Music, Nairobi and Legacy.
Nairobi.

Nairobi is not like most cities, legacy here is incredibly high pedigree.

I stumbled across a clip on Sunday evening by HBR where a local up an coming female rapper, Dyana Cods in a minute or so, summarized where the music industry in Kenya is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e75NFKDZaA4&feature=youtu.be

The lady can rap. End of. It was amazing watching her take her time, and make sure the beat matched her cut throat flow…

“Kuja na ngwai, mabeste wangu wote fisi, mi ndio hu dara polisi, mi huleta form ya bedroom kwa kiti…”

A couple of bars in and you just knew Nairobi would not be the same. Her references were on point; taking samples off local hits as well as local events, and her breath control as she tore through the instrumental, showed an artist in her element. It was as if she has been rapping for years.

You could almost feel her passion, pain, joy and hunger as she breezed through the trap instrumental, painting a picture of what its like to grow up in Eastlands.

I would have loved to be in the studio the night she did this. I love being part of these moments. When someone starts a fire. When someone sets the bar.

The music industry in Kenya has had such a high pedigree, you think of all the lyrical MCs we’ve seen bless a microphone, from the poetic flow of E-sir, K -Rupt’s melodic voice,( btw am the only one who thinks Nyashinski is like the second coming of K Rupt?…) to Nonini and the whole of the Calif crew.

All these talented MCs have come and set the bar for the next generation and it feels like something special is happening again, and not just in music.

Now, like most of the content coming out now, the content is raw, hard hitting and full of profanity. I am not against it, my only hope is that these artists come under older artists/ labels that can guide them to diversify their content and grow.

We all want to see all these talented artists go all the way. This wont be done just rapping about drugs alcohol and sex, but this is a debate for another day.

I look forward to being inspired. To seeing how far Dyana, the whole of Zozanation and these incredible pool of talent this city is churning out can go.

There is something about this beautiful city of ours… Legacy is incredibly high pedigree here, and whatever you seek to do here, you better be coming for the crown, and not just to participate.
['Itotia Waiyaki']
['Hip Hop', 'Nairobi', 'Africa', 'Music', 'Rap']