Zambia rapper Camstar

Born Mwila West Junior Mfula, Camstar is a Lusaka based rapper whose name rings bells nationwide.  At 23, Camstar aka Capital has achieved massive acclaim from fans and critics alike with his style of rapping, consisting of excellent word play and witty punch lines. Born in Ndola on the same day Zambia celebrates independence in 1988, he is a thorough bred Lusaka native who still does the city proud in these times when the hip-hop industry is dominated by Copperbelt based rappers.

His journey with hip-hop goes back when he was in 6^th grade at Rhodes Park School in Lusaka.  In the late 1990s and early 2000s, he was introduced to hip-hop legends, the likes of KRS-ONE, Ice Cube, 2 PAC, Biggie Smalls, Nas, Big L and Jay-Z by his older cousin whom he stayed with in Kabwata. Around this same time he was an amateur rapper, writing rhymes and freestyling with friends during break time at school. Fast forward to the year 2004, his first song was recorded at some studio; the song did not make it to radio but received much respect in the underground circuit.

A year later (2005) with fellow rappers Naffy, Double and K-Num they formed a group called “Inferno”. Inferno dropped a mixtape entitled “The Diary”, whereby the individual rappers were introducing themselves. Singles off the mixtape enjoyed airplay on local radio stations, especially the songs F.B.I (Female Body Inspector) and Practice what you preach. The group disbanded in 2006, as the other fellow members pursued their studies. Camstar still had the passion for rapping and doing music, and nothing was going to stop him from doing this. The same year the group disbanded, he took part in a hip-hop battle at a club called the Cage (Now Club Hollywood City), organized by Lusaka entrepreneur Mr David Linyama (Who was the co-owner alongside Chris Puta and Lona Shawa of XPOZED). He came out in 3^rd place, but was later signed to the XPOZED label under the group Xpozed Nativess, alongside rappers, K-Star and Diplomat. The group recorded an album which was not released, but some songs from the project leaked and received massive airplay on radio, songs such as “I wanna know” and “Back in the days”. The group did a couple of gigs around the city, but due to the fact that the rappers were members of some other groups, and would only meet during gigs and recording sessions, Xpozed Natives disbanded since the chemistry was not there. The same year, Camstar found himself a solo artist for some months, during which he dropped his first solo mixtape; “The Press Briefing”.

In 2007, the “Press Briefing” mixtape, recorded independently with no major label backing, with production handled by Double (Fellow Inferno member) and Street shine was released, it was well received and showed fans that Camstar had what it took to make it a solo artist. This attracted the attention of CRI$I$ (aka Mr Swagger, founder of Diamond Chain music) who personally hunted down Camstar in his own neighbourhood in Villa Elizabeth Lusaka. At this time CRI$I$ resided in Villa Elizabeth as well. End of 2007 the two started working together at the Diamond Chain Studios, and there was no turning back at this point. The following year 2008, they put out a song entitled; “I put on” which featured fellow Diamond Chain Artist the Late “Levins”. This song was a hit and received massive airplay and launched Camstar to higher heights, the streets were watching and people were listening, Camstar was a name to be reckoned with as far as Zambian hip-hop was concerned. In 2009, he started working on his second mixtape; entitled “The blue paper Season”. The mixtape further showed Camstar’s abilities and skill as a rapper, it was received better than his previous works and received major airplay. The mixtape had songs like; “LSK anthem”, “We fly featuring Levins” (This was a diss song to XYZ artist Ruff Kid), A milli (his own rendition of the famous Lil’ Wayne song) as well as “I put on”. The same year towards the end, he featured on CRI$I$’ album “Mr Swagger” on five songs. At the same time he was working on his album in the background which was never released, due to some unforeseen circumstances. 2010, he featured on the CRI$I$, song “The fire inside” alongside Magik-Links, which had a video which would penetrate the whole of Africa via the DTSV music channels, Channel O and MTV Base. The song went on to receive a BEFFTA award in Atlanta, USA. The same year, he left Diamond Chain Music because of misunderstanding with management on a business point of view.

In the second half of the year (2010), Camstar was a solo artist again and unsigned. He released a cross-over song entitled “Come back home” featuring Zambian music Kingpin Exile. Prior to this song, Camstar’s language of choice on songs was strictly English. But on this song he fused in some vernacular lines. The song was a huge success, it topped local radio station charts, as well as inking caller tune deal with Multi-National Mobile Communications company; Airtel. In 2011 he released a mixtape entitled; “Before Capitalizm” which featured the hit single “Make it happen” as well as “Full control” which features RnB sensation; Roberto. This mixtape was released online only via  HYPERLINK “http://www.zedbeats.com” www.zedbeats.com. The same year he collaborated with Exile to release yet another chart topping single entitled; “Ngati saku ona” which has the highest downloads (over 80,000) on  HYPERLINK “http://www.zedbeats.com” www.zedbeats.com to date. At this point in time, the unsigned Camstar was working with different labels and producers around the country. During this period he collaborated with a lot of artists doing features on their songs.

Camstar is currently signed under Lusaka based Label; LSK-eQualize . He is doing final touches to his album entitled; “Beautiful Day”. Singles off the album include, “Bangwele—The all rap star mix”, “Wiso Munandi” and “Beautiful Day” featuring Daxon of Ma Africa fame, and  K-Amy’s 44. Videos for “Wiso Munandi” and “Make it happen” are available online on youtube. The video for “Beautiful Day” will be released soon.  The album is schedule to be released before the end of 2012.

Local artists Camstar has worked with include, Exile, CRI$I$, Macky 2, T-Sean, Ma Africa, Alpha Romeo, ABC, 2wo 1ne, Ruffkid, Enepal, Leo Munthu, Bobby East, Roberto, Ama Blax, etc

Artists that influence / inspire him; internationally: 2 Pac, Jay-Z, The Notorious B.I.G, and locally: Exile, CRI$I$, Petersen Zagaze and Cactus Agony.

Camstar has this to say to all aspiring artists: “It takes practice to develop the skill, dedication, hard work and taking a professional approach towards the music to attain success”. He further states that there is potential in the music industry in Zambia, and proper financing and intervention from Government and the corporate world would put Zambia on the map as far as music is concerned…..

THE MUSIC

Wiso Munandi

Bangwele All star remix  Ft. T-Sean, Leo Muntu, Macky 2, Jae Cash, K.R.Y.T.I.C, Alpha Romeo, K-Star, Juvic, Tommy D, Bobby East & LB

By Kapa187