Is the JP sound replacing Dancehall ???
Music continuously evolves, regardless of how good a certain sound is, the fans will eventually get bored and need something new. Also largely contributing to that are the new artists who create a new sound in order to create space for themselves in the industry and once that happens, the evolution begins. Pop music is no specific genre but it refers to music that follows a popular genre at that specific time with the aim of pleasing as many fans as possible and not just fans of the genre that specific artists made his/her name in.
Because music evolves this much no artist remains at the top forever, they will be forced to adapt their sound to match the evolving popular sound and they cannot keep up every time. The moment they fail to keep up they start losing relevance and their descent from the top begins and a new king starts ascending.
In Zimbabwe Dancehall displaced Sungura as the top music genre in the music industry and has been on top for about a decade now. It has developed into a culture rather than just a mere genre, it now has many tiers/subsections, many of them you can never know if you are not fully vested with the culture, most of us just follow and know the big artists, the 1st tier artists such as Winky D, Killer T, Freeman, Seh Calaz, Soul Jah Love...etc, and a number of promising new ones like Jah Child, Blot, Jah Signal...etc.
In these past couple of years we have witnessed the rise of Zim's first modern superstar, an artist that Zimbo's can confidently put in-front to battle other continental giants. That artist is Jah Prayzah, he is the first artist in over a decade to take attention away from Dancehall and also managed to successfully break into African music scene, something that has been evading local artists for years. Jah Prayzah broke into the music scene with his own blend of music, which was a refreshing sound to many, especially those that were fed up with Dancehall. Over the years he had to fight off promoters overlooking him, people talking down on him, he kept on perfecting his sound and it took the album Jerusarema in 2015 for him to win over the whole of Zimbabwe. His music was more to the traditional side and that made it easier to relate to and with that super album Jerusarema he conquered every corner of Zimbabwe, and won over every naysayer.
After that dominance he altered his music, fusing it with Afro Pop elements, he had conquered Zimbabwe and now he was going for Africa. His next album Mdara Vachauya signaled this change in sound and introduced him to many nations in Southern Africa but it was the album Kutonga Kwaro that signaled his arrival on the continental scene, he started pulling similar numbers on social media platforms as compared to other continental giants.
On the local scene JP can easily fill up the HICC (a coveted venue in Zim) or even the slightly bigger Chitungwiza Aquatic Complex (which was recently filled by Alick Macheso for the first time since 1998) any day of the year, he is definitely undoubtedly top of pile in Zim. Only one stage is left for JP to reach locally, that is the indisputable legendary status of artists such as Tuku, Macheso, Chopper, Dembo, Mukanya...etc. When Thomas Mapfumo returned to Zim this year he pulled arguably the biggest crowd by any local artist, the Glamis Arena (the holy grail of concert venues in Zim) was about 3/4 full, given the venue can hold more than 45k people that was a massive achievement especially for someone who had not stepped in the country since 2002. JP is definitely aiming to reach that level and if he continues at the rate he moved on for the past 3 years it's possible that in time he may reach that level.
Now because of JP's success, I have noticed that over the past two years a number are now abandoning their sound to the JP kind of sound, it's not as widespread yet but it's just a matter of time. The reason I say its a matter of time is because those that are switching to the JP sound are some of the biggest artists in their genres.
In gospel music Sabstian Magacha engaged JP on his last album on the track Mweya Mutsvene, the track received a lot of airplay and performed very well on the gospel charts. It would not be surprising if Saba continues to explore that sound. Still on the gospel tip, JP's track Muchinjiko also was a favourite of many and was in the gospel charts for some weeks. All this may push other gospel artists to follow suit.
In dancehall, Killer T who is one of, if not the current favourite of many delved deeper into the JP sound on his latest album Mashoko Anopfuura. On the album he also collaborated with JP on the track Hondo which is receiving a lot of airplay and is on it way to millions of views on YouTube. I was not a fan of the album, still not but many people are loving it and are embracing the new Killer T sound and that can move him to continue on that JP sound alike path. There were already a lot of dancehall artists inspired by Killer T if he continues with the JP sound a number of others will follow suit.
