"5 Minutes" With @SibuNzuza: Balancing Life & The Love Of Music

What are we supposed to do when the person you care about needs attention, but time isn’t on our side? Ask for "5 Minutes," like Sibu Nzuza in the latest video for his aptly titled single. The rapper’s song opens with a request to work on music directed towards a lover. Sometimes, all we want from our loved ones is their attention. Whether it be a child demanding one-on-one time with their mother, or a lover wanting “us” time, we’re all the same at some point. However, as Sibu explains in song, work needs to get done. 

The "5 Minutes" music video relays the same message but focuses on a girlfriend demanding attention from Sibu. It opens with Sibu writing on the couch when his on-screen girlfriend arrives unexpectedly with a bottle of bubbly. The ardent, beautiful, and attention seeking girlfriend does her utmost best to capture her lover’s eye. She initiates intimacy while he’s trying to write and record, then, outlandishly, when she posed as a JMPD officer conducting a traffic stop. However, the most shocking moment is when watchers realize that she has booked out a performance venue and booked Sibu for a concert of one!

The music video is entertaining, with the storyline perfectly matching the lyrics. After a conversation with Sibu, this likely has everything to do with the story being based on real events. A year ago, the rapper found himself with nothing but a guitar chord, when his real-life girlfriend began to request his attention. Wanting to spend time with your person is natural, but at the same time, getting into a creative space can be difficult when there’s a more enticing distraction nearby. So instead of leaving the whole exercise alone, Sibu drew inspiration from his situation.

“I love not being disturbed when I’m trying to find inspiration, especially when I don’t know where to start,” Sibu explains. “I didn’t know what to work on that day.” Since then, finding the balance between his life as an artist, including the responsibilities thereof, and his personal life has been difficult. Thankfully his girlfriend is equally artistically inclined, so there is a mutual understanding regarding what he has to deliver as a musician. However, on the topic of family, and the attention that one would generally afford their them, Sibu explains, “I’m not an ideal friend like I used to be...I don’t go home as much as I used to...it’s not the same anymore.”

Needing to find ‘five minutes’ for a loved one likely has everything to do with Sibu Nzuza’s budding career as an Ambitiouz Entertainment signee. He signed in November 2018 and has already released a stellar visual. If this is the energy for 2019, a lot more people will be asking him for their five minutes.