Zimpapers Logo

Bongani Ndlovu, Showbiz Correspondent
AFTER a three-year hiatus, The Grape Vine Rap Battles return to Bulawayo this Saturday, a positive move for followers of hip hop in the city.

The rap battles, which pit wordsmiths together, have been pencilled for the Bulawayo Public Library Hall. These rap battles from which award-winning rapper ASAPH carved his career, are platforms where hip hop artistes go toe to toe free styling on the mic to see who the best wordsmith is.

Up-and-coming MCs such as Perr, Trane, M.E.T.H, Jilly Tha Black, Lamas, D Craze, LOWKII V, Majoer, Jelly E and West are set to battle it out on Saturday.

Event organiser Naboth Rizla said they had stopped organising the competition as they were re-strategising.

“I had to regroup and come up with a new strategy in order for the rap battles to be successful this time around. From the look of things, it seems it’ll be bigger and better as we’ll be holding the battles monthly until end of year,” said Rizla.

During their prime, the once popular battles were hosted in Harare to give rappers there a platform to showcase their talent.

Rizla said they were planning to have artistes from other cities and even outside the country come to Bulawayo to participate in the rap battles.

“There are rappers from as far as Namibia who are very much interested in being part of the battles. We want them to participate and are working on the modalities of bringing them to Bulawayo.”

The rap battles are one of the few platforms that hip hop artistes have in Bulawayo to showcase their talent. Such platforms are integral in building hip hop stars and further promoting the hip hop culture.