Once an Emperor of battle raps. Not anymore. It is without denying that many have fallen before him. But now, David has defeated the pint-sized Goliath of the rap game, Mandela 3rd Eye Mwanza, who after realising he had lost his King-of-the-Mic crown decided to curse his nemesis, King Kananji’s dead mother – drawing the ire of Malawi Twitter including his closest allies.
Third Eye, tweebs said, instigated the beef that he has now lost. He is said to have called out King Kananji for sharing a song by Q Aura who had set shots at Mandela. Kananji stood his ground. The Twar set off.
Sooo.. we're NOT gonna discuss @QAura4 coming for EVERYBODY on this #LemonPepperFreestyle !?? 👀🥶🥶🙆🏾♂️🙆🏾♂️https://t.co/uIRZAD6yBT
— LIBERATE ZIMBABWE (@KingKananji) May 7, 2021
Who gives a shit he can bring em https://t.co/2lPJuSB0Ys
— Mandela Mwanza (@ThirdEyeMalawi) May 9, 2021
Yeah, I posted it! I've heard weaker bars get hyped out here regularly. It's a contact sport and you wanting to end the discussion about it cos YOU didn't like it ain't healthy for the game.
— LIBERATE ZIMBABWE (@KingKananji) May 8, 2021
Initially Third Eye won the Twar with his Twitter fingers. When Kananji said he shared the song as a way of promoting upcoming artists, 3rd Eye responded with an uppercut that many thought would burry Kananji. But the Tweebs who wrote off Kananji were wrong. The fight raged on.
You give an MC a platform? You need one yourself G. But go ahead https://t.co/3OLOi1HMUS
— Mandela Mwanza (@ThirdEyeMalawi) May 8, 2021
Stop being humble bro. How was I giving you a platform on my debut album? 😂 it was a collab G. How can I put you on when I'm tryna be on myself? Maybe it feels like that to you coz I blew and you still haven't? 🤨🤣
— Mandela Mwanza (@ThirdEyeMalawi) May 8, 2021
I've made my name by consistently proving myself on records… you've made yours through social media drama… bar for bar I got you. Start being humble bro. https://t.co/F7pXevU91e
— LIBERATE ZIMBABWE (@KingKananji) May 8, 2021
Kananji’s “bar for bar I got you. Start being humble bro” was the matchstick needed to spark the inferno. Third Eye said he was Bar-for-Bar War Ready. No more Twitter fingers. What came next was Fire in the booth!
Kananji’s tweet clearly rattled Mandela, arguably Malawi’s HipHop Godzilla who later claimed to have been making over K30 million off rap unlike his archnemesis.
Who gives a shit he can bring em https://t.co/2lPJuSB0Ys
— Mandela Mwanza (@ThirdEyeMalawi) May 9, 2021
I ain't about the talk. I'm about the smoke and the cheque. Bring it 🤷🏾♂️
— Mandela Mwanza (@ThirdEyeMalawi) May 9, 2021
Last one was $50,000 for 5 shows though umadziwa minor correction 😂 ana awa ase. They gon GET these BARS plus I'm gon GET PAID https://t.co/OFWK7mUax1
— Mandela Mwanza (@ThirdEyeMalawi) May 8, 2021
Others, however, found the bragging off-beat.
Mandela, since when is a rap argument settled with “I have more money so we can’t compete?” A lot of rappers rap better than dudes with more money than them. Shouldn’t even be in the discussion.
— . (@xandritepearl) May 9, 2021
Having dared Kananji to the Bar-for-Bar King of the Mic battle, Mandela returned after about 1 hour 30 minutes to tout his opponent as to what was the cause for the delay for the first set of bars to drop.
Isn't the little guy supposed to have thrown shots at the King by now? How does it work? The last guy didn't even need 24 hours. What's this?
— Mandela Mwanza (@ThirdEyeMalawi) May 9, 2021
What followed was a real cliffhanger. Five minutes after that tweet, Mandela’s itching Twitter fingers returned. Openly now rather than subliminally, Third Eye challenged Kananji with a direct tweet.
