By Ayo Onikoyi

Celebrated rapper and songwriter, Volvexzshawa, born Hamisi Gift Musitwa, recently opened up on the reasons behind his hiatus from the music industry.

Although born in Kenya, he was raised in South Carolina, United States, and initially gained recognition as a street battle rapper in early 2017.

In an interview with National Radio Station Capital FM, Kenya and The Breakfast Show on Kiss 100 TV Musitwa disclosed reason behind his 3 years music gap and how it affected both his music career and traumatized his mental health , leading to netizens raising concerns about Musitwa physical health since the rapper stopped posting on his social media platforms after negative feedback from his fans concerned about his weight loss.

The rapper said that being in the music industry requires financial resources to promote one’s projects effectively and with his last encounter with his past record label, it took him time to recover from the betrayal. Musitwa found out that his ex-manager was finessing his royalties, leaving him with nothing yet he had a widowed mother in grief of his late husband and this confirmed a lot of responsibilities were to follow since is the only son in the family of five and so he cut ties with them , because of the misunderstanding and his ex-manager removed his entire music catalog with over 7 million streams he had because he wanted him to start from zero again.

Musitwa told Capital FM that it was hard and had a rough time making a comeback, especially with his type of art and genre that consist of Uk rap and Afro-drill with back up story as the third voice of the youths undergoing pain and struggle and are trying to get out of the ghetto lifestyle for the youths of these days who consider club vibe songs better than educative ones.  He emphasized that self-promotion can only go so far, and even the most talented artists need financial support to produce their music.

Musitwa decided to take a break from music to focus on generating income through other means to take care of his family as the new breadwinner upon passing of his father since his music career wasn’t financially sustainable at the time. He’s been working hard to secure the funds needed to continue pursuing his musical talents. He’s currently trying his best to get back on his feet and since he is having difficulties publishing music under his stage name, Volvexzhsawa is still giving back to the community and has opened up an independent Record known as Blessed Hands Records that offers free music distribution and Artist Management Program plus educating young stars in the making. So that they don’t get exploited by records labels that only see their art and not their human heart.

Volvexzshawa has created and continued to ride his own wave since his reappearance on the music scene in 2022 but this year has been one full of unexpected turns and achievements for this artist.

2023 started out strong with the single “Stay Focused” hitting all platforms the first minute of the first day of the New Year and with only a 21-day gap “Big Boys Do Cry” was added to the roster of hard hitting Volvexzshawa’s singles sitting proud across all platforms.

March was another double release month for this on fire artist including the single “Boys in the Hood” featuring notable Music Band Dollar Boyz and then taking things across the boarder where Volvexzshawa teamed up with the Detroit legend, Clouds to bring us “Hustle” . Throughout the course of the year Volvexzshawa has also attained several sponsorships and engaged in several collaborations with world renowned and upcoming brands alike including names like Fanta Kenya, HK Global Cosmetics.

This year was also the year Volvexzshawa became reacquainted with the spotlight and the centre stage. Live performances have been off limits since the return of this artist until recently in Nairobi Festival due to the pandemic and Volvexzshawa has been taking full advantage by taking stages as frequently as possible.