There has been a growing discourse around the importance of what has been termed the “mid-card” in music scenes. The argument goes thus: while every genre will inevitably have its front-and-center flagbearers, flagbearers do not a genre make. Contrast Sungura (bonafide genre) and Tuku Music, for example. After Tuku transitioned from what was categorized broadly as Jiti, his sound was largely peerless: not in quality necessary (although that too) but rather, who else was making Tuku-like music consistently? It may actually be argued that a more robust scene of Tuku ‘heirs’ (JP, Feli, Simba Ci, Wa Charie, Selmor et al.) has emerged in more recent times; but more sparsely while he was here. Sungura, on the other hand, runs the entire spectrum: from GOAT candidates like Macheso and Dhehwa to the il of R and K African sounds and Somandla Ndebele—the mid card. For a genre or scene to become dominant, it needs more than just the excellence of its flagbearers; it needs a solid Group 2. And maybe a group 3 and 4. But Group 2 for sure.
Bling 4 is a quintessential Group 2 artist. If Voltz, Holy Ten, and Saintfloew are the leaders of the 2020s, drill-adjacent (or what my guy Noble stylez termed “competition yekuimba ne bass) movement, then safe to say Bling sits right behind them. I remember a debate regarding Holy Ten’s foray into the more playful features he does (Madhafela, Murder Mudhara etc), and somebody who matters put their hand up and said “if it wasn’t for those type of songs, he’d be Bling 4” which, ouch, but put a pin in that. On another forum, I had expressed how much my American paramour (at the time) specifically got hype when a Bling 4 song came on, and the pushback I got from some on our editorial board was that what she was enjoying there was his beat selection, not his actual rapping. Love or hate Voltz or Samanyanga, but those are not the types of criticisms that they are getting.
I, for one, am a Bling 4 fan. While not particularly witty with the repertoire, his voice, conviction and cadence is as good as the very best of. While many artists, including those that are rated far higher than him, his languid style and songwriting choices always gimme that “where do they come up with this stuff” unc face. “Number rikanaka toridzora, totori dzora boys…” tsvvv- y’all can’t make me hate bro.
Given my clear enjoyment of 4’s music, my near-religious reverence for the concept of the album in an era where Enzo has decided that doesn’t matter, and my desire to see the naysayers, I was especially excited for his first album, 2025’s “Hossanah.”I was…whelmed. Not unimpressed, but not blown away per se; most of it sounded like the singles that got us here in the first place. But that’s the point: the album didn’t seem to tell a story or give us anything beyond what he’d told us already. It is perhaps telling that the ten-track album featured five artists; and the three most-streamed feature Saintfloew, Voltz JT, and man of the moment Runna Rulez: all rappers held in higher esteem than him. Hip-hop heads like him; but seem to like him more when he raps with ‘superior’ peers. Six of the ten have more than 100k, four of those have features, and the other two are tracks 1 and 3 (which tend to be higher because people are still giving it a shot before they give up on the project.) That said, the album offered up the Zimbabwean Hip Hop song of the year last year, “Boys Rangu” with Runna Rulez, and was undoubtedly significant in securing him “Best Male Artist” at the same awards.
So when the new album was announced, fans were cautiously optimistic; sure it would be fine; but is fine twice good enough? Especially from the reigning Man of the Year who’d given us Song of the Year.
Exactly a year after the release of Hossanah, Majeso dropped.At this point, allow for a tangent: did y’all see The Hangover- funny, right? What about the Hangover 2? barely funny but, if you are to be honest, it was a beat-for-beat redo of the first one, with just the specifics swapped around (they partied in Vegas vs they partied in Bangkok, woke up with tiger vs woke up with monkey, impulsively pulled out a tooth and impulsively got a face tattoo etc.) So even if technically it is on par with the first one, it is far less memorable because it did not offer much that the first one had not already.
Majeso is, in many ways, the same. Religious iconography in name and cover? Check. A Runner Rulez feature about how good a time they have that far outpaces the rest of the album in streams? Check. That he’s from Mbare and you don’t know what that’s like? Check check. The tropes are so repetitive that, for what quality the album possesses, the casual fan will struggle to distinguish the two projects in a few years.
To be clear, this does not make it a bad album: there is plenty to work with here. “Mota Hombe” with Runna Rulez may be a virtual clone of last year’s song of the year, but it is bound to share at least some of the appeal. In featuring both Jnr Spragga and Runna Rulez, the respective current flagbearers of the Riddims and the Raps respectively, Bling continues to tap into the zeitgeist. “Sandizvo” is a reflective track in which the battle-hardened young man takes time to address the toll that the grind has on relationships. My personal favorite on the album, “Kana Ndakuda” , sees Bling crooning instead of rapping; a worthwhile change of pace. Though imperfect (he is not a singer), it is melodically pleasing, and lyrically relatable across the generations: the idea of allowing vulnerability to seep in and give your heart to another and just hoping that they are good to you in return. With the right push, that has the potential to be his crossover hit.
It’s a tough project to evaluate in non-sentimental terms (these things are already subjective to start with); but it feels…”meh.” I remember, a while back when the iconic TV show Breaking Bad ended, American rapper Phonte had put out an excellent list in which he compared rappers to TV shows. He paired T.I with Boardwalk Empire, describing them thus:
Bling 4 feels the same way; and this album embodies this sentiment. After being crowned artist of the year, and dropping song of the year, the world gazed, pee-on-the-sticks, to see if this would finally break him out of the mid-card once and for all.Not this time. Not yet, anyway.
