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As rapper Tay Grin real name Limbani Kalilani drops his latest track ‘The Beach’, why does the Malawian rapper get so much flack?
Whenever you talk about ambition, there are always some people who will look upon you disapprovingly and say, “There’s more to life than…”Why do people do that?
And am I the only one who wants to stare disapprovingly back at them? Is there anything wrong with wanting to get ahead in business and life? And who says that ambition-realized is at the expense of something else?
Those are some of the questions I’ve been asking myself for a very long time whenever I look into Malawi urban music. A good example of is the story of Malawi urban artist, Tay Grin.
It saddened me to see one of Malawi’s daily newspaper attacking Tay Grin’s latest music video, ‘The Beach’ other than actually reviewing it. Is this how we want to promote urban music in Malawi?
For many years people have said things, released songs and written bad things about him being heartless and someone who cares less about other people’s welfare and how he treats them.
But contrary to that, Limbani Kalilani has proved to be something different, which a lot of people are not, even those who hate or envy him.
Most recently, Tay Grin being a soccer player and fan, he has made a sizeable donation towards Bullets FC player Godfrey Masonda’s medical bill. What have those who hate him done for charity in Malawi? My guess nothing ‘Nothing’!
Among others Tay Grin has made numerous goodwill donations to orphanages and various individual, he has also participated in various non-profit charity gatherings and contributions, a recent one being a charity fundraiser which still is being organized with other urban artists and public figures to raise money for an orphan care in Lilongwe.
Tay Grin is one of the most talented and successful artist in Malawi, he is the only Malawian artist to be nominated and win the Channel O Music Awards in 2008. Among other things, he has made a great number of international collaborations and appearances, and because of his success, a lot of people have developed hate and jealousy. But as a nation, instead of hating and being jealous, let us help develop each other, it’s for the best.
The harsh truth about being successful is that you are going to make people irrationally mad at you in the process. It’s inevitable. Part of the painful journey. It’s uncomfortable, painful, and endlessly frustrating. But what is supposed to happen.
And talking of jealousy and hate, it is not just Tay Grin facing the problem, most recently music producer Percy ‘Pro- Pee’ Manyozo attacked artist Piksy for his ‘Tsoka Liyenda’ music video, saying it was without any concept and a waste of time. I liked Piksy’s response the critics “I heard that, and I think that was by far the most disgusting thing I’ve heard,” he told our reporter. “Not because it was taking a shot at me, but I was just thinking about aspiring the youth and my fellow young musicians, not every Jim and Jack can understand the concept of my video other than my fans and those that understand what I stand for, because when developing the concept for a video, “you’re always going to tap into something that you didn’t with your previous project — you know, it’s quite a specific state of mind,” he says. “All the characters in that video are in quite a special kind of headspace, so I think you can kind of hear that in the song. But it was important to me that it stood apart from the audio track as well and it works.”
From Jesus to Mohammed to Martin Luther King Jr., Barak Obama, and Nelson Mandela — and millions of unnamed others — those who fight the hardest to make a difference, get the most criticism. Let is unite, support each other, be happy of other people’s success for a better Malawi.
You can listen to Tay Grin’s new song ‘The Beach’ here.
