Botswana’s “King of Dancehall” Onalethuso Petruss Buyile Mambo Ntema, also known as Mambo Ntema from Matsaudi village in the Okavango Delta, released his fourth studio album entitled ‘Wrong Man’ on July 5, 2024.
According to the dreadlocked-versatile musician, the album has 15 songs that serenade the listener’s ear with rhythmical punchlines, powerful imagery and melodious flows. The Wrong Man album kicks off with a captivating intro in the Maun lingo, twists and cools off with a hardcore musical interlude heavily inspired by the Shiyeyi language, and the outro wraps up the compilation.
Wrong Man features 17 artists in one of the songs Hustlers Anthem, which seeks to promote the spirit of “self-reliance and teamwork”. The featured artists on the Hustlers Anthem are Krugga, Holly Stunner, Fatos, Ancient Kushite, Kingsley Phokoletso, Bigg Skull, Killah Mac, Volcano, Payn, Metaphysics, Zanfara,
Norris Chisadza (Zimbabwe), Zeus Deuce, Bishop, Chiddmorr, MoxZilla and Bajah Ranks. The featured artists are rappers and dancehallists from Maun, Shakawe-USA, Kasane and Zimbabwe. The anthem has already played on RB2 “Dancehall Madness” with Selectah Dimo.
The title track Wrong Man is a social commentary against gender vulnerabilities and GBV, as well as What a World which narrates the status and crisis facing the human race in the world: political instability, war, diseases, and economic downturn. The other songs to stream in the album are Ruba Ranga, Matswakabele, King of Dancehall, Kgarebe, One More Time, I Love Music, Dance to the Rhythm featuring Tay Boz, Lonely Child and Zviri Sei Sei.
The multi-award-winning musician indicated that the album “is a true definition of real Dancehall music with an infusion of Afrobeat, Drill, Trap Dancehall and tribal music elements to cement the artistic and creative delivery in a Dancehall style”.
He added, “I have worked so hard on this project because last year I lost the award for Best Reggae Dancehall after I had won it twice with my two previous albums, Stranger and Mpambo. So, I had to evaluate the third album Mmamosadiachipi and re-strategise on a powerful comeback.”
Though the Dancehall genre is not as popular as other subculture genres, the music continues to enjoy airplay on local radio stations and “I am grateful for presenters and selectors at RB1, RB2 and GabzFM for playing my music to the people”.
The album is testimony that Mambo Ntema is committed to the art and leading the pack as a navigator, mentor and torchbearer for Dancehall music in Botswana. The executive producer is the talented Mogomotsi “Tay Boz” Moshongo of Hashtag Music in Kasane, alongside co-producers Tom Fresh (Zambia), Simbarashe Zinyoro (Zimbabwe), Simbarashe Jacha (South Africa), DonDon Productions and DarkCity Music (Zimbabwe) and CamsBeats in Kasane.
The energetic Ntema informed REPORTERS AT LARGE that he will be celebrating 40 years in style, as a symbol for his time as a “veteran” in the creative cultural industry in Botswana, which has taken different shapes and forms since the early 2000s.
When teased on the indigenous language diversity and display in the album, Mambo Ntema highlighted that “music is my mission for cultural diversity, a tool for nation building and the mouthpiece of the marginalised. I am multilingual and fluent in Shiyeyi, Sesubiya, Thimbukushu, Setswana and English. I worked with authentic iKalanga, SheKgalagari, and Thimbukushu songwriters whose writing skills and delivery styles are unmatched. My mission is to work more with grassroots, where the real talent is and nurture them as an elder brother in the arts, to give them morale and the necessary support and skills required for a contemporary artist in Botswana.”
The album is available on soft copy orders and digital music stores worldwide. When asked about the plans for the album outreaches, Mambo Ntema excitedly highlighted that “we are working around the clock to mobilise resources for the album launch in Maun and Kasane in August, as well as a countrywide tour and in our neighbouring Zimbabwe, Zambia, Namibia and South Africa, even as far as Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana and Uganda.”
Further, the album is ready for submission for nominations in any music awards in Botswana and Africa, such as the BOMU Awards, MOBO Awards, etc.