On the latest ExQ's album Tseu Tseu you can hear some JP influences on a number of tracks, sometimes in terms of the choice of words and their arrangement. For ExQ it a bit understandable because JP is his boss at MTM records so having him help-out is no surprise. JP also featured on the track Pahukama which is on the album, the track is again getting a lot of airplay and soon will join the million club on YouTube. ExQ he managed to keep his unique style on the project but going forward its most likely the JP influence will increase on his projects.
On top of the few artists mentioned above there are a number of artists that chose to completely follow the JP sound; artists such as former labelmate Andy Muridzo who was seen as JP's major competitor before he got signed to JP's label, former band members Baba Harare, Gonyeti and JP's protege Sam Dondo.
As you analyse all of this you get to see that most artists who follow the JP sound and those that actually get him to feature on their tracks are finding success. That result will push many artists to follow suit, they say if you cannot beat them... you know the rest. Also everyone is in this music industry to earn some money so if it sell why not do it.
So ya that is my short analysis of this change/evolution going on in the music industry. The question I leave for you is;
Is the JP sound replacing Dancehall??
Is the JP sound the new pop??
Leave your comments down below.
On the local scene JP can easily fill up the HICC (a coveted venue in Zim) or even the slightly bigger Chitungwiza Aquatic Complex (which was recently filled by Alick Macheso for the first time since 1998) any day of the year, he is definitely undoubtedly top of pile in Zim. Only one stage is left for JP to reach locally, that is the indisputable legendary status of artists such as Tuku, Macheso, Chopper, Dembo, Mukanya...etc. When Thomas Mapfumo returned to Zim this year he pulled arguably the biggest crowd by any local artist, the Glamis Arena (the holy grail of concert venues in Zim) was about 3/4 full, given the venue can hold more than 45k people that was a massive achievement especially for someone who had not stepped in the country since 2002. JP is definitely aiming to reach that level and if he continues at the rate he moved on for the past 3 years it's possible that in time he may reach that level.
Now because of JP's success, I have noticed that over the past two years a number are now abandoning their sound to the JP kind of sound, it's not as widespread yet but it's just a matter of time. The reason I say its a matter of time is because those that are switching to the JP sound are some of the biggest artists in their genres.
In gospel music Sabstian Magacha engaged JP on his last album on the track Mweya Mutsvene, the track received a lot of airplay and performed very well on the gospel charts. It would not be surprising if Saba continues to explore that sound. Still on the gospel tip, JP's track Muchinjiko also was a favourite of many and was in the gospel charts for some weeks. All this may push other gospel artists to follow suit.
In dancehall, Killer T who is one of, if not the current favourite of many delved deeper into the JP sound on his latest album Mashoko Anopfuura. On the album he also collaborated with JP on the track Hondo which is receiving a lot of airplay and is on it way to millions of views on YouTube. I was not a fan of the album, still not but many people are loving it and are embracing the new Killer T sound and that can move him to continue on that JP sound alike path. There were already a lot of dancehall artists inspired by Killer T if he continues with the JP sound a number of others will follow suit.
On the latest ExQ's album Tseu Tseu you can hear some JP influences on a number of tracks, sometimes in terms of the choice of words and their arrangement. For ExQ it a bit understandable because JP is his boss at MTM records so having him help-out is no surprise. JP also featured on the track Pahukama which is on the album, the track is again getting a lot of airplay and soon will join the million club on YouTube. ExQ he managed to keep his unique style on the project but going forward its most likely the JP influence will increase on his projects.
On top of the few artists mentioned above there are a number of artists that chose to completely follow the JP sound; artists such as former labelmate Andy Muridzo who was seen as JP's major competitor before he got signed to JP's label, former band members Baba Harare, Gonyeti and JP's protege Sam Dondo.
As you analyse all of this you get to see that most artists who follow the JP sound and those that actually get him to feature on their tracks are finding success. That result will push many artists to follow suit, they say if you cannot beat them... you know the rest. Also everyone is in this music industry to earn some money so if it sell why not do it.
So ya that is my short analysis of this change/evolution going on in the music industry. The question I leave for you is;
Is the JP sound replacing Dancehall??
Is the JP sound the new pop??
Leave your comments down below.
Proud_Zimbo
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