcel: +263 735120356
WhatsApp Only: +263 774162442
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kudamusasiwa
1 comment:
I lyk the h-town king. iwe!
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