A 2-decade Symphony – Winky D di Big Man celebrates 20 years of Musical Brilliance.

The very last night of the year 2023, the firebrand Zimbabwean Raggae/Dancehall artist launched one of the biggest performances of his time with a theme “2 decades of Ghettocraft”. In this, the vibrant and one of the most talented artists ever produced on Zimbabwean soil celebrated 20 years of growth in the music industry. To fans, these are 2 decades of excellence in beats and lyrical prowess. Of late, Winky D, popularly known as “the Gaffa,” British slang for Boss, has dominated the news headlines for being a point of attack from the ruling party in Zimbabwe because of his solid criticisms of the oppression, injustice, unemployment, human rights abuses, and abject poverty of the general masses, especially the youths.

On 31 December 2022, the Gaffa released an Album titled Eureka Eureka. The album was burning with songs such as Dzimbadzemabwe, Ibotso, among the other 8. In Dzimbadzemabwe, the celebrated artist takes us back to when the teapot shaped country used to be the breadbasket of Africa, and says that now the country has turned to be a charity case. He satirically sings “we used to be the breadbasket, but right now we carry water ina di basket’’. Shingai, the UK based Zimbabwean artist who featured in the song, expresses disappointments that the gains of the war of liberation have been reversed.  She asks a rhetorical question, “is this the land we fight for, we died for ….” The song Dzimbadzemabwe uses the status and strategic position Zimbabwe used to occupy in the region and the continent. Zimbabwe, having fought the Smith regime, was a symbol of the fall of tyranny and colonialism. Before its collapse, the country was once adored as the wealth of Africa, the biggest producers of maize in the Southern African Development Community (SADC). However, because of misgovernance and lack of respect of the rule of law, the country has turned into what Winky D and Shingai lament on behalf of an ordinary Zimbabwean.

Pressed by the upcoming general elections in Zimbabwe, the regime in Harare was not taking any chances with any criticisms on issues of human rights abuses in and dismal failure to run the country. This saw di Big Man facing attacks from the ruling party aligned pressure groups such as a notorious group named Forever Associates Zimbabwe (FAZ). Di Big Man, as Winky D is also affectionately known because of his influence in the music industry, was denounced and accused of wanting to cause rebellion against the government. Winky D released Ibotso which spoke about powerful men in society taking advantage of the poor. He sings’ “vanotora zvevapfupi nekureba” loosely translated to English as they take advantage because of their position in society. This came across as an insult to beneficiaries of the corrupt government in Zimbabwe who use their proximity to the State House to oppress ordinary citizens. What is ironic from the animosity the government of Zimbabwe displayed towards the artists is that no names were dropped but as the Shona proverb goes; kuvhunduka chati kwatara hunge une katurukwa, a synonymous proverb to Bob Marley’s line in his song “who the cap fits”. This is loosely translated to say one can only be concerned by vague allegations against them if they have done something wrong. ZANU-PF has no shame. Winky D was publicly banned from performing the song Ibotso for he was accused for unjustifiably targeting the government. Short cited people accused di Big Man of being used by the main opposition party to attack the government. But if one is to be honest, the song Ibotso perfectly captures the social injustices that have nothing to do with political parties but are issues affecting the broader society regardless of political affiliation.

On the eve of 31 December 2019, another social awareness album was released, titled Njema. There was a song with the same album name that spoke about freedom of the mind. The talented artiste addresses a situation where people are not aware of the prison they lock themselves in, whilst believing that the only prison that exists is that where one is behind bars. The Gaffa sings “ndaisifunga kuti zvoni vasungwa, ndivo vari muchizarira, kusaziva kuti hobho vasungwa…vachipika mutongo vari panze, kusungwa kwepfungwa hatizvivanze”. This echoes Steve Bantu Biko’s teaching (in I write what I like) on Black consciousness where the South African hero emphasises on emancipation of the mind. Winky D’s message goes along with Bob Marley plea to emancipate ourselves from mental slavery, because “none but ourselves can free our mind…” Njema is a clear message that people must not limit themselves. People are reminded that they are capable of doing so much more, they should think outside the box and not look down on themselves, because, as the book of proverbs says, “as a man thinketh in his mind, so is he.”

Beyond doubt, the marriage between the Gaffa’s art and the social and cultural issues can never be separated even by death, because the message will continue to live on even after the icon is long gone. The album Njema also introduces the Zimdancehall audience to a song titled Mangerengere. The song interrogates the reasons behind the suffering of the present generation. The Gaffa notes that some of the problems we face today are consequences of errors of omission and commission by our forefathers. Winky D poses a rhetorical question, “makabvisa here mombe yehumai? Pamwe ndizvo zvinokonzeresa kuti vana tigodai” loosely translated as did you pay the cow that belongs to the bride’s mother? In most African cultures, there is a cow that the groom has to pay to his mother in law on lobola negotiations. Failure to do that is believed to bring bad luck to the son in law’s future generation, Hence Winky D resolves that perhaps the reason fellow youths are suffering is because there is tradition that our fathers failed to abide by.

We can write a million words about the thought process behind Winky D’s work. With these few pieces of his work, one cannot help but agree that the Gaffa’s art is not just music, rather it is a movement, an ideology that seeks to address and cut across the socio-political and cultural spectrum. Winky D’s message can be regarded as social activism that seeks to change the lives of the oppressed masses of Zimbabwe at large and the youths in particular. It is this fact that di Big Man is in touch with reality that makes it no surprise that almost every Zimbabwean youth idolizes him. Some have named him the GOAT (Greatest of All Time), others on twitter have said “winky D ndibaba vedu tese,” translated as Winky is our father.