Chester Houseprince Finds His Rhythm

Chester Houseprince, a former dancer turned successful Namibian musician, is diversifying into business while advocating industry unity, merit-based bookings and creative genre-blending.

Houseprince, whose real name is Gideon Eiseb, started off as a dancer at school talent shows before he co-started a dance group called Brothers of Peace (BOP) with his childhood friends.

“I always had the music in me. I just didn’t know how to bring it out. Before I started dancing for the likes of the late Pablo Diablo and Killa B, I was already dancing during talent shows at my school, Khomas High School, as well as at the other schools,” he says.

“I was a member of BOP in 2003, together with the likes of Gazza’s back-up singer-cum-dancer. In fact, I was first dancing for Gazza before I joined Mshasho Music Productions under The Dogg, who was also the person who boosted my self-confidence to start singing.”

Houseprince says he would also follow The Dogg to the studio and play around with the mic.

“At home I would stand in front of the mirror and pretend I was one big superstar and act crazy over the songs of the likes of Msawawa and Nigerian superstar Wizzkid.”

In record time, Houseprince featured on The Dogg’s super hit ‘Nuka’, which was named song of the year at the Namibian Annual Music Awards in 2014.

He then followed up with his own debut song, ‘Sabi’, before he finally went solo in 2018.

Chester is currently enjoying a very successful solo career, which saw him releasing hit after hit, while his 2022 hit ‘Barcadi’, which was masterminded by South African producer Beekay, was his most popular song with close to three million views on YouTube.

The gifted dancer also has other significant songs, like ‘Kop Pyn’, featuring Kalux, also dubbed the prince of ma /gaisa love songs, and ‘Ixa’.

The song ‘Nonsense’, featuring The Ambassadors and Ch3f Luigi, also received favourable reviews from his fans.

“The message in my music is more about the dance culture. My music is mostly inspired by the message in it, but otherwise my producers and I always make sure people get up and jive whenever they hear my songs.

“I’m not in competition with anyone, and this should not be construed as arrogant, but these words are meant to harmonise Namibian musicians. We should stand up and demand inclusiveness and unity of purpose in our work, inspired by perfection,” Houseprince says.

The house star has put his musical work on hold for now and is currently busy shaping up his other business ventures that are offspring from his music career.

“The message should be clearly understood that music is my full-time job, but in this part of the world, one cannot only rely on music to survive. This is a very sensitive and highly risky industry and with the current economical situation, hard work is required,” Chester notes.

“I am doing other stuff that also has an element of my musical career in them. I have been too busy recording in the studio and performing wherever my presence was required around the country for quite too long. My break from music is not one to rest because I am working.”

Houseprince, who is also into the fusion business, learned the finer arts of ‘borrowing’ from other genres like amapiano, kwaito and Afro-dance to come up with his unique sound.

He is warning fellow artists and those aspiring to become musicians not to get stuck in one genre, but to learn to make music that will appeal to people from all walks of life.

Houseprince is soon to drop a song, in collaboration with Bounce, SQ Musiq, Agogo Skuza, Zella Fullforce and DJ Spuzza.

The artist, who has been to different countries, including a trip to Canada and Norway with The Dogg, has also shared the stage with a few established names in music like DJ Maphorisa and Kabza De Small.

Houseprince has travelled on his own performing in Angola, Botswana, and Polokwane in South Africa.

“So far I’ve had memorable moments of my own on stage and I’ve also shared the stage with other top Nigerian stars like Davido and P Square, who have all cemented their spots as global acts.

“In my solo career I’ve also rubbed shoulders with the late Rick Ross and Doctatainment.”

He says his biggest regret musically is that he did not shoot a lot of videos during the earlier stages of his solo music career, because there is no better way of introducing yourself to the world than through music videos.

Lastly, Chester advises event organisers to refrain from only focusing on a selected few artists when staging events and to select people based on merit.

“Let’s leave the silly politics of favouritism and learn to integrate and move on as a nation. The people at the trade fairs only want their friends to perform there.

“Our booking of artists is based on friendships only. Other artists should be let in as well.”

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