Urban groover Maskiri ‘repents’

Standard Style
Yesteryear star rapper Maskiri, born Alishias Musimbe, has repented from uncensored lyricism that usually contained profanities of sorts in his music if in his statements yesterday are anything to go by.

By Kennedy Nyavaya

Yesteryear star rapper Maskiri, born Alishias Musimbe, has repented from uncensored lyricism that usually contained profanities of sorts in his music if in his statements yesterday are anything to go by.

Maskiri pledged to turn a new leaf in his use of language when he launched his new album titled Come Back.

His sixth album, the eight-track project — including an intro and bonus track — will go live on several online platforms during the course of today. It was produced by GT Beats, Movy Street Music and Tyfah Guni, who is also featured along with Nox, Hillzy, Zala C and Mapower.

“This album does not have a dirty version, it is clean although there may be small truths which are not usually talked about but generally the lyrics are clean,” Maskiri told Standard Style in an interview on Friday.

Could this be because he got “born again” in 2014 or is it maturity catching up with him at the age of 39? Those are million dollar questions.

But, the South Africa-based lyricist, who became famous among the youths in the early 2000s will endure a torrid time breaking from the past. One of his albums, Blue movie got banned from airplay because of its explicity.

Added to his woes are the uncertainties of how his followers will react to an entirely clean product from him. But he is confident the album signals a return of the Maskiri, the old that became a hit in the cassette era.

“When I was quiet I was watching and seeing what was happening, studying how the industry works and what is lacking as well as building creativity in my art,” he said.

A lot of musicians have claimed the same in their attempt to reclaim their spot in the highly competitive music scene and many faltered.

For Maskiri, the journey through the years, apart from the time he released a banger titled NaMwari, featuring Tererai Mugwadi in 2013, has been so bumpy that even a feature with UK musician Keisha White four years ago flied past without much acclaim yet he remains adamant.

“What I know is this come back will work out because people think if you go quiet, it will be hard to get attention again, but for me it will not be like that because I have a fan base which I have from the past and they believe in me as much as I believe in myself,” he said.

He said: “My fan base is growing at the moment and it has extended immensely such that I now have other fans that never liked me before.”

Maskiri brushed aside the uphill circumstances he faces ahead as an artiste not pursuing Zimdancehall and the fact that he is foreign-based at a time artistes on the other side of the borders have struggled to grab local attention.

“In music it does not matter whether it is dancehall or whatever genre, I look at people like Trevor [Dongo], Nox [Guni] and Jah Prayzah, they are not in that genre so what is important is for one to do their music with all their heart which is what I did on my album,” he said.

“What I know is that I am always in touch with what is on the ground and it does not matter where I am, whether I am in the country or not so it is as if I am in Zimbabwe because I know what is on the surface. So there is no problem there because I can do anything.”

After the comeback, Maskiri said he has already begun working on another album which will find its way into the market by the end of the year in what he said was a strategy to make sure that “I do not stop giving out music” again.