By Takudzwa Hillary Chiwanza & Tawanda Chari
Cerisé West - who heartily and unapologetically reps Harare’s
Hatfield environs and every other little aspect of contemporary [street-conscious,
trendy] city life - is a fiercely gifted rapper armed with a beautifully angelic
and sultry voice; as well as being amazingly talented with cool and groovy lyrical
prowess/song writing skills that makes her a cut above the rest, yet, in her own
distinct way that’s aptly punctuated with a rebellious flair.
This, plus a wavy, regal, and youthful discography that can be
left on repeat anytime and at any place imaginable undoubtedly makes Cerisé the
unrivalled Zim Hip Hop “Queen of Melodies”.
But because her profound rapping stock is still confined to a relatively
minute conglomeration of a loyal fan base – due to the ineluctable dictates of time, chance/opportunity,
and marketing in a densified, cut-throat Zimbabwean [urban] music industry –
her name won’t obviously ring a bell even to some quarters of enthusiastic listeners
of Zimbabwean urban sounds who claim they fervently lend their ears and auditory
mental facilities to contemporary, youthful Zim Hip Hop acts.
Her seemingly (though palpably) authentic [urban] aesthetic and exotic aura appeal to the organically street-conscious essence of Hip-Hop; as her enviable
versatility traverses the modern rap dynamics that are in vogue which encompass emo,
trap, lo-fi, and pop beats. This ingenious sonic conflation vastly sets her
apart from her peers, as observed through the past few years; regardless of whether
such peers are female or male emcees.
Such a painstaking attempt to give an apt précis of the type of rap that Cerisé engenders within the confines of Zim Hip Hop through the succinctly laid background/profile is indispensable; this is so because it is directionless, futile, pointless, and devoid of context and nuance to review her music (with ample honesty) without truly appreciating her distinct rap persona, artistic style, sonic range, lyrical elasticity, and overall motif(s). It presages a holistic critique of her music.
Her profoundly priceless rapping stock largely goes unnoticed, particularly in the sphere of Zim Hip Hop, owing to her somewhat obstinate though
earnest efforts in refusing to conform to the [tired, commercialized, cliché, and
hyper-sexualized] tropes of what a femcee should look and rap like.
This is what she preaches via her latest songs in the April 2022
project christened I’m Her The Mixtape – a 19-track project which the overwhelming
generality of Zim Hip Hop has implicitly conspired not to accord its due attention.
(Perhaps the inevitable passage of time is the only recourse for Cerisé as far
as organically procuring a sizeable base of dedicated listeners is concerned.)
Project after project, single after single, this is the biggest
message that Cerisé attempts to put across (the refusal to conform to set conventions
for female musicians in Zimbabwe – her niche of loyal listeners is now familiar
with Cerisé’s little protest) – and, sometimes, she delivers this with convincing
success; sometimes, with deflating audience reactions in terms of metrics; and,
other times, with fairly remarkable break-even
points.
It is the game. It is what it is. It is relentlessly unkind.
It is remiss of us not to underscore such a concrete reality that underpins the
currents of Zimbabwe’s music industry and its attendant audience tastes/preferences.
What Cerisé – in the final analysis – says to the world is that she really is
the coolest girl in the rap game. Faithfully locked in to her art; deliberately
oblivious to how the markets determine who the greater majority of the urban's
masses listens to at any given particular time.
Notwithstanding the hushed release and reception of Cerisé West’s
offering I’m Her The Mixtape, what we cannot gloss over
is the salient fact that her [seemingly exotic] rap image and aura, inspired by
an authentic [urban] aesthetic appeal mentioned earlier, emphatically make her really
cool in her own proud way.
As with all musicians, some critics may fail to comprehend, grasp,
and appreciate this well; but Cerisé implies that definitely, that’s not her damn
business. She's too cool to mind to that.
Such artistic pride and exotic feels are expectedly diluted by
relevant local contexts – you can tell her ear is rooted to the much-vaunted streets,
with all the connotations and innuendos thereof.
The new projects portrays a Cerisé who appears to embrace this
material reality gracefully, as attested by her shrewd musical sense that allows
her to elude the pitfalls of overly complicating her art.
