About The Day I…#1
On a high grade re-up run, coming from my first of many purchases at RasTings, I met Lynden and TRANE through my first ever Twitter friend Alphastoner on a sweltering Saturday afternoon in August of 2019. I had just recently moved into town, and I poorly chose Nicoz House, a posh student accommodation flat, as my townhouse residence of choice. They failed on delivering many of their promises, except for unjustly kicking me out of what I hope is the now legendary room G12. Lynden and TRANE were there for me, and funnily enough they were one of many reasons why I got kicked out. The caretaker called them, "my goons" lmaosmh.
I recall that, Lynden had on this faded safari short sleeve jacket with this black custom t-shirt he likes so much. Now add on his nerd glasses, plus his 2019 mop head hair style worn down, you can understand why for me in that moment, he didn’t look like one of the best rappers in the city. Especially coupled with his quiet demeanor that insisted on him being in the background, I actually figured he didn’t talk much. Which was fine with me, coz I hit it off with TRANE, his rhyme and crime partner, with the familiarity of long time junkies reunited with their favorite smoking buddy. I remember the brown leather jacket that TRANE had on and his unbuttoned shirt showing his chest hair nestled with gold chains, I’d find out later on that TRANE aside from his adventurous fashion sense also loves being half naked a lot.
TRANE and I set a blistering pace, chatting about music and culture all the way to 6th Ave for you know what, if you know what happens there. We had to occasionally look back for Alpha and Lynden to make sure they were still with us, but they're both quiet lads who understandably move with high energy chatterboxes. So the re-up is a success, especially with TRANE's assistance through his plugs, I do the natural thing which is invite Alpha's homies to the hangout we had planned at my room.
So it’s a Saturday in koBulawayo’s beautifully clean and vibrant streets, and you can see the kids holding their bottles and girls in either hand as they cross the roads to whatever parties their lives took them that day. I remember being anxiously excited coz I thought I was free after months of staying at my Aunt Thandie’s in Nkulumane. Yeah sure, it was fun coz I had the boys Shane and Tellzy to pass away the days and nights with smoking during our gym sessions but it wasn’t enough. Especially considering that I had a 6 day working schedule at my office, which didn’t pay enough for all the dreams I had to chase. I felt I wasn’t living enough after 6 months in the Culture Capital spent in the kasi, routinely waking up at 3 AM to catch the bus to work and coming back home as late as 8 PM to no ZESA.
That year was the year I felt what it means to be the average Zimbabwean, as Cyclone Idai had just happened and we didn’t have what I felt was a satisfactory response. The inflation that we’re suffering now was beginning to rear it’s ugly head again, and fuel prices subtly went up and ZUPCOs became a norm adding bus queues to our national tally of things we queue for. Civilian protests were being suppressed with martial law, I’ll never forget the sights of 8th Ave barricaded by soldiers day and night. Oh and that was the year we scrapped the multi-currency system too, and boy was my boss was not happy lol (I worked for a microfinance). People thought 2019 was wild, mine was wilder than it had any right to be and I couldn’t wait for 2020 to be calm. The jokes we play on ourselves only become funnier in hindsight.
Forgive me for I digress, it has been a long time since I’ve revisited these memories and not all of them are rosy, still press on I must. Now where was I? Oh it’s a Saturday and drunken lust is up in the city’s air, but in Nicoz House room G12, it was skeezy and whatever I had cooking in the air. Freestyle raps were let off as Lynden and TRANE continued to dazzle my flatmates and I, ShareIt portals were opened and Audiomack links were shared with haste. They refused my well cooked food that day, I remember that distinctly coz it bugged me seeing as how I had cooked gang food lmao. They did however leave me with a gift, their first collaborative tape, plus Lynden’s solo tape Pretty Drugs
I didn’t like Lynden’s PD tape, and he knows this already, I’ve told him several times already, but Land of the Vale blew me away coz at the time I hadn’t heard much of Zim Hip Hop that could get a reaction out of me. Especially from the mainstream acts that had me scorning the genre just like everyone else. Yes I may have been a bit naive in my praise for the guys early on, especially seeing as how I had developed a case of the Stan syndrome with the Wreckersvale collective. But I can confidently say that Lynden, TRANE, Chung Lee, Tykuan, KAHN, Kanos, Wayne and their affiliates as well as huns inspired me to seriously forge this singular path of mine into the music business. So if anyone ever wonders how I got into the game that’ll eventually kill me with creative stress then blame Wreckersvale Collective and their good music.
Having front row seats to their roller coaster lifestyles afforded me several opportunities of seeing what it takes to generate a buzz for yourself in a city that is hooked on the energy of youth. I somehow became the collective’s unofficial manager responsible for conflict resolution, negotiation with show promoters, opportunity scouting, vibes organizer, skeezy supply and content curator. Their creative process was the most chaotic and organically toxic process I have ever been a part of. I learnt a lot about the conviction it takes to chase your dreams seeing Chung and TRANE border jump their way into SA to make it big on behalf of the collective, whilst Lynden’s thoughtfulness in building his community showed me the value of service oriented leadership.
I miss those guys a lot but I take solace in the fact that every time I press play on my favorite crew tape of all time What’s Trending and remember how I missed out laying down my verse on track 9 coz of some Nicoz House bullshit kmt. I instead remember how the boys were they for me and bailed me out, coz that’s what the homies do.
Sunday service in the world of Bruce
I swear to God that’s a good vibe
Black World, Colorful Thoughts (Audio Film)
