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3Percent

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Usandimirira Pagedhi.m4a
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Usandimirira Pagedhi.m4a
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Released: Apr 15, 2011
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General Info

  • Genre: Afro-beat

    Location New York, NY, Un

    Profile Views: 13677

    Last Login: 4/17/2012

    Member Since 11/19/2006

    Record Label Unsigned

    Type of Label Indie

  • Bio

    <iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/8W81F93fqo4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> .. It's not often that you find a scholar and a rap artist rolled in one. Yet, that is exactly what you get in Fafi A.K.A. 3Percent, a Zimbabwean born musician. Fafi blends traditional African rhythms on marimba, percussion, and modern instrumentation with hip-hop, reggae, and dancehall beats to give a unique thumping and hard hitting sound that cannot be pigeon-holed but can be identified as worldbeat. <p> Coming to his name, Fafi says, <p> People are constrained by political, social, cultural, professional, gender and other inhibitions. I am only three percent free to be myself. The rest, 97 percent, is slavery. My music reclaims my enslaved part and frees me to be myself. When I mic check 1, 2, 3, I'm free. <p> Fafi's moved to the U.S. in 2001 from his native land Zimbabwe to pursue a doctorate degree at New York University (NYU). He graduated at NYU in 2008 with a Ph.D. in Performance Studies, focusing on African and Afro-Diasporic music, an area which cemented his passion for what he calls "the sound of the everyday struggles of people in the ghettos and townships." <p> Fafi's musical influences include the soft narrative style of JayZ, in flow and voice. It also includes the rebellion of old school reggae and dub poetry and early dancehall greats like I-Roy and King Yellowman, and the rejection of the status quo by the likes of Nas, Def Jam, and Talib Kweli. His socio-cultural politics is influenced by the street kids in the ghettos and townships, the prostitutes lining up at beer outlets, the sick in hospital with no one to visit them, the 16 year old girl who drops from school because there is no money for exam fees, and the mother who finds herself alone after her family is wiped out by death. <p> Fafi has three albums to his name. He released his freshman album, Hakunazve (which means "No More" in his native Shona language) in 2004. He then released his sophomore album, Groove Or Die, in 2008. His third album, Afrolicious, was released in April this year. <p> Fafi's music has rocked the charts in the United States. His track "Chenzira" off his Groove Or Die album, first released as a single in 2007, debuted on number 9 on the CMJ New World Top 10, the only self released work then on the chart. It reached number 1 on the Top 20 of the New York based internet radio station Sarfm Radio. Sarfm Radio chose Fafi the African artist of the month of June, 2007. Tracks from Groove Or Die have received airplay on radio stations in the East Coast, West Coast, and the Mountain area. It played on New York's WHCR 90.3, Virginia's WRIR 97.3, New Jersey's WRSU FM, Washington's KAOS 89.3 FM, Colorado's Radio 1190 and KRFC 88.9 FM, New Mexico's KUNM-FM 89.9, Utah's KZMU 90.1 FM, and others. In his home country the music played on all the country's radio stations: Power FM, Radio Zimbabwe, National FM, and Spot FM. <p> Fafi started recording in Zimbabwe in 2000 when he co-produced New Angle Theatre Productions' Chauruka Faces The Music, a sound track album for a theatre play of the same name. He followed this up with another co-production, this time African Freedom Church's Jesu Unondidana (Jesus Calls Me) in 2002. He then picked up the mic and started rapping in 2002 in New York. <p> Performing together with the Maine Marimba Ensemble, Fafi will perform at the Big Easy in Portland, Maine on November 19, a show presented by the Museum of Africa Culture. In the past one year, he performed a total of 19 shows in and around Tucson, Arizona, alongside the Key Ingredients of African Soul, a top Pan-African band. They performed at places such as Club Congress, The Hut, Plush, Sky Bar, Solar Cultue and others. In the past, he has performed at the world music Grassroots Festival in Trumansburg, New York and the Palm Beach Reggae Club in Dallas, Texas. In Denver, Colorado, he performed at the Juneteenth Festival and the Black Arts Festival. He also performed at the Zimbabwean Music Festival (Zimfest) in Boulder, Colorado and Olympia, Washington. <p> Alternating between the stage and the classroom, the mic and the chalk, Fafi is a skilled rapper who brings rich, powerful and exploding narratives into music. His music excites many world music enthusiasts. <p> <iframe title='Store Widget' frameborder='0' scrolling='no' width='100%' height='575' src='http://www.cdbaby.com/widgets/store/store.aspx?id=i%2fCg%2fSia%2fPQZm%2ftRUohI%2bA%3d%3d&type=ByArtist&c1=0x000000&c2=0xE0E0E0&c3=0xCCCCCC&c4=0x666666&c5=0x333333&c6=0xFFFFFF&c7=0xFFFFFF'></iframe>