“@KingKananji why don’t you start showing us today how you can go bar for bar with Third Eye. The streets are waiting. All I need is two hours tops after I hear your best shot at the KING that birthed your first studio session. Get busy youngin” he tweeted.
@KingKananji why don't you start showing us today how you can go bar for bar with Third Eye. The streets are waiting. All I need is two hours tops after I hear your best shot at the KING that birthed your first studio session. Get busy youngin
— Mandela Mwanza (@ThirdEyeMalawi) May 9, 2021
Mandela’s fanbase elevated him with “All Hail the King!’ tweets. But a big disappointment, they should have braced themselves for. Kananji responded to Mandela with a befitting meme 7 minutes later.
https://t.co/PXVDWCIBz3 pic.twitter.com/YeN6fJxZPA
— LIBERATE ZIMBABWE (@KingKananji) May 9, 2021
But Mandela’s was not done with his Twar. He threw another subliminal jab by employing a very disrespectful Jamaican curse – one that has recently been made more popular here by Grime, a genre of UK hiphop. Mandela urged King Kananji and his lieutenants to “go suck their mothers” – a jab he delivered in Patois.
Dem likkle bomboclaat pikney dem haffi go suck dem mada https://t.co/hliiImBDTG
— Mandela Mwanza (@ThirdEyeMalawi) May 9, 2021
At 7:18pm, Kananji teased his End of An Error part 1 with a corresponding poster. 7:32pm, Third Eye responded with a poster for his 51 and 0.
51 AND 0 🖕🏿 https://t.co/YsHyFhcHsN
— Mandela Mwanza (@ThirdEyeMalawi) May 9, 2021
8:39pm, Kananji’s End of An Error part 1 dropped, anticipating a reaction from Third Eye with a possible sequel, End of An Error part 2.
GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK! 😂#EndOfAnErrorhttps://t.co/asAr7NTdnxhttps://t.co/h1WmTX2aEzhttps://t.co/UkAYHPEsrr pic.twitter.com/KEsd9SHeWv
— LIBERATE ZIMBABWE (@KingKananji) May 9, 2021
In part 1, one bar stood out.
“Tryna get fame off your People’s pain? You should be ashamed/You ain’t worthy of your government name/Madiba getting ethered by an English speaker (damn),” reads part of the lyrics.
Third Eye had to respond. And he responded. But it was not 2 hours later as he had promised earlier on. His 51 and 0 dropped several hours later on Joy Nathu’s Made On Monday. No one except 3rd Eye knows what happened to the 2 hours ‘most’.
What we know, however, is that in between End of An Error part 1 and 51 and 0, Third Eye who according to Kananji is not worthy his government name of Mandela continued to put his Twitter fingers to use.
All this was despite being called a 3-eyed BABY.
May be the delay was foretaling what would become of the Godzilla in this fight. An extinct T-rex. Poster for Third Eye’s first release had an “error”, dated 9th instead of 10th as the release date. This was rectified but several hours later. All foretelling the End – of An Error.
Diss track mpaka release date? Okay https://t.co/GtGCOsGJft
— Itadori Yuuji (@Reezus_) May 10, 2021
When 51 and 0 was finally premiered, not 2 hours after End of An Error Part 1, but 25 hours and 24 minutes later, fans gave their first verdict. Others thought Kananji was dead and buried. Some said he needed resuscitating.
The memes flowed.
End of an error. 51 and 0 pic.twitter.com/qAmxtemoOj
— LongLive LhomweKing👑 (@Reborn265) May 10, 2021
Like Mandela, Kananji also took his time for the second drop – which ended it the Beef with 3rd Eye 6 feet under. End of An Error Part 2 dropped at 8pm on the 11th May. But less than 24 hours after 51 and 0.
https://t.co/begEJ9Ennihttps://t.co/QfKTNcIVwP pic.twitter.com/DeDbzOCBqP
— Soulamp (@soulamp_ent) May 11, 2021
The Part 2 was loaded. It rattled 3rd Eye’s nerves referred to as a Motherf***er. Third Eye responded with two more tracks. Late Lunch [Ndidya Koma Mochedwa] and Last Supper. The latter should have been the last nail. But Third Eye was not having it. His twitter fingers turned rabid, becoming WhatsApp fingers.
