Music of Saturday, 1 January 2011

Source: ameyaw debrah/ www.ameyawdebrah.com

Listen UP: Zambian bad boy MrVezzy meets Ghana bad boy Mugeez

What happens when you put Zambian rapper MrVezzy and multi talented Ghanaian singer Mugeez (R2bees) together on one track? The result is a massive tune that can only be titled ‘ImmaBadBoy’. The two teamed up to show how bad they can get and why the ladies still love them on this Zed hiphop meets dancehall fusion. <<<DOWNLOAD NOW>>>

According MrVezzy, ‘ImmaBadboy’ started off as a freestyle that he recorded in his bedroom over a year ago. He sent the freestyle done on a Jeremih beat to a local DJ called Roberto, who had been playing the freestyle version for a long time. People started asking him to do a full version. “I have been overwhelmed by work and other things so never got round to getting it done till now. I have been a follower of Ghanaian music and I wanted to do a song with one of the hottest GH artists. Mugeez heard the unfinished song, he liked it and the rest is soon to be history,” explains MrVezzy.

He also expressed contentment with the input from his Ghanaian counterpart and the overall potential of the song: “Mugeez killed the song! Actually my friends like to tease me that he 'murdered me on my own song'. To put it in simple hip-hop terms, Mugeez blacked out on this track. I'm excited about the potential of the song.”

‘ImmaBadBoy’ will be released as a single and according the MrVezzy they are making arrangements to get R2bees over to Zambia for the video shoot. There will be 2 video for this song. The first one which is part one has been shot and will be out soon just to give some legs to the song. Then the official video which will go Africa-wide will be shot when R2bees gets to go to ‘Zed’ for a mega show. MrVezzy adds: “I just found out that their song with Wande Coal – ‘Kiss Your Hands’ is growing slowly. We are exploring the possibility of having them come down to do a fully fledged show! I'm excited about them coming to Zed. I've been to Ghana a few time before, it’s time for them to see what Zambia is all about!”

Born as Lang'a Mweene, MrVezzy started out as a rapper called Lang'a Vibes. At the time he used to rap only in English, but the first time he did a vernacular track he shortened his name to L.Ve which was basically just initials of his previous name. Currently his name has been stylized to L.Vezzy or simply MrVezzy. “I have been doing music since the late 90's. Rapping that is, I had been singing around the house since I was little. Actually, I never thought it could happen, this rapping stuff. Just to bite a line from one of my biggest inspirations - Notorious BIG in Juicy, I started rapping by chance. I would hear rap songs but I was more into R&B.”

MrVezzy actually started off as a singer in his first group which had another guy, Brad Smooth as the main rapper. He got inspired by what Brad Smooth was doing. The two started writing rap songs together like consistently and eventually branched out to form their own group called ‘Krumbsnachaz’, which also included a singer by the name of Harold who went on to do big things in the Zambian Gospel circles. The group scored its first radio play around 1999 and MrVezzy has been rapping since then.

As a solo artist, MrVezzy has only released one album, 'L.Ve for President' released in 2006. The album still stands as one of the best hip-hop albums in Zambian hip-hop history. The lead song from that album was 'No Sweat. No Sweet' which made its rounds across Africa especially after it was included on a mixtape sponsored by Motorola called ‘Moto Beat’. The song enjoyed a lot of airplay in countries such as Ghana, Cameroun, Kenya, Botswana and others. Other songs on the album included 'Ups and Downs' featuring one of Zambia's greatest female vocalists, Nalu; Winsula ft Hamoba and Diffikotti; and Chikondi Chazoona ft Joe Chibangu.

Since the success of 'L.Ve for President', MrVezzy has been releasing hot new singles every now and then. ‘ImmaBadBoy’ has a lot of potential to score him another pan-African hit and the rapper waiting patiently with bated bre