One of the freshest artists to come out of hip hop in the
last ten years is Toronto bred MC/poet Ian Kamau. It may be a forgotten fact
but those who know the roots of this movement know that hip hop started out as
a community and was all about each one - teach one. The foundation of hip hop
established by the early greats such as Cool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa and Zulu
Nation was based on a notion that the movement was for the benefit of the
people other than the rappers themselves. This is one thing you notice about
Kamau in all his music is that he is about the community. His music is
powerful; it’s evident that Kamau is a scholar and a great conversationist who
listens to the voice within.
His Trini parents
named him Kamau a Kenyan Kikuyu name meaning ‘Silent Warrior’; perfect name for
a poet MC that listens a lot. He has opened shows for K'Naan, K-OS, Saul
Williams, The Roots, Michael Franti, Ben Harper, Ursula Rucker, Talib Kweli and
Shad as well as collaborating with the likes of K-OS, Tumi (from Tumi & the
Volume), Shad and many more. His connection with Africa is special to him and
he loves spending time here performing and connecting with people. His desire is to put his experiences into the
world so that he may enter a larger conversation with people in different
places. Early this year released the album; One Day Soon and embarked on a
South African tour: Ian Kamau
Spark Africa and
Kwani Trust have put together their energy to enable his presence in Kenya in
the first week of August. He performs at Kwani Open Mic on August 7th. During
this performance he will be supported by Kenyan poets Wanjiku Mwaurah, Number
8, Dembede Mido and Githuku Ndungi. He will be doing a lot of other interesting
things such as doing music with Kenyan artists such as Juliani, Octoppizo,
Bamboo just to name a few. Keep it here
for more.
