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Awa Khiwe (centre) and Grim Tyranny (right) at the launch of the Zim Hip Hop awards

Bongani Ndlovu, Showbiz Correspondent
THIS year’s Zim Hip hop Awards were launched over the weekend in Bulawayo with the Zimbabwe Music Academy earmarked as the venue for the awards ceremony next month.

Club Connect turned into a melting pot of hip hop heads as POY, Mr Kata and T1nDA performed for patrons with hip hop tracks punctuating the night.

POY took his time to sample tracks from his new album Short Cuts to Heaven which was received well especially the songs Gin and Wisha.

Zim Hip Hop awards founder Adrian “Beefy” Harrison said he was looking forward to hosting the awards ceremony in Bulawayo for the first time adding that people from the city had shown so much interest in the event.

“Judging from the enthusiasm at the launch night and response from artistes, this year’s award ceremony promises to be one of the biggest we’ve had in the six years we’ve been at it,” said Beefy.

He said they had received nearly 300 entries for nominations which closed on Saturday.

“The nominations have closed and we received a lot of them this year. We’re now doing adjudication before we release nominees on November 10.”

The categories for the awards are Best male, Best female, Best collaboration, Best hip hop group, Best producer, Best newcomer, Best local brand supporting hip hop, Best album, Best promoter, Best Diaspora, Best radio DJ, Best club DJ, Best gospel act, Best dance crew, Best dance solo, Best underground, Best media online, Best media TV, Best media journalist, Best free style artiste, Song of the year, Video of the year, Best hip hop hustle, Best hip hop verse and People’s choice.