Local Languages and Sounds Shaping The Kenyan Hip-Hop Scene
6 May 2020
by Kabura Ng'ang'a
Any lover of hip-hop will tell you that they have a specific sub-genre of hip-hop they love and that is usually determinant of the place of its origin. The people of Chicago have hip-hop have their sound, the people of New York enjoy the East-Coat hip-hop hype and the people of Los Angeles enjoy the West-Coast hip-hop swag. People of London also have that swaggy sub-genre of hip-hop.
In Kenya we have not gotten to a point where we have a sub-genre to hold on to and claim it as a Kenyan hip-hop sound. We have had the rise of different sub-genres; genge, kapuka, boomba, gengetone and more. However, the hardcore hip-hop artists sample sounds of elsewhere to serve us with good music.
Fast forward to the time now, the artists in Kenya are making a statement by incorporating Kenya local languages to create their music. We have head the likes of Octopizzo occasionally using Luo in his music, Vicmass Luodollar who rose to fame with his Luo raps, we have Flowflani who uses Kikuyu for his music and more.
Artists are also turning to sound arrangements made from traditional instruments. In a sense we have been getting infusion of Rhumba in hip-hop in Octopizzo’s ‘Something For You’ and Vicmass Luodollar’s ‘Bank Otuch’ and pretty much his full catalogue.
This is definitely a work in progress and we are at a space where we can say that we are curving a hip-hop sound that is patented to Kenya. I cannot wait to see what the Kenyan hip-hop scene will look like in a few years to come.
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