When I asked about who Vimbai Zimuto was I got answers like “she’s a raunchy Diva”. Since I kept getting answers like these, I needed Pindula to do the magic. So, according to them, Vimbai Vee Kay Zimuto is a Zimbabwean singer, dancer, actress or African traditional and modern dance choreographer based in the Netherlands. This must mean she’s as cultured as they come. Right? Well, plenty would have to disagree politely or otherwise. Vimbai, has collaborated with Artists like Andy Muridzo on predominantly Tribal, Pop and Afro-Jazz tunes and recently dropped a single as a video.

The title, ‘Hapana kwaunoenda’ translated loosely from Shona as ‘You ain’t going nowhere’ is the epitome of just that. The storyline is about a middle-aged working-class couple, Vimbai plays the wife ready to put some steam back into the bedroom by switching on the sexy and giving her ‘husband’ a reason to miss his work-thing and put his ‘work’ into something else. Why is this a big deal? Well, Zimbabwe is at a tipping point of Sexual expression. While we were celebrating freedom of expression politically, we got it in various ways, last year ‘Body Conversations’ by Rapper Kikky Badass had people asking if we were taking the Art too far, this year ‘Akiliz’ by Ammara Brown had Zimbabweans talking about cunnilingus for weeks, Cindy Munyavi‘s ‘Clap for my baby’ coaxed out the sexy and Vimbai Zimuto might just break the internet, well at least by Zimbabwean standards. The video was uploaded over the weekend and already has half of the lifetime views of her most popular song with Andy Muridzo titled ‘Lobola’.

The Zimbabwean society has always been keen to pretend as though sex, let alone the sexualization of the female neither occurs nor exists. Exotic dancers like Bev Sibanda are glorified and vilified in the same breath. We often hide under the pretentious thumb of morality and culture and the ideal African woman who must be sexually satisfying and appealing but only behind closed doors lest the boogeyman of morals comes and swallows us all up.

Well, the jig is up people, the most subscribed show on Zimbabwean airwaves is, you guessed it about sex. Although we pretend as though sex is an imaginary act, it may be a good time to openly discuss it as a nation instead of subscribing to it in dirty dark corners (unless you’re into that type of thing). According to UNAIDS, Zimbabwe has the sixth highest HIV prevalence in sub-Saharan Africa at 13.5%, with 1.3 million people living with HIV in 2016.

So…we are definitely doing the sex…so why pretend and gasp when a video that represents what we do is…well, out there? Also, the storyline does show a married couple, so it’s not pro-premarital sex so that should make it alright, right?! Can we get an amen?

Forget HIV prevalence, let’s discuss the prevalence of extramarital affairs, side chics and small houses. Perhaps we should be hi-fiving her for teaching the married ones how to spice things up ey?!

Lest we forget to address the empowerment that is in this video, in more than one scene we see not just the melanated silhouette of Vimbai’s enviable derriere but, we have very little to the imagination thanks to the sheer chiffon that stood as a sorry excuse of a barricade between us and her. We aren’t complaining, she’s beautiful…

Nudity is oversimplified methinks, the very vulnerability it must have taken to say “here’s my Art bitches”, must have been flooring as one YouTube comment read;

I love your confidence! The way you embrace your body gives others confidence to love themselves too. Don’t listen to haters who expect you to loathe your body like they do theirs or their wives or GFs. It’s just an attempt to subjugate your self expression as a woman and artist. There’s is nothing wrong with the female form as you’ve presented it. Kudos to you.

The song itself is not bad, it’s just as steamy as the video as Vimbai breathly sings simple lyrics over an R&B-esque beat. We could have done without the excessive moans towards the end though, it’s a little too 2003 for us so is that hat. But overall when I was done watching the video I felt the need to purchase a matching set of lacy red lingerie and posing primadonna style in front of a full-length mirror and posting it on Instagram with the hashtag #BlackGirlMagic. Vimbai defo gets a 100% for pushing the envelope and ruffling those pretentiously pious feathers!