By Trevor Makonyonga
The worlds of music and sport are not divorced as they sometimes collide when an individual proves to be a good habitant in the two environments. The link between music and sport is particularly witnessed in the sport of Basketball where you have NBA players like Shaquille O’Neal, Lebron James, Damian “Dame Dollar” Lillard and Marvin Baigley III dropping rap albums at some point in their their careers.
In Zimbabwe, we have had Tatenda Mahachi who made a transition from soccer to music.
Recently, a 58 second clip of a good rap song did rounds on social media which Zimbabwe Music Awards (ZIMA) Hip Hop act of the year Holy Ten even endorsed. The clip was done by former basketball star Drastik the Authentic off the song Ghetto which dropped on Monday the 8th of March.
Having turned out for Gentleman’s Association,Varsity Leopards,Cheetahs Basketball Club and J.B.C, the rapper was a very decent ball player one whose athleticism earned him some call-ups to the national team but he seemed to never make the trials camp every time he got a chance. Born Tawanda Gomba thirty four years ago, the artist narrated to Bustop TV how he rekindled his love for art much to the amusement of everyone who was present as they did not expect to hear such brilliance.
“I’ve been spitting from my high school days but never took it seriously. It was just a hobby then let it go and forgot about it. But just last year I gave a friend a lift to the studio and just chilled as he recorded. Then the producer (C-Law) just put a neat on and l started vibing and busting some old rhymes and realized everyone was paying attention that’s when I was like, ohh, I didn’t tell u guys I used to rap.
“After that the producer put on different beats and I was just spazzing and bam I was hooked again, so started recording material late last year.”
Speaking on his move from sport to music, Drastik said that sport and music are sidelined in Zimbabwe.
“You know in Zimbabwe there’s serious stigma about sport and music not making any sense financially, so ball was also my pass time over many years. I am a mechanic so that’s my main hustle ball was the extra activity so hadn’t been playing much of late because of having other obligations that put food on the table so was kind of fading away then the Corona hit and staying at home got really real thats when I found time to hit the studio with 10 Miles and I found myself again,” he said.
Listening to Drastik’s music one would relate as things that we see everyday, the artist’s life, motivation on that never give up tip and to do whatever needs to be done is all encompassed in his art. His style is more on an old school tip and his inspiration is from legends in the hip hop game and he could just end up being a local legend if he maintains the path he has started on.
“I’m a day one Biggie, Jay-z fan from back then Nas, Ludacris, Bone Thugs n Hamorny and DMX just to mention a few. I grew up on that,” Drastic said.
To date, the rapper has only released a number of songs officially and released Ghetto on Monday. He also has some music that will be coming out in the recent future which this reporter has listened to which might really turn around people’s perspectives on hip hop music in the country.
About his latest projects, he said, “Just bounce is basically about being confident in everything you do, even if you fall you have to get back up. You know motivational stuff. Then Chimuti, I’m basically saying I’m here to claim my spot in the hip hop game. There’s also Chenesai mberi a track I featured on with Haze Spiff which is basically about looking forward to brighter days and I dropped ghetto on Monday the 8th which is just me rapping my hood and where I grew up.”
With the amount of good music coming out of the country, it is essential now for the government to consider offering serious support to the artists.
