Zimbabwe's hip-hop critics just dropped their year-end rankings, and the consensus says Sane Wav basically owned 2025 after his track Bhimu blew up following six months of hype. Holy Ten put out Musoro weNzou after getting arrested and laying low, while RayKaz finally released his long-teased Those Around Me Tape. Bling4 sold out Aquatic Complex for his debut album launch, and Runna Rulez showed up on every feature imaginable before dropping his own project.
The rising stars were mostly women and underground acts like Yadis, who crushed her debut EP, and Benefit Tanaka, who kept calling himself the new Takura while making love songs. OCD threw Kulture Kontrol Festival and brought in South African rappers, while Shoko Festival hit 15 years of running and kept platforming local talent.
Bulawayo got its own movement going with the Kwela Initiative, which pulled together artists and city officials to figure out how to push the local scene forward.
The rising stars were mostly women and underground acts like Yadis, who crushed her debut EP, and Benefit Tanaka, who kept calling himself the new Takura while making love songs. OCD threw Kulture Kontrol Festival and brought in South African rappers, while Shoko Festival hit 15 years of running and kept platforming local talent.
Bulawayo got its own movement going with the Kwela Initiative, which pulled together artists and city officials to figure out how to push the local scene forward.
