Triple D: Pompi says *Fight The battle*
Pompi encourages Africans to find their own
talent and show it to the rest of the world.
Unlike most African artists trying to get
international recognition, Pompi doesn’t like to
affiliate himself with a style that many have
used before. He has found himself a niche and
evidently, his beats are rather unique.
However, it took some time for Pompi to find
his place in the music market and as an
entrepreneur. And that journey took him via
South Africa to Nigeria and further back to
Zambia for spiritual learning. Now he’s not
only a famous musician himself but is also
encouraging other artists to achieve their
dreams and show the uniqueness of Africa.
Pompi’s music is a fusion of hip-hop and
gospel. He’s considered a Christian artist,
which has lately brought on some controversial
reactions amongst the religious listeners who
couldn’t accept Pompi performing in the
notorious Big Brother house. Pompi himself
doesn’t see any contradiction in performing in
places such as the BB house and says that it
was just an example of what is coming in the
future.
“I don’t believe that Christians should only
hang around Christians or that the Christian
artists should only sing in church. Light is only
relevant in the darkness.”
Pompi didn’t become a Christian artist over-
night but through a long process that started
when he was studying in South Africa. There
he began his musical career and was offered a
contract by a rich Nigerian label. Soon Pompi
was in Nigeria familiarising himself with the
environment and the culture. The production
was to be done in South Africa but Pompi was
supposed to be branded as a Nigerian artist
instead.
For some people, a well-off deal with a
Nigerian label would have been a-dream come-
true but for Pompi the experience turned out
to be rather distressing.
“On a big label, you are not free to express
yourself as an artist. Your persona is scripted;
it’s like a movie.”
Pompi’s musical character would have included
misogyny and the objectification of women
that didn’t settle well on his conscious. So he
didn’t want much to do with the scripted
character.
However, leaving an already signed contract
that the label had invested a lot of money in,
wasn’t that simple. Pompi fell into depression
and didn’t enjoy performing anymore, which in
turn influenced in a negative manner the
quality of his work. The label finally understood
his situation and dropped the contract without
any demands. As often, the difficult times
bring about something positive. After quitting
the contract with the Nigerian label, Pompi
moved back to Zambia and embarked on a
spiritual journey for a year. As a result, he
got back his passion for music and started his
own company called Lota House – a house of
dreams – that is a creative incubator and a
common platform for African artists who want
to turn their talent into a lucrative business
and a source of livelihood.
“Everyone is created for a purpose and is
intelligent in their own way, people just don’t
know what their gift is. My vision is to make
Africans realize what their gift is.”
Pompi gives an example of a monkey, donkey
and horse that are put in a test of climbing a
tree. The others can’t compete with the
monkey in that realm because it is made for
that exact purpose. That’s why everyone should
concentrate on what they are gifted in and
not compare themselves to others of a
different kind.
“You can’t disqualify particular things because
people who were there before you failed.
Maybe they were not designed to do that.
Maybe they were fish trying to climb a tree.”
Pompi is someone who knows that it takes
courage to drop everything else and
concentrate on one’s passion. After coming
back home, he took a risk and put his degree
aside and decided to concentrate on his music
even though a lot of people were telling him
negative things about the Zambian music
industry. Like, that no one buys CDs anymore.
Pompi didn’t want to listen to the negativity
that people were throwing his way but instead
wanted to see for himself what the reality
was. He put the fallacies to the test and saw
that most of them were wrong.
“Where there’s vision, there’s provision.
Immediately I did the first single people
started coming in and say: hey we like this
thing and want to put some money on it. I just
found people who have the same passion that I
have.”
Pompi believes that once you put your heart in
your work people will see it and they will buy
it. A musician that does his music with passion
is always different from an artist that does it
just for business purposes. Putting your heart
in your work is the message that Pompi wants
to spread to people because being passionate
about what you’re doing is important not only
for individuals but for the whole continent.
“I think that Africa is poor because not a lot
of people are passionate about what they are
doing.”
Pompi also thinks that collaboration is
something that has been lacking in Africa for
a long time. By creating Lota House he wanted
to bring creative people with talent together.
His aim is to take the attributes that are
making Africa unique, blend them with popular
culture and create a unique product that gives
a face to Africa.
“When you watch Hollywood movies, every
woman on TV is beautiful, grass is green, every
building is fantastic, and when you go there
you see that it is not true. I want to sell them
the same lie from an African perspective. Sell
them the African story, an African fantasy.”
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