Holy Ten’s Explanation of The Winky D Situation Was Brilliant But…
Early in the week, Zimbabwean born Hip-hop phenomenon Holy Ten went under fire over from a segment of Zim Twitter after a tweet he put on one of his social media accounts where he isnisted that he did not want to be seen as a polarizing figure.
The Tweet Read
“Activists, journalists, lawyers — Split opinions will not do any good for a brand that’s trying to serve & save everyone so help me by not acting like I’ve picked a side. Do not politicize a project that I’ve considered a mere honor to be a part of. I regret it now honestly”
A lot of people would go on to focus on the “I regret it now honestly”, and gravitate to the opinion that he was ungrateful for having the rare opportunity of breaking bread with Winky D the Gaffa.
Even I personally thought that last bit ruined the message, however I still understood where he may have been coming from.
What made it worse is that there was an image circulating on social media of a ZANU PF youth representative claiming that Holy Ten had revealed that Winky D had not bried Holy Ten on what the song was about (which is something he seemed to suggest in the middle of his interview with Star FM’s Ollah 7). (We will touch on that when we come to it)
I was glad to see him on Star FM coming forward to clarify his brand goals as someone who wants to unify the multiple perspective of the Zimbabwean situation.
He was right to air his piece however, art is complex in that it will always leave people to their own interpretation some of which may not be comfortable for the artist himself.
As such, the lawyers, journalist and activists who took his involvement as meaning certain things are also airing opinions within their freedom of expression just as he is. He of course reserves the right to clarifying that to them, but it’s also within their rights to ignore that clarity.
With that said, he aired a very true point that the problems that the youth face in Zimbabwe are similar regardless of political inclination. The crisis, drugs and so on.
Yet even after that fact, those who lean to the other side can argue that, whilst the problems are the same, they are a manifestation of poor governance and leadership. Thus it is impossible to tal about the Crystal Meth problem without then thinking about the factors which have caused it such as high unemployment rate, a deteriorating economy, and a ba healthcare system which has let to untimely deaths of people who could have parented that youth.
Unless Holy Ten is saying he wants to speak on the symptoms and outcomes. He will not be involved in his music with regards to the causes of how what he wants to address managed to get there.
Which is okay as well. After-all if you have an abscess, an alnagesic pill may medicate the pain without addressing the cause, whilst an antibiotic or drainage of the abscess will go head on with the infection so that the pain does not present in the first place.
Both remedies are important by the way.
However if you build an identity out of posing as an ultime solution what he is saying is like saying, “I want to sing about HIV/AIDS but I don’t like to be associated with preaching about abstinence, sharing needles, risks of promiscuity and so on. I just want to mention how I have seen people die in hospital.”
Again it’s fine to be in that position, but also understand that everything is a trade-off. You cannot enjoy the best of both worlds.
Most artistswant to wear many hats. You want to be Malcom X but you want to be Edgar Hoover. You want to be Billy Graham and Elvis Presley!
With that said. I enjoyed the interview on Youtube. You can watch it below as well and give a take.
