Zone Fam Biography

Zone Fam is the number 1 hip-hop group in Zambia managed by Duncan
Sodala of Slam Dunk Records. It’s members are individually known as Dope
G, Jay Rox and Yung Verbal. Sharing a passion for hip-hop made it easy
for the members of Zone Fam to gel and craft a creative bond that
enables them to easily work on timeless music together.

Even though they
cite their influences to be US artists such as Jay-Z, Nas and Ludacris,
as well as groups such as Slaughterhouse, their sound is proudly
Zambian and African. Their music is an exciting and unique blend of Zed
beats, hip-hop and Afro-pop. They rap switching back and forth from
English, to Zambian languages such as Nyanja and local Pidgin, to
African languages such as Zulu, in order to reflect their Southern
African origins. They infuse their sound with genius use of local,
African and global references to create lyric magic that everyone can
relate to.

After the local success of “Pop Dat Body” that caused a stir on the
Zambian music scene in 2009 they decided to create their first album,
The Business (Foreign Exchange) released by Slam Dunk Records. The first
single was “Mabhodlela” (Bottles) which became another local favourite
and still enjoys heavy airplay across Zambia. They then found
international acclaim and global recognition with their second official
single and music video, “Shaka Zulu On Em”. It was released on 1st March
2011 and is about African pride and pays homage to their Southern
African roots. The video received rave reviews in Zambia and across the
continent, making it the group’s breakout hit. It received airplay on
radio stations across Africa and heavy rotation on MTV Base Africa’s Big
Base Beats and on Channel O, two of Africa’s premiere music video
channels. This song later went on to bring awards success, including
nominations from the Channel O Music Awards, and wins from local Zambian
Born and Bred and the Global African Music Awards. It also gave them
the opportunity to perform on Big Brother Africa’s eviction show in July
2011. The Business (Foreign Exchange) went on to be one of the best
African albums of 2011 internationally.

In 2012, Zone Fam took their quest for African and global domination
to the next level by signing with Taurus Musik, the pan-African music
arm of Taurus Group, that officially launched in July 2012. Taurus Group
aims to help build the entertainment industry across Africa. On 24th
September 2012, Zone Fam released its first single with Taurus Musik
called “Contolola”, off their second album. The song continues in with
themes in the vein of “Shaka Zulu On Em”. A month later the video
premiered on MTV Base Africa. Their yet to be titled sophomore album
will be released in 2013.

Zone Fam were awarded the Best Collaboration at 2013 Zambian Music awards alongside Ruff Kid, Slap Dee and P-Jay for “Vigabenga”
Zone Fam closed off 2013 on a high note by winning the coveted Channel O
Award for Best Group with their video for Contolola. Their sophomore
album “Bar Code” is yet to be released.