Category: Kenya
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Octopizzo: Changing the narrative of young refugees from the Kibera slums
Born in one of the largest slums of the world in Kibera, Nairobi, Henry Ohanga also known as “Octopizzo”, is set to change the narrative of residents of such areas. After completing his secondary school education, Octopizzo took computing courses, worked as an electrician and an actor, before diving into hip hop music and youth…
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The face of Kenya’s Hip Hop Scene: Khaligraph Jones
Khaligraph Jones a.k.a Papa Jones born Brian Robert Ouka is an influential Kenyan Rapper who came to the scene when he was 19 years old, during ‘The 2009 Channel ‘O’ MC Africa Challenge’. Tracing his roots from Kayole, Nairobi, this artist had humble beginnings and has used that to shape his music and sound which…
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HHAP Episode 50: The Mixtape Episode P. 2
This episode is our second mixtape episode. The episode features the most recent works of 23 of Africa’s fiercest lyricists. All of songs featured on this episode were released in 2018 and 2019, and features women from across Africa, and African women who reside in the Diaspora. Some of the artists are fairly well known…
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Stella Mwangi’s Global Roots
In the video for her 2014 track “Biashara,” rapper Stella Mwangi, also known as STL, boldly addresses the viewer as she embodies a distinct fusion of her transnational roots. Mwangi, who was born in Murang’a, Kenya but migrated to Norway with her family in 1991, at the age of five, is an expert at blending…
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Shad the Storyteller
Representation and roots are the foundation for hip hop. Without representation, hip hop would arguably not exist. Further, with culture, comes language. So when Shadrach Kabango, also known as “Shad,” was born in the early 1980s in Kenya, representation too played an integral part not only in his upbringing as a Canadian citizen, but also as a award…
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Fena Gitu is “Doing Her Thing”
When listening to Nairobi-based rapper Fena Gitu’s music, one can immediately sense her powerful command of the mic. In the male dominated sphere of contemporary African hip-hop, Gitu exists alongside a growing number of female artists who are boldly claiming their space as emcees in their own rights. As minorities in their field, women hip-hop…
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Wangechi’s World
“It is easy for a guy to be a recognized as a rapper but not so for female rappers,” says Wangechi Waweru; this sentiment is a driving force in Waweru’s career to pave a path for other female, Kenyan rappers. Known by her stage name, “Wangechi,” she has been well recepted in the Kenyan hip hop…
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Octopizzo’s “Nu Afrika”
In 2017, Kenyan rapper and youth activist Octopizzo released “Nu Afrika”, a single that came about as a result of the extremely violent rioting and political unrest in Kenya. Kenya was undergoing a brutal change of regime following the presidential election results. Before releasing “Nu Afrika”, Octopizzo (Henry Ohanga) spoke to his hometown Kibera, which…
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Juliani Wants to Lead Kenyans to “Victory through Misery”
Hip hop in Kenya, as around the globe, provides an ideal platform for artists to share their perspectives surrounding issues of social and political importance to both themselves and the larger communities they represent. Through their verses, rappers and MCs have the ability to traverse across barriers to challenge those in power and unify their…
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King Kaka’s Key
No matter location – whether in America, the United Kingdom, or Kenya –artists use hip hop to not only make songs, which satisfy the listeners, but also to make social commentary and hopefully some sort of social change. Hip hop is a tool of various forms of social justice. In Kenya’s uprising in 2008, hip hop…