Winky D, Jah Prayzah rivalry renewed

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The country’s most sought-after musicians Winky D and Jah Prayzah coincidentally revived their “rivalry” in time to celebrate love through eye-catching videos for their singles Mugarden and Kunerima.
(Top) A scene from Jah Prayzah’s video of the song Kunerima and (bottom) Winky D’s Mugarden

By Sindiso Dube

The country’s most sought-after musicians Winky D and Jah Prayzah coincidentally revived their “rivalry” in time to celebrate love through eye-catching videos for their singles Mugarden and Kunerima.

The videos were strategically released during the Valentine’s week to celebrate love, but the two releases immediately turned into a contest among the two sets of fans.

The well-choreographed videos have divided opinion in the country after the respective directors gave it their all.

Clad in antique outfits, Jah Prayzah was the first one to turn back the hands of time, taking us back memory lane with a vintage love story of a man expressing his love interest to a cheeky and hard-to-get but a must-get lady, played by MisRed, real name Samantha Musa.

Jah Prayzah’s fascination with the old school lingers on from his old videos like Mwanasikana.

When everyone was still stuck in Kunerima feelings, the undisputed king of dancehall Winky D dropped a music video for the song Mugarden, featuring Gemma Griffiths.

Unlike Jah Prayzah who took us back memory lane and reminded us how love used to be, Winky D took us back to the genesis of mankind, the dawn of love, the same love that was celebrated by Jah Prayzah and MisRed and the same love that we celebrate today.

Winky D’s portrayal of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden was well-choreographed with the duo taking turns to express their love for each other as they interact with fauna and flora. They promise not to leave each other with the oath of not taking the forbidden fruit.

One thing that Winky D has mastered and makes his works not ordinary is the power of surprise approach. With every Winky D song you should look out for something that you didn’t expect. He gave the Vabati vaJehova feature, he gave us a Beanie Man feature, and he went a notch with Paper Bag earning himself a first and rare hip-hop award nomination at the Star FM awards, now he gives us a rare collaboration with Gemma.

The two songs have divided opinion, on which one is better. The measure of brilliance has also been aligned to the number of YouTube views. As of yesterday at 2:45pm, Winky D’s Mugarden had 387 952 views, while Jah Prayzah’s Kunerima had amassed 312 303 views.

Despite the two artistes trading in different genres, they have gone head-to-head at various awards ceremonies, their albums have been put side-by-side for contest by their legions of fans. Now that they have both released love songs, accompanied by visuals, revives the so-called rivalry fuelling their works of art.

Winky D’s manger Jonathan Banda said they were not in competition with anyone.

“We are not in a completion with anyone, music is a mission. Yes, people will always have something to talk about and it should be like that, music should create conversations like those. We thank the fans their continued support and we promise to give them more,” he said.

Jah Prayzah’s manager Keen Mushapaidze could not be reached for comment yesterday.