Who Was Soul Jah Love?

• By Staff Reporter
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• 100623
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• February 17, 2021

The talented and controversial musician was born on 22 November 1989 and grew up in one of Harare’s oldest suburbs, Mbare. His early childhood was filled with misfortune.

Soul’s mother died when he was just a toddler and he grew up under the care of his grandmother. Unfortunately, she also died when he was in Grade 5. He then stayed with his father until he also passed away in the year 2005. Following his father’s death, the musician revealed that his step-mother had him evicted from the family house 

Despite the hardships, Soul Jah Love did not give up and kept on persevering. He used his passion for music to set himself on a different trajectory. He was one of the leading lights of Zimbdancehalll who brought the genre into the mainstream. 

He rose to fame in 2012 with the hit songs, “Ndini Uya Uya” and “Gum-kum”. He was known for his signature chants, “Chibabababa“, “Hauite Hauite“, “Conquering” and “Mafundan’a” which were quickly added to the local parlance especially in the high-density suburbs.  

The musician referenced his late mother and the hard times that he went through growing up in some of his songs. In the song “Pamamonya Ipapo,” he referred to himself as “Mwana wa Stembeni”, which loosely translates to “I am the child of Stembeni.”  

In the song “Kuponda Nhamo” Soul Jah Love revealed that his mother had sadly died because the family was too poor to pay for the medical attention that she desperately needed.  

He sang an ode to his mother in the song “Dai Hupenyu Hwaitengwa” in which he lamented how he would give everything up including his own life if only he could get a chance to see his mother and add on to her years.

Despite his musical prowess, Soul had a weakness for drugs. The drug abuse adversely affected his health as he had been diagnosed with sugar diabetes when he was 7 years old. In a 2019 interview, he confessed that 

He blamed cocaine for the collapse of his marriage to fellow dancehall chanter Bounty Lisa. The couple had a troubled relationship which finally saw Bounty Lisa making a move to divorce the embattled singer.

Last year, Chibaba sought the intervention of Prophetic Healing and Deliverance (PHD) Ministries founding leader Prophet Walter Magaya after he had relapsed back to using drugs. His brother revealed that the chanter had started taking drugs again and that he was not watching his diet despite being diabetic.

This was the second time that the musician had turned to the Man of God. In December 2016, Musaka cut off his famed dreadlocks when he approached Magaya for prayers. At the time, Soul Jah Love’s left leg was so bad, that it was feared that it was going to be amputated. However, the talented musician was able to continue with his promising musical career without the crippling surgery, following the prayers from Prophet Walter Magaya.

Unfortunately, a life that promised so much more has been cut short prematurely.

Ironically, Soul Jah Love survived a car accident February 16 2020 only to die on 16 February a year later.

He has been finally reunited with his mother Stembeni. Rest in peace Soul Jah Love. Chibaba!

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