DANCEHALL chanter Nutty O has considered his brand to have elclipsed the local Zimdancehall sound. Zimdancehall is a subgenre of reggae/dancehall music from Zimbabwe.
The traditional way of message delivery is through chanting.
Zimdancehall became more popular after the fall of the Urban Grooves genre.
“I am an Afro-dancehall ambassador; you can call Stone Bwoy and ask him,” said Nutty O on the Denny J show podcast.
“We love our music (Zimdancehall) but Nutty O is an Afro-dancehall artiste.
"As Long as I am here (Zimbabwe), the standard of music here puts me under Zimdancehall but I am not that.”
Nutty O added that his sound differs from other local dancehall artistes.
“The quality, standard, delivery and packaging are all different from the locals. It’s about who I want to feed the music to, I am thinking about the consumer and my consumer is not just Zimbabwe,” he said.
Nutty O has featured international artistes like Stone Bwoy, Dermaco and Winky D.
The Handipere Power hit maker also features on the new Bob Marley and the Wailers’ posthumous tribute album Africa Unite set to be released on August 4, 2023.
On the track dubbed So Much Trouble in the World, Nutty O and Winky D are featured on the album.
The album pays tribute to Marley and the Wailers’ timeless classics while infusing them with Afro-Dancehall and Afro-beats with collaborations also from Tiwa Savage, Davido, Ayra Starr, Patoranking, Rema, Sarkodie and many more.
Speaking on the same show, Nutty O sensationally said ‘there are no (record) labels in Zimbabwe’, his remarks sparked a heated debate on social media.
The Mbare-born and bred artiste went on to shoot down Chillspot Records. “Chillspot Records is not a label, after all they do for an artiste, they still fall short of being a label” he said.
Hip hop superstar Holy Ten expressed his disagreement with Nutty O’s statement.
In an Instagram post, Holy Ten said artistes are feeding their families because of the work they do.
Holy Ten felt Nutty O’s statement had disrespected his own Samanyangas Sounds, a record label that recently signed Xiba, Michael Magz, and Mr Candy.
Nutty O also addressed his no show at the Rick Ross show held last year at the HICC.
The show was marred with confusion as the performance roster was changed, the American rapper was made to perform earlier and local artistes performed in the wee hours of the morning as fans were walking out of the show.
“I was honoured to be part of the show, but the Rick Ross show was not for local artistes, but it was a show to show us that we are inadequate and not important. Whatever we are doing is not important and the Zimbabwean artiste is a punching bag,”said Nutty O.
“Promoters should value us the same way you value these people and if you want to disrespect us, then don’t do it in front of people.”