With its diverse cultures, rhythms, and music, the world presented itself to me.
Category: Album Reviews
ROMI, Knowledge Na Mashairi Vol. 1 7th Anniversary
Today, ROMI, Knowledge Na Mashairi turns seven.
Top 5 Kenyan Hip-Hop Albums of 2021
Last year, after a year of the music industry being ravaged by the COVID-19 pandemic, we gathered and shared our Top 5 Kenyan Hip-Hop Projects of 2020. It was the first time we compiled our Sanaa kwa Sana end-year lists. We reflected on how the state of the world and our country, specifically, influenced (or …
Top 10 Kenyan Albums of 2021
Intrinsically, albums demand more than EPs. Think about concepts, themes, sound, production, features, sequencing, and general execution.
Bani Blakman – ‘Simama’ EP Review
A seeking soul desires home, a restless mind desires tranquility. Love can be the answer but a reflective and sceptical spirit will still question it. Bani Blakman is genuine. His writing, singing, and playing are simple and straightforward. He immerses his debut project in honesty and personality. His wishes define Simama. So does his signature …
Top 5 Kenyan Hip-Hop Projects of 2020
2020 has been riddled with change, anxiety, and uncertainty. At the beginning of the pandemic in Kenya, public gatherings and events were all cancelled. For people whose careers depend on gatherings, artists and the entire creative economy were thrown in disarray. Apart from affecting their sources of income, the new reality greatly shaped their creative …
Cafu Da Truth x Mambo Makes Music – ‘Mambo Kavu’ EP Review
Mambo Kavu is precise, livid, and confrontational. Cafu Da Truth does not mince his words. In a country of recurring corruption scandals and COVID-19 Millionaires, you can’t afford the luxury of silence. Together with Mambo Makes Music, he is resolute about inspiring us to collective action and responsibility. He seeks to evoke the spirit and …
Continue reading Cafu Da Truth x Mambo Makes Music – ‘Mambo Kavu’ EP Review
Blaque Swahili – ‘Antidote’ Album Review
When Ian “Nonickname” Gwagi of Cre8ive Spills says, “There’s no Kenyan hip-hop conversation without 1183,” there’s no argument. I still remember watching “Bloody Contestants” for the first time in 2014. I was standing in the HIP HOP Hookup crowd at the Sarakasi Dome. The video was playing in the background and I kept wondering, “What …
Nyashinski – ‘Lucky You’ Album Review
2006. Nyashinski (Nyamari Ongegu), Collo (Collins Majale), and Roba (Robert Manyasa) are churning out hit songs, ruling the airwaves, and performing all over the country. Kleptomaniax’s career is thriving. The trio is embedding its name in the growing urban Kenyan music scene. Yet, at the peak of their career, Nyashinski leaves. His family gets an …
Gufy – ‘Love & How It Comes’ Album Review
Gufy is not new to vulnerability. His poems and his performance shows are known to bring people to tears, revealing and confronting their demons. Going Gufy, held at the Michael Joseph Centre in February this year, continued with the same spirit, although aesthetically different. Going Gufy sets the precedence and forms part of the core …
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