Winky D biography interview by Jonathan Banda 10/04/05
"Basically,
my drive is that malnourished child, that man who is angry at whoever
made plastic sneakers which became torn after being worn for a week,
that teenager who is abusing drugs and other harmful substances, girl
listening to the voices of peer pressure and suddenly engages in 'DARK
' activities". 
Winky D is one man who has lyrics that will continue inspiring you long
after the track has stopped playing. His emotionally charged lyrics are
the opposite of his soft spoken and sociable personality. He is the
kind of person whom one would not hesitate to spend the whole day
chatting to. His ghetto schooling was a prophetic reflection of the
powerful lyrics which have become his life. He is armed with a hunger
for educating the people about the group of people very much taken for
granted and life taken for a joke. On the other hand, his love lyrics
inspire people to love others truly, for what they are not reflections
of their images of what they want them to be.
In our youthful days,
we always impatiently look forward to the days when we will be grown
ups. Different people have differing views concerning what it means to
be a grown up. Many point at being 'independent of my parents and
community in whatever I do'. However, the above is not true for Winky
D, who ever since his youthful days felt that this concept of
independence was overemphasised very much to the expense of significant
others in our lives. In the ghetto he feels independence should mean
'having a loving heart for all the others'. This mindset is greatly
shown in his powerful lyrics. Negligence of these others will lead to
'continuation of problems inherent in the ghetto like prostitution,
robbery, thuggery, poverty, to mention but a few. This guiding
principle is one distinctive feature about Winky D's lyrics.
Born Wallace Chirumiko on 1 February 1983 in Harare, Winky D always
showed a lively interest in music ever since his childhood years as the
mother confirms. He, very much unusual for ghetto youths at this age
strived to keep a collection of Ragga audio tapes as early as Grade 3.
Winky D started featuring in the GHETTO LANE CLASHES against elderly
contestants, and his victories in these contests came as a result of
his skill at selecting the best dancehall tunes. This earned him great
respect amongst the Ghetto youths who gave him the nickname Winky D
from Wicked Deejay.
At secondary school came another boost for the
talents of Winky D, when he was nominated by his colleagues to play
music at all school functions. This led to a sober appreciation of
Winky's musical talents by his elder brother, Wellington who
volunteered to buy him CD's and vinyls if he started a sound. He
started off as Supa Youths with a friend, but due to the friend's
continued absence because of school commitments, Winky collaborated
with Garry B, another friend to form Dark Child. Winky D became the
first school kid to play at the popular Tube Nite Spot at the tender
age of 16. He clashed with big names in Dancehall like Alkebulani, New
Generation, Shocking Vibes and Delta Force. He won several of these
clashes and in no time Winky was a force to reckon with in the
dancehall industry
In 2002 Winky D won the prestigious Sports Centre Cup Clash hosted by
the big name in dancehall Jah B of Stereo One . In the same year Winky
D earned a contract to play at Club Tropicana (Dancehall Segments) Much
to the surprise of people Winky D hosted the above-mentioned Cup clash
in 2003 alongside Rough Mix's Templeman. In the same year Winky D
thrashed the seasoned champion sound, Silverstone, after which he
revived the Ghetto VS Ghetto sound wars to help boost the dancehall
skills of other Ghetto youths. His voice, unlike the voices of other
MC's as people noticed was worthy of loads of praise than mere
admiration. There was a golden side to it, which led people to
encourage Winky D to try his voice at singing. However, this was no new
field to Winky D as he said' l had written so many songs as I was
growing up
With the help of Bonslag of BlackLab Records, Winky went
into the recording studio. His first songs in the dancehall like
Chamba, Zhing Zhong, Zvindakwenya, Kumbudzi, Mu Rasta, The Don and Head
Inna War coupled by his ingenious stage performance set the dance
floors very busy and the single WAR was reviewed in the national
weekly, SundayMail. Ever since Winky D has not turned back, we have
seen Winky being invited to present Rockers Vibes, (a musical
programme) on Zimbabwe national television, ZTV, invited to share the
stage with Luciano "The Messenger" and he has given the Zimbabwe
audience more than 6 charts hits. Winky D has become the new icon for
Zimbabwean reggae with nicknames like, "King of Dancehall", "The
Prophet", "Mutumwa", "Truthsayer" being attached to him in the ghettos.
Location
