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 crosses across all genres of music. He acredits his inspiration from books that he had read when he was younger as well as the various music genres that he listened to while growing up. He has been compared to American rapper, Twista as well as Nigerian rapper, M.I Abaga because of his quick and swift style of rapping.
Khaligraph Jones has released various Mixtapes, singles and three studio albums; ‘Autograph’, ‘Eff Off’ and ‘Testimony 1990’. He raps in both Swahili and English and has collaborations with different artists from all over the continent of different genres. He has participated in various rap battles and has been established as the face of rap in Kenya. He raps mainly about his personal experiences from where he grew up to his journey to where he is and how he views the rap scene nationally as well as across the continent. He has received many accolades for his music such as the best rap act of AFRIMMA awards in 2018, Sound City MVP Awards 2020 and many others. He is respected amongst many artists across the continent and held in high esteem by many Africans.
He has now focused most of his time to bringing up and inspiring upcoming artists through his launching of ‘Khaligraph presents’ annual cyphers; ‘Khali Cartel 1’ , ‘Khali Cartel 2’ , ‘Khali Cartel 3’ and is also one of the influential members of Blu Ink Corp Record Label. Included in this post is a link to the ‘Khali Cartel 3’, which in my opinion has a very interesting and original flow. It includes upcoming artists who rap in English and Swahili in the same way as Khaligraph Jones himself. He is truly a force to be reckoned not only because he is so talented but due to the fact that he is trying to bring up and create opportunities for upcoming rappers and broaden the hip-hop scene in Kenya.
One response to “The face of Kenya’s Hip Hop Scene: Khaligraph Jones”
Very well written! And i am in love with the thoroughness and the passion with which it was delivered!