Talented hip-hop artist Tendai “Tehn Diamond” Nguni is set to release the third and final chapter in his mixtape series and it is titled Student of the Game — The pursuit of Amazing.
Tehn Diamond’s mix tape series started with Student of the Game — Higher Learning, in 2008 and its follow-up titled Student of the Game — Boys will be Boys in 2010.
They received a good following landing him a National Arts Merits Award recently.
“The upcoming project is different from the first two in that I allowed myself to unearth more range in myself, musically, largely by reaching and collaborating with more artists and experimenting with different sounds,” he said.
He said in the first mixtape he had personally and insightfully written about events and emotions that impacted deeply on his individuality and at the second offering, he had an outward view and looked more on his immediate life and choices in and around himself.
Tehn Diamond said this time he had tried to find the middle ground between his first two projects, so there was a beautiful mix of introspective lyricism and soul searching with a fun and collaborative feel. “I think this is my most complete project to date and I wouldn’t say there is something for everyone, but certainly something for everyone who has been tagging along on my journey from Higher Learning,” he said.
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Tehn Diamond said he was inspired by his day-to-day life and surroundings and his music tended to be a summary of the year gone or feelings of the immediate future almost like his life’s musical diary.
Among the tracks is Angels Say, featuring MC Chita, in which they open up on the frustrations of being a hip-hop artist in Zimbabwe, where the genre is often misinterpreted and largely under represented.
“The idea is that for all the hours of work and dedication that we put in, we still have very little to show for it, yet we feel and express in the song that surely we’re good enough to rumble with the big boys on the big stage too,” he said.
Tehn Diamond said it was a song about persevering and pushing through what may seem impossible with great perseverance and it was not a typical flashy bragging hip-hop track.
Other songs with positive life messages include Life Goes On which featured upcoming songtress, Davina Green, where he highlights some ills of the world and how a society can never push towards perfection without acknowledging the wrongs and Fall Back, featuring Junior Brown a track that encourages people to do what is best for them.
“Having won the Outstanding Music Video Nama for my first album single, Grown Up Kid, my plans for the new year involve continuing to showcase my music through the visual arts too. So expect to see more of me on YouTube and certainly on Channel O and MTV Base.”
He said he was planning to release his debut commercial album later this year and was hoping to perform around the country and continent.