Navy Seal – Ammara Brown
by Phil Chard
Naming a Hip Hop song after a beautiful and notable women who have nothing to do with the actual song is a long standing tradition in rap. From Outkast's Rosa Parks to Hurricane Chris' Halle Berry to the more recent Queen Twerk from V-way. Zimbabwean rapper Navy Seal has now released his own submission to the historical trend with the song Ammara Brown dedicated to the beautiful Mukoko singer. Produced by Rough Music the song pays homage to a mysterious beautiful lady with thick thighs and beautiful eyes who may be from Pakistan? Could be Ammara I guess?
I am glad to hear the adjustments that Navy has made to his sound on this song. The addition of the mbira coupled with the 808s is a very nice touch.
Navy Seal – 100 Dollar Bills Featuring Phuture Phil (Official Video)
by Phil Chard
Zimbabwean rapper Navy Seal has just released the the RasquesityKeaitse directed video for 100 Dollar Bills featuring Phuture Phil (i repeat, no relation)and the word that came to mind on several occasions while watching this video is “irony”. It is drenched in ironic imagery.
My only complaint about Navy Seal and his music has been his adoption of American idioms, topics and accents in his music. To me they paint his work with a coat of unoriginality and a lack of authenticity.
In the video Navy Seal is seen exiting a home with a design very common in Zimbabwean low income, high density suburbs. He then takes a long walk to a shopping centre whose amenities feature a car wash amongst other things.. It is clear that Navy Seal is trying to paint the “I'm from the grimy streets but I'm on my grind “ type of visual, which he manages to pull off... However in an ironic twist he helps prove my point for me. Would any of the people at the locations in the video was shot listen to his music? Would they understand what he is speaking about in his accent? Do they understand the phrase “pushing whips” and “stacking chips”. I would hazard a guess and say no.
Until Zimbabwean rappers begin to recognise the value of their own original and unique stories instead of falling over themselves to recreate what they hear coming from overseas, their only believable music will always be about the grind and haters, not about celebrating their successes.
Navy Seal – 100 Dollar Bills Featuring Phuture Phil
by Phil Chard
Bulawayo's Navy Seal just dropped his new single titled 100 Dollar Bills featuring Phuture Phil (no relation) who was also responsible for production.
100 artworkThe song itself is a decent trap offering that touches on the much covered topics of sleep deprivation, putting in work, hustling for dough and derivatives of the MOB adage.
The feelings I get when I listen to such music are very similar to how I feel when I see a new Porsche. “It's great but I can't tell what is different with this model over all the other Porches out now.”
The song is a decent effort and clearly displays the talents of both artists. However it also reveals the biggest flaw I've found with the music being made by Navy Seal - it has no identity. Every song I've heard from Navy Seal has been a good exercise in copying and pasting American sounds and dialect. From his song Elevated to the Art Department offering While You Were Sleeping (Navy Seal is one of the three members) I have repeatedly thought that these guys would be great if they stopped trying to be American.
I genuinely wonder how many kids in Bulawayo use words like "skrilla" and speak of moving "keys" in a faux American accent and don't get laughed out the room while doing so.
I'd be more interested in Navy Seal using his talents to tell a meaningful tale about his life and surroundings delivered in a voice that he uses when he speaks to everyone on his "block"