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  • Influences

    ...the kid crying out "Nurse, Nurse, Nurse" at Parerenyatwa Hospital...the prostitutes lining up outside the Chitsanga ghetto beer hall...the retarded boy loitering at Jenah Stores hoping someone will feed or clothe him...the rib-showing-mucus-nosed-ready-to-die-children on telly...the preacher shouting at the top of his voice: "repent or else"...the teacher disembarking from a bus threatening a petrified village tomato trader at Chachacha: "i am a fully qualified teacher, you think i got my diploma by hook and crook?"...the drunkard scared to death by a ghost on the way home, the priest at Hollycross Mission reassuring him: "zvinodaro, vanopota vachidzoka"... Ingoapele Madingoane crying out loud, AFRIKA MY BEGINNING, AFRIKA MY END...

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Bio:

Fafi A.K.A. 3Percent: Groove Or Die

Word is abuzz at East Stroudsburg University in Pennsylvania, U.S.A. about “the cool professor who raps.” And that is Fafi A.K.A 3Percent, the Zimbabwean born and bred theater professor who is an urban world music artist blending traditional African rhythms with reggae, dancehall and rap. Fafi just completed an album, Afrolicious, that is ready for release. Enthusiastic about the CD, Fafi is already booking shows in the United States and in Zimbabwe to promote his music. So far he will appear at the Azur Club in Bridgeport, Connecticut on March 20 and the Pocono Community Theatre in East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, on April 30. He will tour his native home, Zimbabwe, in August.

Afrolicious was recorded at RocknRoll Range in Pennsylvania and Zivi Studios in Colorado, U.S.A. and Monolia Studio in Zimbabwe. Mono Mukundu, who once played for Zimbabwe’s number one music ambassador Oliver Mtukudzi, plays guitar on all the songs except one, played by Zivanai Masango, former guitarist for Zimbabwe’s world music icon Thomas Mafumo. Zimbabwe based Innocent “Scaredem” Kunsedyo and Nomsa Tina Watyoka accompany Fafi on the powerful and titillating vocals. Pennsylvania based Mark Marina plays drum set and hand drums, Felipe Campos bass, and Pieter Verbeke piano on the CD.

Fafi started seriously recording music in 2003 in New York, where he released a single, “Wafungei.” He released his freshman CD, Hakunazve in 2004. He then released a double single, “Chenzira/Wantchito,” in 2007 and his sophomore CD, Groove Or Die, in 2009. Tracks from Groove Or Die have received airplay on several radio stations in the United States, including New York’s WHCR 90.3, Virginia’s WRIR 97.3, New Jersey’s WRSU FM, Washington’s KAOS 89.3 FM, Oregon’s KBOO, Colorado’s Radio 1190 and KRFC 88.9 FM, New Mexico’s KUNM-FM 89.9, and Utah’s KZMU 90.1 FM. In Zimbabwe the song “Chenzira” off the CD played on all the country’s radio stations, mostly on Radio Zimbabwe.

Performing with a band consisting of a drum set, hand drums, bass, guitar, keyboard, percussion, and three vocalists, Fafi is ready to hit the stage to promote his new CD Afrolicious that is ready for release.

Member Since:

November 19, 2006

Influences:

...the kid crying out "Nurse, Nurse, Nurse" at Parerenyatwa Hospital...the prostitutes lining up outside the Chitsanga ghetto beer hall...the retarded boy loitering at Jenah Stores hoping someone will feed or clothe him...the rib-showing-mucus-nosed-ready-to-die-children on telly...the preacher shouting at the top of his voice: "repent or else"...the teacher disembarking from a bus threatening a petrified village tomato trader at Chachacha: "i am a fully qualified teacher, you think i got my diploma by hook and crook?"...the drunkard scared to death by a ghost on the way home, the priest at Hollycross Mission reassuring him: "zvinodaro, vanopota vachidzoka"... Ingoapele Madingoane crying out loud, AFRIKA MY BEGINNING, AFRIKA MY END...

Record Label:

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