Hip-hop has not traditionally had the best relationship with the police force, but Adelaide rapper Tafadzwa Dzimano of up-and-coming duo Nvsty Militia wasn’t about to let that get in the way of simply “being nice to people”.

That’s what Dzimano told RipItUp he was doing when he helped a South Australia Police officer arrest a drunken man who’d begun abusing passengers on a train Dzimano was taking home following a recording session.

“I was on the way back from recording,” Dzimano told RipItUp. “It was just a normal day, then this guy gets on the train. [He] was a little bit intoxicated, and he started swearing and going off at other passengers, just sort of carrying on.”

After Adelaide Metro security failed to get the man off the train, Senior Constable Nic Whiteside arrived at the train station where the train had stalled about an hour later.

“At first I thought, ‘Oh he’s got this’. He asked him, [and] he’s obviously not going to go and disrespect the law, this is an officer talking to him.” But the man continued to be “aggressive and unruly”.

When Dzimano witnessed the officer having trouble getting the man to cooperate, he stepped in and even suffered a headbutt from the man in the ensuing scuffle.

“I didn’t think to press charges or do any of that stuff, ‘cause even though I got headbutted it didn’t bother me. Y’know I don’t know his circumstances. So I just decided, ‘y’know officer, he’s off the train, I’m going home’,” he said.

The rapper subsequently received a Certificate of Appreciation from the SA Police and a social post commending the muso went viral, accruing 11,000 likes and more than 400 shares and 550 comments.

“I didn’t expect to get a certificate, you shouldn’t expect something for being nice to people. I was humbled and really thankful for all the nice comments, even my old teacher contacted me,” said Dzimano.

Get unlimited access to the coverage that shapes our culture.
to Rolling Stone magazine
to Rolling Stone magazine