B-Metro
Langalakhe Mabena
He didn’t care about a Roil Bulawayo Arts Awards (RoilBAA) nomination or a win, all he wanted was a platform to perform on stage.
And, the fast-rising rap sensation Luminous (Tinashe Mtetwa) utilised the grand stage and charmed the revellers who attended the fifth edition of the awards at the Large city Hall on 6 November.
His energy, charisma, moves and flows are sick and if you are a rapper intending to go bar to bar with him on a cypher, just like his song, make sure Ungay’Vusa Uzoyimela (when you start the war, you will stand it).
On his nomination for Outstanding Hip Hop Act he said: “That was an answered prayer. I wanted to be on that stage.
I didn’t expect a nomination I just wanted the stage.
“In my mind I knew if I had one chance to introduce myself to the city (Bulawayo), the RoilBAA stage was the platform. I am glad I nailed it,” said the Nkulumane-bred wordsmith.
Every year, when it comes to performance at the awards, it has been noticed that the Hip Hop genre always stands out.
The late Hip-Hop kingpin, Cal_Vin pulled a stella performance for Banjalo Abantu on the third edition of the awards and since then no one has done the deed like him.
However, Hip Hop streets have bestowed Luminous’ recent act as an equivalent to Cal_vin’s.
Luminous doesn’t want the pressure of him compared to Cal_Vin.
“I can never fill Cal_Vin’s shoes in any day. A person’s legacy is not just the shoes they leave unfilled but the feeling that lives on in people’s hearts and it will be injustice to even attempt replicating what Vin did.
“It’s an honour to remind people of him. He is one of the people who inspired me to take rap seriously back in 2017.
In honour of the race he ran, I have to run my race and leave my mark so that those coming after me can be inspired to do even more than I will do,” said Luminous.
Luminous was born in Bulawayo.
He did his primary education at St. Bernard’s, St. Patrick’s and Mtshane primary schools.
For his secondary education, he went to Ihlathi High.
“I am studying Marketing Management with IAC and I’m working at Our Neighbours where I do administration work,” he said.
He was introduced to the hip hop scene in 2016 after releasing an Extended Play (EP) titled Nkulumane Drive.
In 2018, he dropped his first album titled Driven.
“I also did a spoken word piece dubbed Letter to my Future Wife. It had over 80 000 views on Facebook and 2 000 on YouTube,” said Luminous.
Earlier this year, he dropped a single called Regular and it got on rotation in Ireland, Chicago, Ghana and some online SA radio stations.
He was part of the Culture Clash Hip Hop Festival Cypher and he has dropped a total of five videos this year including Ungay’Vusa.
