Award Winning artist and Inkabi records label owner, Big Zulu has released his 4th Studio album titled ‘Ngises Congweni’, which means the peak of a mountain.
He chose to name this album ‘Ngises Congweni’ because He has made it to the highest level in the music industry and has become an inspiration to many. It also represents where he was born in ‘Bergville’ which is a mountainous place and has one of the highest mountains in the country, Drakensberg.
‘Ngises Congweni’ is an album dedicated to the people who have guided and supported him throughout the years. This album is influenced and dominated by an afro pop sound rather than what we used to know Big Zulu for, which was a bar-to-bar rapper.
In this album, he shows his versatility and musical growth and that he is not a one-dimensional artist, as he can transition into different spheres of musical genres. He has matured into a sound we call Ushuni which is a blend of afro pop, maskandi, and hip hop and serves as a bridge between traditional and urban music. Big Zulu is at the forefront of this new genre, and this is what this album represents.
The sound of ‘Ngises Congweni’ caters for both the young and the older generation. It offers a message that speaks about the matters of love, matters of the community, hope, death, and poverty.
About Big Zulu
South African rapper Big Zulu’s fanbase extends beyond hip-hop as his rhymes are steeped in Zulu lore. Born Siyabonga Nene in Bergville, KwaZulu-Natal, in 1987, he is a staple artist in Maskandi, one of the most popular genres in the province that greatly influences his music and image.
The hook to his 2020 blockbuster single “Mali Eningi” interpolates lines from late Maskandi legend Bhekumuzi Luthuli’s “Imali Yabelungu.” Such references come naturally to an individual who spent some time in the taxi industry before making a foray into rap in 2008.
Though extravagant and aspirational at times, Big Zulu’s raps, which are exclusively in isiZulu, tell stories of South Africa’s working class while incorporating a genre they are deeply familiar with—as a result, his rise was swift.
Photos of Big Zulu
