BoiBlacc is a rapper based in Nairobi, Kenya. He’s constantly working on new music and has unique music videos.
‘The wire’ was released in 2021.
BoiBlacc explained that ‘The Wire’ ”is a song with thematic influences drawn from the city of Nairobi, more specifically the profiling of young men by both the police and society as a whole. A significant of boys and young adult males have been murdered I’m extreme cases at the hands of civilian mobs or by the police. These individuals are usually suspected to be thieves or accomplices of the crimes that take place within different neighbourhoods in the city. It is also the norm for young men to have stories about ‘that one time I got arrested for loitering’ or ‘being drunk and disorderly.”
He continued. ”There’s generally gross misconduct on the part of the police because these arrests are more often than not, ways of soliciting for bribes. Now, ‘the wire” is a song inspired by events that took place late last year. A group of four young men died at the hands of villagers in a town called Isinya. They suspected that the four were livestock thieves and lynched them to death before burning their motorcycles. As it turned out later on, these young men, two of them being from the same family, were in fact only traveling for fun and had made a stop. These young men had long locs of hair which unfortunately made them a target for the villagers who tend to be conservative and feel that dreadlocks are worn by criminals or people with similar intent.”
His song was ”a tribute to these young men whose lives were taken unjustly. It is a sad state of affairs because the youth have the least protection from the state where extra judicial killings and lynchings are nothing new.”
The song makes references to being young, such as in the introduction when he repeats ”You know I’ve barely got it figured out.” This is a nod to the fact that many young people are still trying to figure out their place in the world.
The song repeats ”I pray that I make it in one piece, see another day” as emphasis to his point of these unproved targets.
Listen to ‘the wire’:
Spotify / Apple Music / Soundcloud
Connect with Boiblacc