Okay, let’s cut through the BS and dive straight to the crux of the matter. It is common knowledge, widely accepted that you do not follow up an album with an EP immediately. An album is a big project in the life of an artist and so is it to the Fans. If an artist releases an album and follows it up with an EP, it is interpreted as the album failed.
The only other reason an artist would drop an EP soon after an album is to try and cover up for the “miss” of an album. Some are merciless they call it a “hitless” album. Nonetheless, an album cannot be immediately followed up by an EP considering the investment that goes into a full studio album.
Maybe you are new to the music terminology, let me catch you up on the definitions of the EP and Album.
What’s An EP?
An EP, or Extended Play, is a type of music recording that is longer than a single but shorter than a full album. An EP has more than 1 song otherwise it will be called a single. It comes with at least 2 songs or more but less than 7 songs. Most Eps fall in the range of anything between 4 songs and 7 songs. You may think of an EP as a mini album.
What’s An Album?
An album is a collection of music tracks or songs that are usually released together as a single package. Think of it like a book, but instead of chapters, it has songs. The songs in an album often share a common theme or style, making the album feel like a cohesive unit. It typically has between 10 to 15 songs although this may vary.
Now that we have defined the two animals EP and Album let’s switch to the conversation. Imagine an artist releases an album today then immediately they give you an EP not so many weeks later. It sounds like someone is trying to cover up a messy album, doesn’t it? Well, Baba Harare did it and we feel like he can be exonerated for it.
Background
Baba Harare has been a Jiti music King since breaking away from Jah Prayzah’s band to start his own. He has iconic dances in that genre known as the “Koiling dance” among other things. He recently released a gospel album much to the amusement of his fans titled Repentance. No, it was not just an album title, but the man really resembled and embodied the album title.
Fans woke up to a Baba Harare who no longer had the dreadlocks but a clean gentleman’s cut. He has even stopped going to the gym citing that the body he had was seductive and fuelling lust in women. So yes, baba Harare is now a fully born-again Christian in speech and in deed. His move to quit the music that got him his fame has been received with controversy as some fans are divided between the move. Some fans are fully supporting his move to become a gospel artist whilst some are still caught up in old Baba Harare.
Whilst you digest, baba Harare is launching an EP titled My Testimony and it’s a big deal. How is it a big deal you ask? Well, he is changing his name from Baba Harare to a new name which probably resonates with his newly found faith. Remember in the Christian domain it is very common for people to change their old names once they encounter their salvation. It probably means this article will have to be re-edited and use his new name 😉.
Earlier on I said that Baba Harare and his new album and the upcoming album are not a failure for the following reasons.
1. Building A Catalogue
Baba Harare is on a journey of transforming from a Jiti persona to a gospel artist. That means the only gospel music he has on his catalogue is the tracks from that album. If he is invited to perform anywhere, he is limited to his album songs only which is about 7 tracks. Therefore he still needs to build a strong gospel catalogue for him to perform and his fans to enjoy.
2. Proving Himself
Baba Harare now has border fans. Border fans are those fans whom you have grabbed their attention, but you haven’t won them over yet and it’s a painful place to be. The man finds himself on the brink of losing his old fans who perceive him as having a crazy moment in his career.
On the other hand, he is yet to fully grab gospel fans who are waiting to see if he is fully repented before they can endorse him. People have a history of back paddling from their word, remember Kanye West once fooled everybody that he was repented. The task now remains with Baba Harare to release more gospel songs for him to satisfy both camps of fans.
3. Improve On The Go
He needs to develop himself as a gospel artist as he transitions from Jiti. Given that dynamic, the only best way to become better is to try or “just doing it” like Nike. He has to take the bold step of learning the art of gospel artist right in our face or ears rather through releasing more music. The gospel lyrics are biblical for the greater part, so with each sermon and bible study, new songs are going to be ringing. Those tingling songs in his heart should eventually find their way into our speakers as many as he can churn out in order to master the conversion of scripture into music.
For these strong reasons, Baba Harare’s upcoming EP is not a mop to clean up his recent album project. It is an EP with a genuine intent to build a solid gospel music foundation. I cannot speak for the name change yet (it’s another article, stay tuned) but I hope Baba Harare is genuinely repented and never looking back for the sake of his fans who are supporting him on this transformative journey. He has our support as Uzinduzi Africa, and we look forward to working with him on his next big project.
Conclusion
Let me conclude the article with a conspiracy theory, let’s engage in the comment section. A young man is emerging as Baba Gweru from Gweru obviously. The conspiracy theory is that Baba Harare is surrendering his artistry in the jiti space to that Youngman so that the genre he revived once upon a time does not die a natural death just like that. I don’t know, what you think about this theory, how far from the truth could I be?
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About The Author
Steve is the creative director at Uzinduzi Africa, an entrepreneur at heart, TV host and radio producer. He’s got a passion for the development and growth of local brands.