Zoro; gradually ‘rapping’ his way to stardom
Since 2010 when he launched his music career, Owoh Chimaobi Chrismathner has been on the rise. The hip hop artiste, songwriter and producer, who stages as Zoro Swagbag has also released singles that won him more fans, as well as, recorded huge commercial success.
However, he is better known as a rapper by his fans. By dint of hard work and love for his passion, Zoro has managed to rank among top rappers in his indigenous Igbo language. He is even regarded as the fastest Igbo rapper by some lovers of indigenous raps in the music genre where the likes of Mr. Raw, Phyno, Illbliss, Slowdogg, among others have huge influence, since 2000 when Igbo raps, the Nigerian style of hip hop music, which originated in the Igbo-dominated South Eastern region, became popular.
While scrambling for fans among top rappers is a tough task, it has been an amazing experience for Zoro amid ups and downs. He sees the Nigerian music market as a space big enough for every artiste, no matter the genre, language of delivery and base.
“Just like in every other profession, the bigger you get in music, the bigger the challenges. But the consolation is that when the going gets tough, the tough gets going. Your creativity will always come to play”, he says.
Recalling his days of little beginning, he explains that with a lot of inexperience and having to pilot his movement by himself, “I learn everything the hard way. It is challenging but it prepared me ahead”.
On how he gets his inspiration, Zoro says, “Most times it comes like jokes and freestyle. My inner self helps me to capitalize on good ideas anytime one comes up and exploit it into a proper song”.
He also attributes his fast rise to quality collaborations with leading lights in the Igbo raps and highlife genre, especially Flavour and Phyno, two top music acts, who featured in his singles.
For him, Ogene, his single that featured Flavour, would not have made much impact if the popular music act had declined to feature in it.
“God has been good to me because a lot of other folks have featured Phyno and Flavour and nothing changed, but my case has been very different. I will not put it solely on the features, my people have been very supportive too”, he says.
Explaining further, he says that most fans of Flavour, the very popular highlife musician, supported the Ogene single because their artiste was in the show, hence some started following his music afterward the feature.
Considering the fact that the likes of Davido and Wizkid have been ruling the Nigerian music industry for some time now, unlike in the days of P-square, 2-Face, D’banj, among others where more artistes were on the faces of the fans, Zoro thinks that music is still very competitive now.
“There is more to the music industry than just making music. You can be the most creative talent and still not get on to the level of some of these popular artistes. I feel like these days it is mostly about who is ready, and Wizzy and David have got everything it takes”, he says.
Zoro has also taken his music to fans abroad. “The idea of my music tours abroad is to bridge the gap between the beautiful African culture and pop culture”.
Since his launch in the Nigerian music scene in 2010, Zoro has many albums and singles to his credit amid featuring alongside top music acts.
From Vanguard, Testimoney, More Fyah Riddim, Lord Cornel among others, his albums are usually rich in performances and visuals. His popular singles include; Ogene, Buy The Bar, Mbada, Landlady, Zoro to Hero, Nwunyem, and they are still exciting fans across the world.
But he thinks Iheanacho, his 2019 single, was very successful. “It is a hit song and the reviews we got were overwhelming. We are not there yet but we are giving our songs time to entertain people and soar on their merit”.
Zoro has also won many awards. He looks forward to releasing songs that will keep entertaining and wining more fans for him. He thinks collaboration breeds healthy rivalry, which the music industry needs to soar higher and appeal to more fans across the world.