He is arguably the first Zimbabwean rapper Don Dada who has gone Platinum in South Africa where he is based, with his single track Viva Mandela. The single was released in July 2017 to celebrate Nelson 'Madiba' Mandela's life and by October it had already gone gold. The Platinum certification by RISA comes after the song moved close to 700 000 paid digital downloads. Currently working on a single track with Sammy Sosa and at the same promising a massive project at the tail end, Menelik is one artist to reckon with.

RasMoe Gibbons, Superproducer rapz, Don Dada and Sipho Zak Masigo hold up Don Dada's Risa Gold Award plaque

Perhaps more airplay will do for him, here in his home country. Zimbabweans haven't yet heard
Born Menelik Nesta Gibbons in Harare Zimbabwe where he spent the first 5 years of his life before immigrating to South Africa 20 years ago rapper Don Dada has never been what you would call average.

Don Dada, who sports in meter-long dreadlocks was born in Zimbabwe, Harare, to a family of avid Bob Marley fans and even today, 37 years after Marley’s death, Don Dada’s father is still a reggae and Rastafarian fanatic.

DON DADA

 Don Dada is in fact quite the opposite with a style that is best described as flamboyant, he possess a lyrical armoury that far surpasses the expected humdrum. Don Dada is probably pound for pound, note for note, word for word, the best new/young MC ever to come out the southernmost point of Africa, a testimony of his dedication to perfection and the hard work that underpins producing his good music – Don Dada has a different take on that and explains that living his dream and passion means that hours in the studio is never work! He attributes his character to growing up wearing dreadlocks [from birth] in an era were all schools subscribed to a code of conduct that focused on an almost bald cut for boys. Don Dada’s strong character which comes out in his rap style stems from being the person that creates the difference for other to benefit from his footprint - again he pushes this aside with the explanation that his names defined his destiny Menelik: King of Ethiopia and Nesta: Bob Marley.

With a catalogue that spans 5 years , 3 Mix tapes ,multiple written articles, television appearances and radio interviews Don Dada has worked with some of the the best Africa has to offer (Bent man (Liberian MC), Crazy Lu, M.X.O, Da Les, Maggz, Ernie B saint Claire, Bongani Fassie to name some known artists) but his most notable and recent success has to be his collaboration with Maggz on "Ku Kwamla" a song that has gotten much attention locally after DJ C-Live featured it on his Power Nights Of Hip Hop show and currently working on a single with Sammy Sosa.

Aside from his own artistic aspirations Don Dada has explored other aspects of the music industry as well, as co-founder of Destruction entertainment a South African based Hip Hop Label that has produced 7 mix tapes with 3 going to hard copy and 4 still unreleased, Don Dada and Sergio Britarev have recorded , mixed, mastered, produced videos and marketed projects for Crazy Lu and Bent man,putting hard copy's into several stores across Johannesburg independently.all this while still recording his own projects.

With Don Dada  the release of his highly anticipated first street Album (think Section 80 or Kush & orange Juice), Don Dada seems set to turn the game on its head ,with heavy weight production by the likes of Bongani Fassie (S.A) ,Eric Hall (U.S.A), ruff (S.A) and J-Flames (U.K) Don Dada has fittingly entitled the project Avant-Garde (a term used to describe a pushing of the boundaries of what is accepted as the norm or the status quo, primarily in the cultural realm. The notion of the existence of the Avant-Garde is considered by some to be a hallmark of modernism, as distinct from postmodernism. Many artists have aligned themselves with the Avant-Garde movement and still continue to do so) claiming his rightful position as Africa's hip hop Van Guard.
Source: [Reverbnation]

Watch the official video for the song that has made waves in South Africa.