Dumi RIGHT is a member of the groundbreaking hip-hop crew Zimbabwe Legit, one of first rap groups from Africa to make a splash worldwide back in the early 90s. In the years since that debut in hip-hop’s golden age, he has remained immersed in the culture and business of hip-hop releasing underground tunes and performing all across the country and the world stage. Accolades have included recognition such as the runner up slot in the Numark Musical Innovator Contest (2006) and three nominations for a Washington Area Music Award since 2003. He has also released music as part of another group he created, O.U.O (of unknown origin), with an album that achieved success on the national college radio and mixshow charts.
Dumi operates his own production company pH MUSIC, which is the entity that conducts the business affairs of Zimbabwe Legit, O.U.O and other affiliates. The name stands for pure Hip-Hop and progressive Hip-Hop, which is driving force behind the establishment of the company and exactly what the label was created to help propagate.
Playing on the term pH as it relates to chemistry, pH Music was founded to offer up a balance. Just as alkaline counters acid, negative images and subject matter need progressive messages to counteract and ensure that people realize that hip-hop artists have many varied stories to tell.
Dumi RIGHT even received a ringing endorsement from the legendary poet Nikki Giovanni in a poem she created at his request for an interlude on the O.U.O album. As she poignantly states, “I am Nikki Giovanni, I poet of unknown origin, I taught Dumisani, he poets too.”
Zimbabwe Legit is one of the pioneering and best known hip-hop groups from Africa. They have been involved in the business of music for over a decade and have performed all over the US and the world. From France to Japan and all points in between, they have done their thing on some of the biggest stages and at auspicious venues including the Brooklyn Academy of Music and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. [The show at the Whitney was alongside the inventor of scratching, none other than Grand Wizzard Theodore as part of the events of VH-1 Hip-Hop Honors Week.]
Their music and performance blends African themes, rhythm and sensibilities with the hardcore, gritty drum beat of the US hip-hop movement. They address topics that are socially relevant and make music that is uplifting and inspirational.
“The first African rap group to truly reach an international audience, Zimbabwe Legit came equipped with an amazing sense of humor, fierce politics, and a sharp understanding of history.” – Fabulous Jackpot
Dumi’s latest endeavor is the new critically acclaimed Zimbabwe Legit album, House of Stone. With various influences of Soul, Jazz, African music and more, the album is vivid and introspective music showcasing the artform at its best. With appearances from legends like Chubb Rock, YZ and Mike G of the Jungle Brothers to artists like Vast Aire, Stic.man from dead prez and Prince Po, the album plays like a classic hip-hop party with some of the duo’s notable friends on the guest list.
Zimbabwe Legit – House of Stone Reviews
Straight No Chaser (UK) Called it " one of the albums of the Summer", and the album also received props with recent reviews on Okayplayer.com, Platform8470, Artofrhyme.com, Hip-Hop Connection (Rock Solid – 4 out of 5), Superfly Magazine (Italy), XLR8R, Scratch Magazine, Rap Mag (France), Hip-Hop Elements, Allhiphop.com (7.5 out of 10), Dazed and Confused (UK) and more.
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”House of Stone is dope!”
Okayplayer.com
"Overall, the combination of positive lyricism, vintage production, and memorable guest appearances from underground staples like Vast Aire and Asheru, and legends like Chubb Rock, make House of Stone a memorable and refreshing release for hip-hop in 2007."
Rated: 4 out of 5
Platform8470
"…celebrating the long-awaited comeback of a group that remained too long in the shades. Meet real rap, meet real Brothers from the Motherland, meet their steelsolid comeback."
Rated: Mighty Phat
ArtofRhyme
"House of Stone’s foundation signifies a new era for the pioneers with African tradition firmly in tow, layered with Jazzy textures and cameos by legends that might have you asking which borough they’re from, not which continent."
Allhiphop.com
"…album worth a listen"
"…vintage boom bap feel"
Zimbabwe Legit – Brothers from the Mother Reviews
In the early ’90s, American hip-hop began to see a surge in Afrocentric consciousness, though this often meant donning a dashiki while ignoring African hip-hop.
Zimbabwe Legit brought a mellow, jazzy style and cool rhymes that were all set to change that, but label trouble kept their EP below the radar. That early material still remains blissfully fresh 13 years later. – CNET.com
Brothers Akim and Dumi epitomize the philosophy of global hip hop. While they might have moved to the States to live out their hip hop dreams, lyrically their focus is strongly rooted in the social and political climate of their homeland. They’ve taken the musical cues of groups like Naughty By Nature, ATCQ and early De La Soul, and molded them to create a curiously up beat backdrop for the struggles and ideas spawned from daily life in Africa. The style is instantly recognizable, but it’s pretty unlikely you’ve heard anything quite like this before. Beat Magazine (Australia)
Zimbabwe Legit, rapped in English and their tribal language, Ndebele. The criss-crossing of African and African-American music and languages showed that rap had indeed come a long way in order to return home. – K. Maurice Jones – Say It Loud! The Story of Rap Music (Milbrook Press)