Her choice in producers speaks to the local contexts that she subjects
her rap intelligence and swagger to – she has considerably worked with Southerton’s
Mob-Figgaz/Mob Ent (the Zim Hip Hop duo/label of brothers Mob X The Don and Mob
G). The mixtape was mostly produced by Chris Raimonds of Studio V VII in Hatfield.
This nuanced approach in dissecting Cerisé West’s music and her
latest mixtape makes her raps a wholesome, refreshing listening experience.
By now, you should have [sub-consciously] picked that a
melodic and wavy street-conscious rapper is being described here. A city girl who
effortlessly raps city life from the contextualized vantage point of an unrestrained
Harare cool girl. (That’s why we once previously wrote about Cerisé West here.)
Cerisé has convincingly mastered the fusion of hip-hop’s
rhythm-based lyricism with pop’s default preference for melodious vocals and
catchy feels. It creates the vibe of a rap cool girl reppin’ her streets with street-inspired
loyalty while simultaneously weaving flashes and glimpses of personal life experiences.
With the hope that such individual rap excursions inspire collective listening experiences.
This is what her new mixtape is biased towards; yet sticking to
Cerisé’s clarity of identity as outlined in the earlier paragraphs of this review
piece.
Her discography, old and new, exudes this artistic act of evolution
[the fusion of rhythm-based lyricism and melodiously catchy feels] – inspired
of course by the fountain of experience she sips from; given that she’s been dealing
in raps since her college days.
A trademark feature of her raps, brought forward to I’m Her
the Mixtape, she glides and floats over beats almost like a mellow but poignant
RnB or Blues singer. And, yet, with a dash of sound caution, she doesn’t delve
all the way in with the tonalities of pitch and vocal projection.
All the while, she executes such delicate abilities and little
but profound acts of artistic evolution with magnificent maintenance of a steadily
balanced cadence – seamlessly switching
flows at will for the ultimate punch melodic that rap fans helplessly love.
As can be gleaned from her previous projects, and likewise, the
new mixtape shows that what sets Cerisé West apart is the inescapable sonic reality
that she can be technical with her scheming (without making it didactic as some
rappers are wont to do), giving you refreshing doses of melody and still making
you feel something. She does not make her bars a vacuous exercise. It’s this musical
dexterity that lends invaluable replay value and sing-along effects to her releases,
including the new project under discussion herein.
Cerisé – with the typical defiance of an independently conscious,
young city woman who dabbles in (often unappreciated) artistic exploits as the inalienable
basis for her intrinsic purpose – boldly
projects emotions in ways that triggers a listener to feel what she has felt or
what she has gone through in navigating the complexities of purported freedom in
adulthood. It is palpable in a way that makes a serious listener with sufficient
patience glued to the music without feeling
estranged from her bars.
This act of listener-sensitivity while not veering from your artistic
lane as a rapper is not an easy thing to execute because :
1.
Picking the right instrumental is an arduous task
of songwriting and the attendant recording, mixing, and mastering, and publication.
2.
Detecting the key of the instrumental is a cumbersome
technical feat.
3.
The process involving scat with the melodies, with the raps then coming in
I’m Her is a mixtape (and Cerisé flourishes with such a rap art form), so there’s no overarching motif or unifying conceptual theme or idea recurrent throughout the rap project. And some of the instrumentals may not have been hers (this puts a dampening effect for conservative rap loyalists) but nonetheless, and on the overall, it’s a good entry point into her music.
Cerisé West, through her mixtape I'm Her, boldly proves that
she can make a good full length project and that she’s a force to reckon with in
Zim Hip Hop circles.
She conveys a simple but powerfully defiant statement: she’s really
the girl she thinks she is – Harare’s cool rap girl; a 7vengoddess (sevengoddess).
She insinuates that she will gladly chase quality over clicks,
her swagger, charm, and elegant aura keeping her ears, heart, and auditory senses
rooted to her distinct style of rap. She’s her.
We have said too much, and we don’t want to make it all superfluous.
Listen to I’m Her The Mixtape by Cerisé by clicking the Audiomack link below and share with us your listening experience.
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