Nthambi

Genre : Gospel
City : Blantyre
Country :

Biography

Born Limbani Chakhoma from a Malawian father Daniel and a Zambian mother Esther, Nthambi got introduced to hip-hop music through his elder brothers at the tender age of ten and has been in love with the genre ever since. He spent most of his free times writing rhymes, beating tins and recording rap sounds in tapes at home. His dream was to rise to stardom and be like his rap idols of those days such as Tupac Shakur, Xzibit, DMX among others.

In 2004, he was introduced to Christ through his mum and decided to do away with secular rap. He made a break from music for almost two years as he was still searching for a perfect replacement of circular hip-hop in his life.

In 2006, whilst studying at University of Malawi’s Chancellor College, he thought of making a serious comeback into music having studied some musical courses as a freshman. This time, he was influenced by the local Gospel artists such as Dynamike Munthali (Chart Rock), late Wisdom Chitedze, Liwu, Lawi and others, who demonstrated that rap music can effectively be used to reach out to the lost with the Good News. Music by international artists such as Lecrae, Mark J, Jovan Mckenzie, Shai Line, Flame, Da’ T.R.U.T.H. and many others was also of great influence to the re-launching of his music journey.

In 2007, he co-founded an urban Gospel Music group called AKE (His own) based at Chancellor College and performed in many Christian concerts and gatherings both within and outside the campus.

After graduating in 2009, he started working on a solo project under a vernacular name Nthambi (Branch), a name he adopted from the Holy Scripture of John 15:5. He has one studio album ‘Fruit of the Vine’ released in 2011 which included the popular hit ‘Sindine’ which was one of the few hip-hop singles to top local gospel charts on some local radio stations (reached no.1 on CFC Radio Top 20 and Top 10 on Power 101 Gospel Chart).

The album became popular to both hip-hop and non hip-hop lovers courtesy of its well articulated scriptural based lyrics that many people are able relate to as well as a noticeable fusion of African musical elements with urban beat. It is therefore not surprising that even the middle and old generations fall in love with it.

Nthambi is currently working on his second album ‘The Pruning (Kusadza)’ based on John 15:2 to be released in 2014.

Apart from music, Nthambi is also a professional Trainer and Writer and he works for Indebank Limited.