Wangechi Waweru is a Kenyan rapper, singer, and songwriter. She was born on January 19th 1994 in Nairobi, Kenya. Growing up she knew she had a love for music. Wangechi has said that her passion for music derived from listening to Nazizi who is a rapper and songstress. She listened to African music from rappers such as Kalamashaka but she also listened to American music. At just the age of 12 she came to love music by artists such as Jay-Z, Kanye West, Notorious B.I.G, Lauryn Hill, and many more. Wangechi’s taste in music was very diverse and eventually that diversity fed into her own music. When she finally found her calling for music she released her first mixtape, “Consume Chakula ya Soul”, in 2013. She came into the rap game with a unique and versatile flow.
In 2016, Wangechi released a song called “Here’s to us” as the anthem for the Tusker Here’s To Us Campaign. This campaign’s goal is to bring Kenyans together. Because of this, the song speaks about unity. A fun fact about this song and video is that the video was filmed in every county in Kenya. This was a way to show the unity of everyone from different parts of Kenya.
After you hear this song you realize that Wagenchi is a very versatile artist. Throughout the verses she switches between both languages. She also uses ethnic sounds as well as using what we would call, Techno music. When listening to her other music you will find that she switches languages a lot in order to reach various audiences. The fact that she uses both languages has helped her to connect with various American artists. Wangechi has shared the stage with major American artists such as Neyo, Mos Def, and Tinnie Tempah. Wangechi is a very artistic, diverse, and inspirational artist. If your looking to find great diverse Kenyan music and artistic videos, you should listen to Wangechi.
Keep up on Wangechi’s progress:
http://wangechimusic.com/#about