Though continuously evolving, Tanzanian hip-hop has never been consistent be it by the breaks artists take during their careers or the switch up from genre to genre. A great example is my favorite GNako.
Full name George Sixtus Mdemu , he was born in Arusha in May 1983. G-Nako, has two sisters and a daughter named Samantha.
Also popular by the stage name G-warawara, he started his music career in 1998 at Nangwa Technical school with his friend BouNako. In the year 2000 G-Nako joined Nako 2 Nako Soldiers led by Lord Eyes . While being an active member of Nako 2 Nako, G-Nako released solo tracks including Mama Yeyoo featuring BenPol and Right Here featuring Banx
GNako has a habit of jumping from hip-hop/rap to a dancehall-ish/afro beats type of vibe. Not that I am complaining, I just find it confusing as to why artists do this. Perhaps its the arrogance they gain once they have clout or its because being rich gives them the avenue to do so. Either way, I support it one hundred percent. We need more Swahili artists to go mainstream and I believe GNako is very promising as he had a very busy 2018 dropping singles such as Tingisha and Gengesha. These two songs are actually a great example of the two different dynamics I commend that GNako possesses. Tingisha , from the cover to the beat, can be played right after a Davido (afro-beat artist) song. He raps in the song to add his own raw spice but the song is mostly dependent on the beats just like a lot of dance songs. Gengesha is a feel-good song that also has amazing beats but is carried by GNako’s smooth way of telling us amejipanga . I would group it with songs like Digi Digi by Arrow Bwoy just because they share the smooth rap vibe even though it is not throughout in Digi Digi. Though 2018 was full of singles (which we are not mad at), I hope that 2019 will be full of EPs and new Albums. I stan an artist who can make me think and shake my *** all in a matter of a few minutes.