(OPINION) Maskiri risks embarrassing himself by frequently shading younger rappers!

By Mcpotar

Hip-hop is a competitive sport by nature, and therefore artists baiting each other for a lyrical challenge is something that has stimulated the culture since its inception in the Bronx. We love the drama, it’s always war season.

I love seeing hip-hop artists challenge each other for sport but a recent interview published by The Southern Live where Maskiri seemed to be intentionally condescending on Voltz JT, had me thinking, “Maskiri that’s not it. These children will embarrass you”.

I personally grew up on Maskiri’s music and can recite his bars word for word. We would smuggle walk-mans at boarding and gather around the room that had the dorm DJ, waiting for a chance to ask him to play Muviri Wese, Tapinda Tapinda and leaked gems from the controversial Blue Movie.

I definitely still have him in my playlist, so this is not a hater-opinion, it’s top fan criticism. In my world no one is immune to criticism.

He is not reading the room correctly

See whilst as aforementioned at the beginning of the article I acknowledged that there is a place for those games I genuinely think Maskiri risks positioning himself as not accepting the new generation. New audiences do not immortalise Maskiri as my generation did. A lot of things have changed from cadences, deliveries and instrumentals. Alicious has really gone from reading the beat wrong, to reading the room wrong.

There are always more younger people in a population than old people, that’s why it’s a population pyramid. The people that grew up on Maskiri are now in mid-life or pushing 50. He may not still have the numbers to talk that talk whilst crawling to reach 22,000 subscribers against a new kid with a staggering 101,000 subscribers.

This feels like the Cassidy vs Tory Lanes Debacle

It reminds me of the Cassidy and Tory Lanes beef where , the veteran made 3 songs , probably 7 minutes each, which still each have 600K views in two years. Yet Tory Lanes responded with a few lines in a freestyle and had made over 2 million views by next morning. The response now sits at 8.9 million views.

Is Cassidy a Legend? Yes

Was it wise for him going at the new-new? Nope!

So whenever our own legend makes these shady and bait like comments he risks being embarrassed, especially when they do not respond.

Don’t take it from me, maybe I am hating

Here a few comments under the link to the cited interview:

As always, he does have fans. I am not saying he has no fans. I am saying the kids he is dissing and shading in interviews at any chance he gets are the ones that currently have people.

A History of Throwing Shade at the new school

On his come-back he presumably threw shade on Holy Ten’s come up during the COVID-19 lockdown and likened him to “zumbani”. He was blue-ticked by Holy Ten at the time and yet whether we hate Mujaya or not he has gone on to dominate playlists since that year and amass financial success from his music.

“Zumbani” has 4 videos above 1 million views just in 2023 alone. According to Youtube Maskiri has nearly 2.5 million views from 111 videos. It’s clearly no longer 2004. These are objective facts backed by numbers.

As an observer it would seem Maskiri’s statements that condescend on new hip-hop artists feels like clout chasing, which he has always done with shock value before the internet. He mentioned himself in that article that he thinks that bad boy image of using controversy to push music has worked for him for a long time.

So whether it’s making black humour about a brutally beheaded 7-year old child, and getting interviews for it or singing a provocative innuendo filled underground hit about wanting some action with Ivy Kombo. Controversy has worked for him.

The fact that it has even brought him back into the conversation by writers like me giving my 2 cents means there is some brand awareness there. I however believe based on the statistical indicators cited throughout the article , that in this instance we are dealing with a new breed of rappers who have amassed more tangible commercial success and they don’t think he matters in the conversation. So they may embarrass him by keeping quiet.

They are more likely to go at each other. Voltz is more likely to reply to a shot by Bling 4 than one by Maskiri.

To be fair to Maskiri

Indeed Maskiri is one of the earliest rappers to make this viable and he indeed made waves and crowds. He probably has as much numbers as new crops before YouTube, just that they were undocumented.

I do not ever intend to take that away from him. My qualm is that he is always going at young rappers of this era. He seems pretty cool accomodating the RnB guys like Hillzy or old acts who no longer pose a threat in the current regime of rap!

The Missed Opportunity

Another thing is that Maskiri may miss an opportunity to be remembered as a legend that did his part during this time and actually supported those that came after him. He really did a lot and many emcees have learned from his play-book.

However I don’t see his animosity with the new crop serving him. Even in the country where rap originated, Nas supports J.Cole, Jay Z paid legal fees for Meek Mill, Eminem has brought a lot of new voices under his label.

Age-ism is a problem in Zimbabwe

Maskiri is as old as Zimbabwe, he was 23 when Voltz JT , was turning one. He probably has children that age. Yet it doesn’t come as a surprise in a country that has old people fighting young people across the board, whether it’s politics, government institutions or opportunities.

Maskiri, your music is a bridge that allowed many to come and try this out , don’t block the way for the next generation to cross. Guide them. – I look forward to listen to GOAT and like they say in Hip-hop , “it better measure to that type of time!”

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Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Southern Live or its editorial staff. The Southern Life is committed to providing a platform for a diversity of voices and opinions, and we encourage our readers to think critically about the content they consume.