The Soko Matemai hit artist ushered all of Zim Hip-Hop fans into the new year with the first set of visuals from his recent album, Take Back The Land, dropping a video for the 3rd track, Henaroo. First things first, I totally liked the album and I think Henaroo is a dope track. The visuals don’t disappoint either and my first reaction was, “This is dope!” I loved the concept of him being a braai master which resonated with the chant – ‘too much sauce’. This was further complimented by the simple but clean animations that were subtly placed in different parts in the video.

The overall concept is fresh and definitely keeps you glued since you want to see what Sharky and the rest of the Monkey Bznz crew are up to. Kudos to them for advertising their brand solidly – the wardrobe was consistent and definitely pushed their clothing label out there. I would have appreciated more subtle vibes with that though. Subliminal advertising works and if we’d had a couple branded caps here and there and a few t-shirts that would have been just fine. Sure, people do have parties which are themed and they ask you to come wearing a certain dress code but I doubt you’d have a home party wearing your own brand as a crew. I dunno, maybe I’m just overthinking it. I do that.

One thing I definitely did notice which was a technical mishap was the lack of proper lighting on set. The trained eye can definitely spot that the lighting was imbalanced throughout the video. For instance, there are times where you definitely see that the light is literally focused on Sharky’s face and other times, it’s focused elsewhere. Some scenes are even less balanced since the video was recorded at dusk. That was an issue I believe needs to be fixed with future videos from the Monkey Bznz crew.

Overall though, I loved the relatability of the video itself to the lyrical content. It just made sense when you were watching it and listening to the vocals. Sharky is a great performer and you definitely feel that energy even if he’s donning an apron and a cook’s hat. The food-fight scene showed some great directing in my opinion and I believe there’s a lot more coming from these guys this year. Watch this space.