Nazizi’s second act

Nazizi Hirji, popularly known as First Lady of Hip hop, did not earn her place in the industry by sitting pretty. But this is not a story of her journey into music. It is a story of a 39-year-old woman who was lost but found herself. By JACQUELINE MAHUGU

Her locs skim her waist and her face is scrunched up in concentration. She is running late for her rehearsal for the reggae show she hosts on Vybes Radio. But she is a popular figure and that means saying hallo to a multitude of people before she can finally focus on the interview. Radio wasn’t her first love. Music was. And being one to embrace challenges, she has taken to hosting and makes it seem like something she has been doing for a really long time. She loves it, and works hard at it. Between bites of chocolate and sips of sugarcane juice, we spend the next hour taking a spin through her journey of life. And boy has she lived.