Shelter by Zimbabwean art-rapper Michael Chiunda sets a new narrative for alternative hip-hop in Mutare.

I had the fortune to meet artist Michael Chiunda at a poetry night in Harare in early 2020. A talented writer, his bars are packed with detail in a thorough examination of sexual identity, freedom of expression and mental health awareness. He’s just released his EP Shelter, a four-track depiction of the internal conflicts that arise in the face of insurmountable odds.

Michael has built a loyal following in Zimbabwe for his tightly woven lyricism and his reach has become international. Amongst other projects, he has worked with UK based artist Rymez, as part of Rymez’s Pungwe sessions, a project launched to use his profile in the UK to create more visibility for creatives in Zimbabwe. Not just a recording artist, Michael stands out on cyphers with his interrogations of societal hypocrisies and inequality, moving from city to self: ‘from the city where the diamonds just stones’ to ‘whatever comes through I’m rainbows’.

Chiunda shows a perspective on millennial culture that we don’t often see in the Shelter EP, rapping in Harare-inspired track ‘Lilac Stream’ about bumping into an old friend on hard times (‘my heart stops for a minute’) while standing in a line for chicken before a gig. Michael draws attention to those promises that rushing people make which are rarely kept,  ‘I don’t mean to cut you short, I’ve just really got to go / you should always stay in touch, let me get your number in my phone . . .’                            

An activist and mental health advocate, he has worked with LGBTQIA+ NGO Hands of Hope, a charity that caters for the wellbeing of young ‘Key Populations’, a term that includes queer people who are living with HIV, and sex workers who work in high HIV risk zones. Through his work he also engages with people who have faced gender-based violence and intimate partner violence. This community activism, with an emphasis on activism through micro-movements is something that he often expresses in his music. When I spoke to him about how he writes about LGBTQIA+ experiences and issues despite prejudice or censorship he told me, ‘I look at the reality not as "how do I?" but "how could I not?" Freedoms are important to me and I write narratives that speak to my everyday life’. In the track, ‘Sunflower Frequency’ he talks about searching for freedom. I found it particularly touching watching the accompanying visuals, there’s a shot of him sleeping with a book on his face while wearing a rainbow t-shirt. There’s a lot to be said about the simplicity of creating spaces for rest when it comes to representation, and how vital that stillness can be.

The EP has gospel-fuelled production by Texas, a versatile producer who specialises in hip-hop. Michael went to school with Texas back when he was, ‘a dude banging desks and making crazy beats off my trunk in the dorms and Michael was the kid with counter books full of rhymes’. Thirteen years from this they worked on this in just four days on his home set up. There is an intimacy to the production that comes across, it’s clear that it was made by friends. In the experimental ‘Our Land’ oscillations and distortions build around Chiunda’s track about leadership in Zimbabwe and the need for more policies that enable distribution of wealth and access to education. He talks about people taking money out of his home-town of Mutare and leaving it in debt, calling out those with their ‘house in the hills’ who do not give back to the community.

His music is almost instructive, guiding people towards considering their own place within systems of injustice and opening their minds. Michael describes himself as the boy who ‘fell in love with sunflowers’, carving out a space that is distinctly his own.