Simba Tagz on the Verve

Simba Tagz On The Verve

I got a chance to interview a young man who's not only made a lasting mark for himself but also represents Zimbabwe on the international music scene. If the phrase 'The sky is the limit' could be personified, it would be seen on Simba Tagz. Here's a little bit of what he had to say.

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Quick Questions With Simba Tagz

Who is Simba Tagz?

Simbarashe Anoziva Tagwireyi… Age unknown (laughs). I went to two high schools – St John’s High, and then I went to Gateway High School. I did my form 1 – 4 at St John’s High and then I repeated form 4 at Gateway. I then went into computers and my actual qualification is in Computer Programming. I’m a geek. After Gateway, I then started doing music.

When did the music start?

I’ve always been into music. I always look at pictures of myself when I was a kid, where I had a guitar and I remember my older brother had a keyboard in the house and he would be making music. I think I had that phase that everyone had growing up where I thought I was going to be a rapper. So after high school, when I went to study programming, I started to make beats on my laptop. At some point I started skipping classes to make music. I was living with my cousin and my aunt and we (Simba and his cousin) would double back on the way to school and go to the studio instead where I would have scheduled a recording for 8am.

I worked with a lot of people who were pretty much unknown. Mostly people who were taking a gap year after high school and they were doing it for fun. They were not even my friends, they were people who had heard that I record beats. That’s how I met Capital K and I also mixed songs for Dem Swagger Boyz. So now it’s so cool to see that the guys from there have done really well.

Being Zimbabwean, how did you go against the pressure of being expected to follow more academic career paths?

I was reading motivational books, the ones that tell you to go for what you want. I was headstrong. But you still get that resistance because as far as you are concerned, you are making your leaps and bounds and you can see that you are going somewhere. For some people it takes two weeks, for some two decades and you are trying to convince people that this thing is going to work out. So to a certain extent, it still continued for a while because that pressure was there.

Musically, Zim is still landlocked in the sense that we don’t have that much connection to the outside world as far as publicity and it makes it harder for all the kids coming up now. They have to figure it out just like someone who is starting from scratch.

Do you think it’s still as tough as when you were breaking through?

Social media has changed things. Back in the day, it was mainly based on your talent. But now someone can be signed based on their social media presence. Talent is now the last thing they look for. Now it’s more of “If this person posted a video – how many people are going to click ‘like’ or view the video? Are they at least an average singer?... Cool. Then we can work with this.” Like I don’t know if you saw, but Boity got signed recently. She’s got like 3 songs out and it’s about the fact that she’s making waves with her music. They know they can work with it because she’s got the looks and the social media presence. So with that, a lot of people have a much higher chance of doing it. As long as they do it properly.

At what point would you look and say ‘I’ve made it’?

I don’t think you ever reach that point. I think a big problem I have is that I never set any goals. I don’t think “Oh, I need to be on the song that goes number 1”. I just always play it by ear and I’m taking it one day at a time. Friends of mine will ask for beats and ask to forward them to their friends but I’ll never be like “Oh I’ve done it now!” (laughs). It will never be like that. It’s continuous. It’s a very dangerous place to reach because once you’ve reached a spot where you think “I’ve gotten everything I wanted to get” then, why still do music?

"I think your value is created more in what you can do for the people behind you."

Having said that, what would it take for you to consider yourself to have broken through any significant glass ceilings?

A lot of artists might say they want to win the Channel O Awards, MTV Awards, a Grammy or be number 1 on radio somewhere but I think your value is created more in what you can do for the people behind you. Like what we’ve seen with people like Jah Prayzah and what he has done for those in Military Touch Movement. DJ Maphorisa in South Africa also does that a lot. You’ve also got people in Nigeria doing that like Don Jazzy who supported the likes of Tiwa Savage and D’banj… It’s more of the legacy, like what am I going to leave the industry with? Or am I going to make 3 number one songs and be just be vaguely remembered.

Do you have a specific group of people that you want to target?

Zim is definitely my primary target group. I want to look for my fellow Zim artists and I’ve done that with some of my producer friends. Every time I’m invited by someone to Nigeria or South Africa to work, I always want to bring other people with me. Otherwise it’s just being selfish to say ‘I’m about to make this money and that’s it’.

A lot of people started to pay attention to you after you started working with big names like Mr Eazi. Does that idea of being benchmarked against another artist ever get to you?

Even if I have the best song ever, until I get a co-sign from someone well known and respected, that validation is very important. It’s sad because sometimes people would have always known you. It’s the same with Mr Eazi, when Wizkid announced that Mr Eazi had joined his label, that publicity turned out to be very good for him. I don’t think you can get mad at that because it also shows people the strides you are making. Any new artist coming up from someone’s label now will find it so much easier this way. It’s easier to make things happen than having a newcomer try to hit someone like Mr Eazi up directly in the DM.

How involved are you in the singing aspect of the music?

I’ve always written songs for people or helped them write and as a producer, I’ll always have that input. It then depends on the artist because they might change things to suit themselves and ultimately everyone wants you for what they want you for. I always have demos but some people only see me as a producer. I have some songs I recorded that I won’t sell because they are my singles.

Why do you think the industry is still so male-dominated?

It’s very sad because women really do suffer a lot in the industry. I know generally, they (people in the industry) are more inclined to listen to men more than female artists. Men can walk into the studio and say they’re going to work on the music the way they want to. Then you only have a few outspoken female artists like Ammara and Tammy who will say “I want you to play the guitar like this” for example. It’s harder in Africa, in America we see a lot more freedom and female producers. Men can be a bit more rebellious here but for women, it’s harder to just go out and record because parents will be more concerned. I remember, when I met Tammy, her dad used to drop her off at the studio because you never really know what’s going to happen in the studio.

It’s getting better though, because with the new talent that’s coming up, there is a bit more leniency. Parents are more supportive of it now. I think it’s also about the compromises made. Parents will say “I need your grades to be at this level or higher and I’ll hold up my side of the bargain, I’ll pay for your studio time.”

Was that the case for you?

Ah. There was no bargain. I just had to make it work. I always felt like I was running against the clock.

What do you think you would be doing if you were not producing music?

I’d be some form of an entrepreneur. Probably something to do with I.T.

Does your I.T knowledge help with the music?

In a way but not necessarily. The two aren’t directly correlated like that, you just need to know the software. It just helped that I got a computer to work from.

What is one thing that people don’t know about you that might shock them?

I'm a really good cook.

Where do we see you in 5 years?

Empowering the next people and taking a more serious approach to the corporate part of things. I think I’ll also start releasing singles in the second week of June.

Keep up with Simba Tagz and what he's up to on his:

Instagram , Twitter, YouTube