Tehn Diamond
| Tehn Diamond | |
|---|---|
|
Tehn Diamond performing at the Big Brother Africa finals 2013 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Tendai Nguni |
| Born | 17 January 1985 |
| Origin | Harare, Zimbabwe |
| Genres | Hip hop |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, recording artist, rapper |
| Years active | 2006–present |
| Labels | Independent (current) |
| Associated acts | Jnr Brown, Djembe Monks, Prayersoul, Take Fizzo |
| Website |
www |
Tendai Nguni (born 17 January 1985),[1] better known by his stage name Tehn Diamond or rather his Twitter name Happy Smurf is a Zimbabwean hip hop rapper, singer and song writer from Harare, Zimbabwe. He is a member of the hip-hop collective Few Kings,[2] with whom he has released one album.[3]
Early life
Tendai Nguni was born in 1985 to a politician father,[4] Sylvester Nguni and his mother, a care giver. He has one brother and two sisters. While raised in the Borrowdale Brooke section, a gated community in Harare, Zimbabwe, and attended the St George's College, he originally moved to Brisbane, Australia to pursue a degree in finance, but later dropped out to pursue a music career.[5] In 2008, Federal Government of Australia announced it would revoke student visas for eight children of senior members of President Robert Mugabe’s regime and Tendai Nguni was one of them.[6]
Musical career
Early Years
He relocated to Singapore where he continued to explore his music talent.[7] Whilst in Singapore, Tehn Diamond performed over 800 shows,[8] before moving back to Zimbabwe where he now resides permanently.
Tehn Diamond’s career started with Student of the Game — Higher Learning, in 2008 and its follow-up titled Student of the Game — Boys will be Boys in 2010. They received a good following landing him a National Arts Merits Award accolade for Best Video in 2012.
2012-present
In December 2014, he embarked on a tour of Zimbabwe which saw him perform at multiple venues across Zimbabwe culminating in a show in Bulawayo hosted by local beauty products brand VAULTED and has done several collaborations with other fellow Zim artists including The Djembe Monks, tribal house music group from Bulawayo. Tehn Diamond also headlined Africa's biggest reality eviction show Big Brother.[10][11][12][13] His song titled Happy was placed in rotation nationally by all major radio stations that include Star FM and Power FM[14] and was nominated for best song of the year at the Zim Hip Hop Awards[15] On Valentine's Day 2015 he opened for Cassper Nyovest at 1+1 Long Cheng Plaza in Harare, of which Twitter went crazy over his performance with the main artist Cassper Nyovest himself tweeting "...you dope!"[16]
Awards
National Arts Merit Awards
The awards which are commonly referred to as the NAMAs are the principal awards in Zimbabwe and Tehn Diamond has won a NAMA more than once particularly in 2012 for Best Video(Happy ft Jnr Brown)
| Year | Nominee/work | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | "Student Of the Game(SOTG)-Boys Will Be Boys" | ||
| Best Video | Won | ||
| 2010 | "Student Of The Game-Higher Learning" | Best Hip Hop Artist | Won |
| Best Hip Hop Album | Won |
Discography
Compilation albums
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | Certifications | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hot 100|Zim | Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums|Zim R&B |
Top Rap Albums|Zim Rap | |||||
| The Feeling Aint Fair (with Few Kings) |
|
– | – | – | |||
| "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. | |||||||
As lead artist
| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Album | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Power FM School of Hip Hop|Zim |
Buddie Top 10|Zim |
Hot Rap Songs|Zim | |||
| "Happy"[17] (featuring Jnr Brown) |
2013 | – | – | — | The Feeling Aint Fair |
| "Grown up Kid"[18] |
2012 | – | – | — | "Student of the Game: Pursuit of Amazing" |
| "Simudza Gumbo"[19] (featuring Dadza D) |
2014 | – | – | — | "The Perfect Tehn" |
| "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. | |||||
References
- ↑ "A three way with Tehn and Breezy".
- ↑ "Rappers Tehn Diamond, Jnr Brown and super producer Take 5 launches super group, announces album title and release date".
- ↑ "Few Kings: The Feeling Ain't Fair Album Art and Track List".
- ↑ "https://www.newsday.co.zw/2013/01/31/hip-hop-artiste-aims-high/". External link in
|title=(help) - ↑ "Zimbabwe's Talented Tehn Diamond Is on a Fast Track To Blowing Up".
- ↑ "Zimbabwe leaders' children in Australia: who's here".
- ↑ "Politicians look East to study as West closes doors".
- ↑ "Zimbabwean Diamond in the making".
- ↑ "Tehn Diamond releases third mixtape".
- ↑ "Live Show: Tehn Diamond sparkles on stage".
- ↑ "ZIMBABWE'S TEHN DIAMOND TO ROCK BBA8 STAGE".
- ↑ "Tehn Diamond, Junior Brown to perform at BBA".
- ↑ "Tehn Diamond to grace BBA".
- ↑ "FAB New Music: MC Tehn Diamond 'Happy' featuring Junior Brown".
- ↑ "Local hip-hop gets a chance to shine".
- ↑ twitter.com/CassperNyovest/status
- ↑ "Tehn Diamond – Music – Happy [feat. Jnr Brown; – Single by Tehn Diamond, Jnr Brown]". fewkings.com. 23 October 2013. Retrieved 2014-01-27.
- ↑ "Grown Up Kid – Official Music Video by Tehn Diamond". greedysouth.co.zw. 12 September 2011. Retrieved 2014-01-27.
- ↑ "Simudza Gumbo [feat. Dadza D]". greedysouth.co.zw. 20 January 2014. Retrieved 2014-01-27.