Born in Kasama, Zambia in July 1976, Ndabaningi Mabuye moved to Zimbabwe with his family in the then newly Independent Zimbabwe. It was while growing up in Harare that Ndaba fell in love with Hip Hop and fast became an active contributor to the culture in his primary school through school variety shows. His friends started to call him Zubz, as an interpolation of the shortened version of his name, Ndabs.