I couldn’t handle fame: Roki

He garnered numerous awards, including Best Urban Grooves Artist (Nama) and Song of the Year (Zima) for Chidzoka.

Roki, who has the “bad boy” tag engraved on his career, has admitted that he made mistakes at a tender age and warned the new artistes not to follow his regretful path.

The musician urged the new crop of artists must not be blurred by newly found fame and put their future.

“I don’t think pane akandiroya, wrong choices urimudiki, patakazvitanga zvaispaka, fame yakapinda musoro even though uchigona kuimba zvinoshaya basa,” he wrote on Facebook timeline.

“So, other musicians must learn from my mistakes…thank God ndakakurumidza kuzviona fast.”

Efforts to get comment from the Chidzoka hit maker to clarify his message were fruitless as he did not pick up calls last Friday.

Roki, a pioneer of the early 2000s urban grooves movement alongside Ex-Q, Leonard Mapfumo and others, burst onto the scene in 2001 with hits like Seiko and Chidzoka.

He garnered numerous awards, including Best Urban Grooves Artist (Nama) and Song of the Year (Zima) for Chidzoka.

His journey wasn’t without controversy, including a disqualification on Big Brother Africa and personal struggles.

In 2008, the artiste, who was 23 years then was arrested in Harare’s Avenues area after he was found in possession of more than 125 grammes of marijuana.

The arrest came following media reports that the artiste had confessed to abusing hard drugs.

Roki was Zimbabwe’s representative at the 2012 edition of the Big Brother Africa before he was disqualified for getting into a fight with Maneta.

At 27, he had sired five children with four different women.

He has been romantically involved with Mafriq member Pauline Gundidza whom he sired Sky and Minana.

In 2013 his ex-wives Gundidza and the late Melody Musekiwa were reportedly thrown out of their Waterfalls lodgings after Roki failed to pay rent for them.

The women who lived at Number 702 Parkway, Waterfalls stayed together in a move initiated by Roki, which he said was meant to cut costs.

In 2016 he allegedly beat up his girlfriend, Nyasha Valerie, broke into her house, and stole all the furniture before fleeing to South Africa.

He returned to Zimbabwe in 2017 following the death of his mother.

Despite challenges, Roki has remained active, releasing new songs like Zviriko and Million in recent years.

He even launched vocal classes to mentor aspiring musicians.

Collaborations with international stars like Koffie Olomide and Rayvanny showcase his continued impact.

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