The heat was too much for him as he reported his arch-nemesis to his father, politician Bright Msaka. Snitching. But he yielded nothing apart from being labeled a bad loser by Twitter Malawi. A big L was handed on a silver platter to Third Eye who was the first person who told Kananji and his fanbase to suck their mums.
@KingKananji kuti adziwe kuti ndakumenyelanji. I worked hard during my busy 48hrs to make time to clap you on songs so I can get the music out of the way and clap you for real. I think I've done the music 🖕🏿 pic.twitter.com/juuCHRSoCd
— Mandela Mwanza (@ThirdEyeMalawi) May 15, 2021
Third Eye was not done. He sto0ped to the lowest point imaginable by cursing Kananji’s mother who died about a decade ago, in 2011 with a tweet muddled with expletives, which forced Twitter Malawi to round him up as a sore loser.
Ndadziwa kokupeza. Ukamandinena kuti ndine muthafuka muti nyimbo takoto ngati sindinabwele ku maliro amako ndimasteni angawo kumachemelelana ndi ti achina @Basssikk ndi kaya Simbato basi manyi amanu nanunso. Tikumana 🤝🏿 https://t.co/Ti76rP3b9Z
— Mandela Mwanza (@ThirdEyeMalawi) May 15, 2021
In highsight, one can evidently say and rightly so that when 3rd Eye claimed to being game for the the Bar-To-Bar fight, ‘he didn’t see King Kananji coming’. All hail King ‘David’ Kananji, Twitter Malawi declared.
Kumavomereza zikavuta
— Nøt_Just_shåbbån🇲🇼 (@dafter_shaban) May 15, 2021
We underestimated your level of Stupidity. https://t.co/ptqLNFbJ2n
— Hugo XXIV (@ManFromHewe) May 15, 2021
You talk like a big man. Drop your location angokumenyani, better yet you know he’s gonna be ku Rosevine go there and say it to his face. Twitter fingers yakulimbitsa mtima. No wonder people are doing better than you and no way Airtel or TNM will host your app. Disgraceful!!! https://t.co/ZTwrSNWZu0
— smart (@always_righ) May 15, 2021
Fanz inkafuna kulanda ma truck a masteni ako after your stupid ass took a loan out and your show at BICC flopped koma anakusugilani ulemu cause mothers are sacred. But clearly you're too daft to realise that. 0/10 https://t.co/Yq3IboPIao
— Adha Achikhakha (@LA_VYOTO) May 15, 2021
Disgusting https://t.co/2uAfextTa2
— Wolf of All Streets (@macbriight) May 15, 2021
Honestly fuck this. This is so lame and insensitive. https://t.co/8Qok4MCJDp
— Don Corleone (@ClaudeRonnie2) May 15, 2021
I really hope you get your ass whooped. https://t.co/5lGP4rjOii
— Chief Enjoyment Officer (@itsShazzi) May 15, 2021
ALSO I HOPE THEY WHOOP YOUR INSENSITIVE ASS! https://t.co/eAZR7UhtcE
— Tkash stan account (@msuee__) May 15, 2021
Imagine hyping u that u have killed the kid in both songs,,, now u have to bring a dead person on this it doesn't make sense at all especially from a man like u whom av been respecting for so long😒😒😒😒😒 #ucandobetter https://t.co/Cnsg4i8ehR
— General plug🇿🇦 (@Skinny_ray) May 15, 2021
Mandela this is disgusting and shameful. Taking it there just makes you look like a very sore loser. https://t.co/Mpk3E9sLpb
— . (@xandritepearl) May 15, 2021
A week ago a volley of verbal sparring resulted in an interesting week of hip hop hooray and competitive skills. This though..this ain't it 🚮🚮 https://t.co/M6WhiaXo5e
— Mubweza (@ZilanieGondwe) May 15, 2021
This level of foolishness cmng from u s breathtaking
— Phidza (@dalitso9583) May 15, 2021
Meanwhile, 3rd Eye’s long time collaborator, Dominant 1 emerged as the voice of reason. He urged the two warring MCs to bury the hatchet and make amends. Of course, a defeated Third Eye has previously been described to behave like a rabid dog.