Zimdancehall’s newest star, Poptain, brings to the craft a mix of social consciousness, intricate wordplay, effortless cadence and casual patois fluency. The animated lyric video for his latest single, Freedom, may belatedly bring music lovers up to speed with his song writing abilities, but the underrated chanter has been ably grinding underground for half a decade now, with no less than 100 tunes on his discography.
While the animation itself is not exactly high-concept — somewhat lacking in life-like coordination and narrative layers — it is an ambitious take and its real value is the invitation to follow Poptain’s emotive, but somewhat demanding punchlines in real time. I had already bumped into the track on repeat myself, but when I watched the lyrics, it dawned on me just how much had sailed beneath my radar.
With a hook like: “Me never free no, no at all/ Yatinowana ndoinonzi freedoom (a clever play on ‘freedom’ and ‘doom’), breda…/ Although dem claim seh we born free” — rhymes revolving around the corruption and the breakdown of social services poisoning the ghetto condition in Zimbabwe and versatile angles of blending into the sonic landscape — Poptain’s new track is a serious case for inducting him into the conversation about the best conscious artiste in Zimdancehall at the moment.