By Kennedy Nyavaya
Award-winning rapper Tinashe Gonzara, popularly known as Ti Gonzi (pictured above), yearns for closure as to why the four assailants that left him for dead at the crack of dawn on March 17 wanted to kill him.
The Zvenyu singer was stabbed on the head by armed robbers, still at large, while on his way to a friend’s house in Kuwadzana from Oskid Productions Studios where he had been finishing up work on some new music for his upcoming album.
Narrating the ordeal with an audibly shaky voice on Thursday, Ti Gonzi explained how he was puzzled by why the attackers, who had been playing his music moments before the gruesome act, committed the crime without flinching.
“When we had just gotten into the car, these guys just started playing my music, they played my singles like Chirungu, MaEx Angu…they also played Zvenyu and Kure, a track by Ishan featuring me, so I just thought these guys knew me well and they were not dangerous,” Ti Gonzi said.
“But, on the way I realised that these guys had probably been sent by someone or other people to do what they did.”
After ransacking them of their belongings the quartet, which threatened to shoot Ti Gonzi, is said to have thrown his friend out of the vehicle in motion before sinking a knife twice into his skull.
“They mentioned that the reason why they intended to kill us was that it was the only option after taking our things from us,” he said.
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“I think these guys are just killers to be honest because I am still yet to understand why they really did what they did to me. I think it was just evil and the reason for that is not clear to me.”
While saying the near-death experience still unsettles him, Ti Gonzi prays the gang is caught and thrown into prison.
“The police are still searching for them and we are just hopeful that they will catch them because the situation was very bad and I am still to recover,” said Ti Gonzi, who went for yet another hospital review on Friday.
Shaken, but unrelenting, he has promised to unleash a new album, which was scheduled for release on his birthday yesterday, as soon as he recovers. “My fans should expect the album that is coming out very soon but right now all I can say is if you are a Ti Gonzi fan pray for me so that I fully recover,” he said.
However, by his own admission, the scars are not the only change the incident brought to his life as it has ushered in a spiritual unction cutting deep into his personal being.
He believes the incident has made him “understand who really God is” and has transformed him into a “more spiritual” person than he was before.
“On that day I really believed more in the power of God in terms of how He saves lives and I told myself that from here onwards the things I need to do is know that the first rule to wisdom is fearing God and that means praying to Him even more and believing that He can save us from any situation,” he said.
Nonetheless, a radical change as it might sound, he asserts that it will not tamper with his ferocious lyricism that his alter ego “Ti Gonzi” has become synonymous with over the years.
“Ti Gonzi will remain the same as a brand, so I do not think there is anything that will reduce my lyrical creativity in terms of messaging as it will remain the same in terms of similes, metaphors, wordplay, humour and wit,” he said.
As he summons up spirits in prayer for a speedy recovery, one can sense that a repentant Ti Gonzi, who turned 26 yesterday, desires to walk right back into a studio booth and spit life-changing bars.
