'PASS ME THE MIC HIPHOP TOUR' COMING TO BULAWAYO AND A CITY NEAR YOU

By Tawanda Ngena

One of the principle hiphop events in the region, the Pass Me The Mic Hiphop Tour is scheduled to make Bulawayo, its first stop in the brand new year.

Founder of this unique initiative that is meant to promote hiphop in the broader African context, one Gracious Dube, confirmed the news from his base down in South Africa, where the event was first established and has been making inroads from over the last couple of years.

"Our first major event for 2017, will be hosted by the 'City of Kings and Queens'. We will of course furnish the fans with all the particular details in due course.

"We have all been following the progress that hiphop has been making in Zimbabwe and we strongly believe that there is a large pool of talent there just waiting to be tapped into and exposed.

"Wherever there is hiphop talent, you can rest assured that the Pass Me The Mic Hiphop Tour will be there and Bulawayo is one such place", he said.

Dube or Cool Jones, as he is known to his counterparts said that this was all part of a much bigger plan to promote hiphop in every major city across the African continent.

" Bulawayo is only just the tip of the iceberg, our plan is to takeover every major city across Africa, help nurture the raw talent and bring hiphop to the fore as one of the biggest genres on the continent", he said.

The event will also be of some sentimental value to Dube himself as it will be an opportunity for him to touch base with the folk back home.

"It is always good to come back home and the show presents me with another chance to do so.

" Growing up, they always told us to never forget where we came from and this is me giving back to my hometown in the only way that I could", said the Esigodini born promoter.

Founded by Cool Jones who then enlisted the services of a few South African partners in Ma-Ou, Blue Train and Shawdy Pat, the Pass Me The Mic Hiphop Tour is usually hosted three times a year.

According to the South African based promoter, the promotional hip-hop event was established on the 24th of August 2013 at a club called "Kings Palace" in Tembisa South Africa and has over the years taken hiphop to places such as The Base Club (Hillbrow, Johannesburg), Da Dawn Lounge, Boksburg, (Gauteng), Connections Night Club (Hillbrow), Flamingo Club (Hillbrow), Safari Hotel (Hillbrow) and Kospotong (Braamfontein, Johannesburg), to mention a few.

"We initiated this movement out of a need to promote hip-hop and this is also after we had seen the difficulties that most upcoming rappers experience when trying to market their talent and music.

"We got inspired by events like "Back To The City" and "Pop Bottles", among others that were successfully being hosted back here in South Africa", said Cool Jones.

The former Swazi High School student counts being able to partner for the event with one of the biggest online radio stations in South Africa (Hillbrow Radio) as one of the key achievements for 2016 and said that looking ahead he saw much brighter prospects for the Pass Me The Mic Hiphop Tour.

"We are looking forward to giving more and more African talent the chance to be seen and heard regardless of any boundaries, physical or otherwise.

"In as far as this initiative is concerned, our plan is to do all we can to make it an attractive investment opportunity for potential sponsors/partners as this will inevitably go a long way in making our work easier and our goals attainable", he said.