Uber-consistent rap talent ,Chanda Mbao ,has officially announced the title of his upcoming project, the mixtape ‘The Patriot’ and has released the artwork to the project with us. The project is sponsored by NeoNova Technologies who earlier this year signed Chanda to an endorsement deal.
When Chanda shared the artwork with us, he took the time to explain the title and symbolism behind the project:
“As a person who’s spent a lot of time outside of my home, I got in touch with my identity and roots in a very interesting way. When I was living in Spain, I did a lot of reading about identity as an African through the works of authors such as Ngugi wa Thiongo’o and it shaped me in a deep way. I fully embraced my role as a Zambian ambassador and that’s when I started using ‘Chanda Mbao’ as my artist name. I dropped the one Anglo name I have for my art.”
He went on to say “The reason I picked this title for the project is because my patriotism is one of the most important things to me in my life and every single person who’s ever met me knows I come from Zambia. Ironically, due to the way I talk and dress etc. some people have preconceived notions about me but they don’t realize things like the fact that I left a lucrative job in finance in the US to come back home and generate value in my home economy. Many people don’t know I’ve invested my own money in producing pro-Zambian products like the Zed Polo and I Love LSK t-shirts.
With patriotism, people seem to believe there is a certain way it should look but I want to show that it comes in different shapes and forms.”
We also wanted to know more about the music. Chanda said there are 13 tracks on the project right now after a few recent additions with a couple of potential additions and/or bonus tracks as well. Production on the mixtape has been handled by Shinko Beats, Chase Iyan, Greezy Beatz, #PSYBaby, LMJ (from the USA) and Shom-C.
Lusaka Times also wanted to know the scoop on featured acts and Chanda was willing to share a few names. He mentioned that he focused on working with young talents including Hip-Hop act Jedi, R&B singer Malz, rising vocal talent Scott and Bahamian rapper D. Tucker, among many others.
The last thing we wanted to know was why he was releasing a mixtape and not an album. Chanda responded: “Though I’m calling it a mixtape, it’s all original material unlike how Hip-Hop acts (including myself) would structure a mixtape 5 year ago, for example. The only reason it’s a mixtape is because it’s merely a warm-up for my upcoming album which is already nearly finished. I am confident that it will be one of the best Hip-Hop projects the country has ever seen.”
We’re very intrigued to see what Chanda Mbao has in store for us.
If you’re interested in checking out the mixtape when it drops, follow Chanda Mbao on social media:
BY KAPA187
Good one chanda.
Very wise words from Chanda Mbao. Please help these Zambians who think an African should have a slave name to realise how mentally colonised they are. Edgar, Victor, Peter, Lucas are names without any meaning for a Zambian but we cling to them as if we have no ancestors of our own. I hope your music also reflects this emancipation meaning SING ORIGINAL not copy cats of hip hop or whatever
good on you, Patriot. Good luck, good fortune,