BBA will boost Zues' music - K1

THATO KALA
Correspondent | Thursday May 5, 2011 00:00

 

The award-winning Hip-hop artist, Zeus (Game Bantsi), is one of the 26 participants in BBA Amplified and K1 believes the show presents a grand stage to sell his brand to the entire continent.

'I think Zeus will use this opportunity the best way he can. He's smart so I have a feeling that whatever he does in the house to sell his product will go a long way in getting him more clients for his music, for his art and for himself as an entrepreneur than the market he has already touched.

I have trust that he has an intellectual capability to interpret the type of opportunity he's been given and he is also a fun-loving character,' K1 told Showbiz.

K1 was one of the housemates in the fourth edition of Big Brother Africa, in 2009.  He returned to Big Brother Africa in 2010 as one of the 14 of Season 5, titled Big Brother All Stars. The Kanye-born lad became known for his 'Rural Swag' outlook and believes Zeus' urban touch will show the continent how diversified Botswana is.

'With my having been to Big Brother, Africa has seen what Rural Swag is all about and Zeus has the same intellectual capability with a very nice urban touch to it; so now they will see how a certain character of my kind and the one that Zeus has can connect to show the diversity of Botswana.  I'm optimistic that it will work for him in so many positive ways,' he said.

He believes the conditions in the house will demand a different type of behaviour patterns from the 24-year-old artist that Batswana are not privy to.  K1, therefore, suggests it is important for the show's followers to delete the picture they have of their hip-hop star.

The two were together at Monash University in South Africa and K1 is convinced that Zeus is conscious of the fact that whatever he does in the house can have an impact on his brand.

'I don't anticipate abnormal, rude or any negative behaviour that is intentional from him.  Zeus and I were in the same church back in the day and then we went to the same university.  He's an intellectual, he's smart and he's fun; so the type of person that I know in him that I can recollect from the little interactions I've had with him is that he's open, free and learned. 

I trust he will make sure his behaviour is within a radar that won't affect what he does outside.'

Asked whether he feels the Mahalapye-born star has what it takes to bring home the coveted US$200 000 prize money, he said: 'He's a winner; he is the few Batswana to have won a Channel O Award.  I actually call him the hardest working rapper in Botswana in terms of branding himself.  He doesn't take it as just music only.  It's a business to him, so he has a winning mentality towards what he does.'

Botswana's other representative is little-known Peo Sebotho and K1 says the onus is on her to make a name for herself.

'I think Miss P is just the same as me, she has come into Big Brother as an unknown and that's a clean slate for her.  It's up to her to start telling us her story and that will make us get attached to her. 

We support her.  Iit's good to have people like her in the house.  She has that touch of the 'Urban Swag' to her and she will show Africa that there are different dynamics to us (Batswana) as a people.'

But all focus will be on multiple Channel O Music Video Awards nominee, Zeus.

His 14-track album, Freshly Baked, was the launching pad for his promising music career and attracted wide listenership throughout the country.  The song, Gijima, deservedly became an instant hit and got so much airplay in South African radio stations.

He has previously collaborated with South Africa's renowned musicians, including HHP and Pro Kid.  Ironically, he beat the two in the Channel O Awards in 2009. 

Zeus' ingenuity has also seen him get nominations for the MTN-Hype Magazine Hip Hop awards in South Africa and Botswana Musicians Union (BOMU) Awards locally.