The shrap generation taking over the Kenyan hip-hop scene

by Kabura Ng'ang'a

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Hip-hop takes many forms and from its introduction it has quite evolved. It has been pegged to a lot of aggressiveness and at the moment, the genre is more accepting of soft people into it. In Kenya, it is no different.

There has been a lot going on in the hip-hop scene in Kenya from the very great freestylers to the poets who switch up to hip-hop to the great lyricist and the new sub-genres of hip-hop that keep popping up; the hip-hop scene in Kenya is quite vibrant.

It is until recently that we were introduced to the hip-hop genre ‘shrap’. It sounds a lot like the mumble rap of Kenya where all the artists mumble through the lyrics to their songs. Every song from the shrap artists is a hit but with the worry that it sounds so much like the last song (cue Boutross and Kahush back to back).

The sound is still a little alternative and it might sound a little underground sipping into the mainstream. On the flipside still, it might sound like the one true hip-hop sound that is mainstream with many hip-hop artists fusing mainstream sounds and trends for airplay and that leaves Kenya with a handful of artists who can still be referred to as hip-hop artists.

Well, shrap is quite the interesting sub-genre of hip-hop at the moment in the Kenyan industry and maybe with more work into it all not sounding the same, it will take over and become a thing-thing here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpdoTqfDRBw