Two years into his music career, Tbi$h has racked up tens of thousands of listens on Spotify, with his latest single earning the Hip-Hop artist his first label release.
Born Tutsirayi Chidawanyika, the name Tutsi Chidas is what he goes by now outside of his musical releases. Born in Zimbabwe, Tutsi grew up in England and New Zealand before his family settled in Brisbane, Australia midway through High School.
Tutsi released his first Tbi$h track in 2018 and has put together a steady number of single releases since. His collaboration with Goosey, ‘Finish Him’, currently sits over 43,000 plays on Spotify, while ‘For the Team’ with Big Skeez sits at 27,000.
Collaborations aren’t all Tbi$h is known for however, solo track ‘Too Much’ sits just shy of 15,000 Spotify plays while his music video for ‘Running’ boasts thousands of views on Youtube. His latest release ’95 n Wildn’ boasts backing from a record label.
Quite predictably, most of Tutsi’s musical inspirations are from the hip-hop and rap scene such as Drake and Sydney musician Manu Crooks. Somewhat less predictable is Tutsi’s reason for making music.
“Growing up, I always admired the artists that I listened to and how they made me feel,” he says. “Last year I thought to myself wouldn’t it be mad if someone actually sat there and played a song I made and felt the same way?”
Tutsi isn’t in it for the money, rather he wants to have a connection with people through his music. This is a sentiment you’d expect to hear from an alternative musician or maybe a singer/songwriter rather than a Hip-Hop artist, but there’s something genuine about Tutsi.
“It’s been really cool,” Tutsi says. “I’ve made contact with other artists like Allday who’ve talked to me about how they felt about my music and really helped me to improve in general.”
So far there have only been a few Tbi$h live shows, and all have been in the Brisbane area. With the latest release being backed by a label, however, Tutsi may see his following start to shift to a wider audience.
A quick look at Tbi$h’s Spotify analytics will tell you Australia holds the biggest audience, however notable numbers exist in both New York City and Los Angeles, two big markets for musicians.
However his sense of connection to his friendships and local community isn’t lost on him. Some of his friends are trying to break into the industry and Tutsi is keen to help. “If nobody supported me, I don’t know what I would’ve done,” Tutsi laughs. “So I feel it’s really important for me to support people as much as I can.”
Supporting other local artists doesn’t mean Tutsi has taken his eye off the big picture, however, as he plans to keep putting out his own music and further himself as an artist.
“I’ve started making contact and working on other projects with artists around Australia and the UK. I’ve really started putting more effort into music in general, and I’m really excited for what’s ahead.”
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