Local Hip Hop musicians in Zimbabwe will on the 29th of September have a rare opportunity to meet under one roof and engage on ways of growing their genre when they meet on the sidelines of the Shoko Festival.
Dubbed Zim Hip Hop Summit, the one day event that will take place on the sidelines of the Shoko Festival was according to the organizers, created to discuss pertinent issues about Zimbabwe’s hip-hop industry.
Important individuals within the Hip Hop community will come together to share knowledge and information that artists, promoters, managers, media and regulatory/authoritative bodies can use to proactively improve the state of the industry.
The project, a creation of Jibilika in partnership with Shoko Festival seeks to bring together local and international hip hop artists, activists, entrepreneurs and related stakeholders to dialogue, share knowledge on the state of the hip-hop culture and industry in the country and around the world, explore challenges and come up with possible solutions.
According to Amanda Murimba Head of Communication – Zim Hip Hop Summit, the event is an avenue for engagement, exchange and construction by sharing knowledge and information so that players involved can proactively work on bettering their art and the industry in which they operate.
“The Summit is made up of 3 panel discussions that will explore important aspects of the Zim hip-hop industry. Each panel will have highly knowledgeable panelists that will share their expertise on the given topics.
“We’ve enlisted the help of top musicians, activists, business people and enthusiasts to give holistic discussions taken from first-hand experience of working within Zimbabwe’s hip-hop industry,” said Murimba.
Line-up of people who are expected to attend the Hip Hop Summit includes multi-award winning South African hip hop musician and businessman Siyabonga Metane AKA Slikour presented by the Zimbabwe German Society, Stunner, Cal_Vin, Tehn Diamond, DJ Mox (Star FM), Lady K (The Fixxx, ZiFM), award winning videographer Blaqs, ZIMURA director Polisile Ncube, Phil Chard (The African Hip Hop Blog), PD The Ghost, Keisha Thompson (UK), Rafael Tudesco (Brasil), Mambila Mageza (from In Place of War), beatboxer Probeatz, Joel Gombera (Senior Manager – Group Marketing CBZ holdings) among others.
The summit will discuss various issues to do with the Hip Hop genre including state of Zimbabwe’s hip-hop industry, business of hip-hop and lyricism- conflict and free expression among others.
“Our hope this summit provokes and stimulates growth of the hip hop music industry in Zimbabwe” said Murimba.
She added that the summit will be a platform to encourage conversations on what needs to be done in brand management, promotion and actually transforming hip hop into a vehicle for social and economic empowerment.
