EVE, SHAGGY AND CABO HANGING IN KENYA

By Buddha Blaze Pictures Courtesy of IMG Media


Eve kicking it in Kenya with Shaggy

The exciting weekend of September 30th was fun filled in the city of Nairobi as stars trickled in for the big Tusker All Stars Concert set to happen on October 1st at the Carnivore. Fans from all over were quite elated to know that some of their favorite music stars were hanging out in their town. There was pandemonium at the airport, hotels, clubs, malls and everywhere they went.



The Stars Hangin out in Kenya

They slowly trickled in one by one; first it was the Angolan star Cabo Snoop who was so happy to visit Kenya for the first time. Next was Jamaican reggae star Shaggy who has been to Kenya so many times he knows people and the streets by name he is suspected to have a Kenyan cell number. Hip hop diva Eve landed in later welcomed by celebration and camaraderie.

They quickly embarked on getting to know the Tusker All Stars Ugandan Davies, Tanzanian Msechu and Rwandese Alpha exchanged a lot of music and talked about industry experiences. They went out hanging out in Kenyan clubs visiting different venues enjoying Kenyan food and hospitality and culture. There was a lot of love, music, laughter, fun, embrace and style in the air.



Cabo planting a tree.

The jovial musicians then embarked on the first leg of their tour which was environmental conservation by teaming up with the EABL team and visiting the infamous Karura Forest which was saved by the late Wangari Maathai (RIP). The artists were elated to be involved in the experience in a country known for having an international tree planting hero. They loved it.



Alpha gets down and dirty.

To find out more go to: http://www.facebook.com/SparkAfrica

MC Kah Speaks about his visit to Colombia

By Buddha Blaze
When it comes to hip hop in Nairobi, no other place is known to embrace this art form more than the inner city slum neighbouhood of Dandora. The home of hip hop pioneers Kalamashaka, Gidi Gidi Maji Maji and Ukoo Flani Mau Mau. Dandora is a nurturing ground for many stories and many MCs as a matter of fact it has the biggest concentration of MCs in Kenya every other young male is a rapper, a retired one or an aspiring one. It is the home of one MC Kah who is the younger brother to Kamah; one part of Kalamashaka. MC Kah is from a school of hip hop that is all about lyrics, its all about making sense and seeing how hip hop today is never about lyrics he may be one of those MCs that inwardly frustrated by his counterparts who are all about stunting.


Kah has been rapping since his teens and all he has ever known is positive lyrics. So being chosen to participate in this Translating Hip Hop project was not far fetched. He knows first hand the power of lyrics because he grew up around Kenyan hip hop pioneers Kalamashaka and later on as his own artist, he was involved in major projects such as he was part of the song ‘DANDORA L.O.V.E’ that was a hit in East Africa, he also participated in the human rights album Kilio cha Haki – Cry for Justice. Kah knew that going to Colombia to translate hip hop would be a challenge due to language but having performed in Europe for crowds that didn’t understand Swahili he knew well that hip hop doesn’t have a language barrier and that wouldn’t stop the fun.

The long journey to Colombia from Nairobi did not stop his enthusiasm after all he was probably the first Kenyan MC to ever visit Colombia a place that is known more for its medicinal export than its hip hop. On his way to Colombia he had been warned about his security but when he got to Bogota everything seemed fine, after all his home neighbourhood of Dandora is not a walk in the park. He loved the city of Bogota and he notes that there’s a lot of hip hop, reggae, salsa. Bogota had a similar hip hop vibe as in Kenya and he noticed how Colombian music had a lot of historical influence to African music probably through slave trade. He noticed that Colombians were quite interested in Africa and world affairs in general.




In Colombia hip hop artists seemed to enjoy a certain level of freedom to say whatever they need to say and censorship didn’t seem to be a thing they worried about that much. Like in many developing countries Colombia is plagued by youth unemployment, lack of resources for proper education, proper health facilities and an internally displaced population that is highly reliant on drugs for their daily survival. The rich drug barons seem to control the local economy with politicians being the vehicles for corruption and moral decays. Yeah we’ve heard that story way too many times. Most Colombian hip hop artists addressed these vices in their music. Their unique blend of hip hop laced with reggae and salsa is cool sound that is unique to Colombia.



Colombians have a big love for art and its encouraged throughout the society unlike Kenya. He enjoyed the Seventh Street – Septima a street in Bogota that’s dedicated to the arts every Friday. MC Kah enjoyed doing the translation with Colombia’s hip hop big wigs DJ Benny, Dianna Avella, Falco Flow and Melanina. His whole experience in Colombia makes him understand that many countries have more to offer than they are known for. He noted that he had heard about the kidnappings, drugs in Colombia but nobody ever told him about the great food, music and determination of Colombians to fight these vices.

On 25th of March to over 15 MCs including Nazizi, Malikah and Rayess Beks will converge in Nairobi to network and perform at TRANSLATING HIP HOP a workshop and concert featuring Big Mic, Octopizzo, Sharama, Wanjiku Mwaurah, Deejay Zaq, Deejay Steel just to name a few. Be there come witness. To find out more go to: http://www.facebook.com/buddha.blaze

NAZIZI SPEAKS ABOUT HER TRIP TO BEIRUT

By Buddha Blaze
When first asked by the Goethe Institut to go to Beirut for the Translating Hip Hop project the first lady of Kenyan hip-hop – Nazizi was hesitant. After all Beirut is not known for its hip hop; it is known as a battle ground for opposing ideological, cultural and political standpoints. Still it wouldn’t have hurt for Nazizi to go see what type connections she would link up in this Middle Eastern cultural melting pot. Two weeks ago, she embarked on her first visit to Beirut anticipating racism like in other Arab countries she had been to, but was surprised by her overwhelming reception. To add to it, the Beirut architecture reminded her home on the Kenyan coastal city of Mombasa. With warm weather at play, she already felt at home. Although people did not know where Kenya was, they definitely knew about Africa, she was ready to start Translating Hip Hop.


Beirut after the War
At the start of the Translating Hip Hop workshops, she was blown away by the similarity between the Lebanese, hip hop scene and the one back home. It was still gritty, organic and developing. She simply loved how rappers spit in Arabic fusing their Middle Eastern instruments in (reminds me of Slick Rick’s verse on the Auditorium with Mosdef)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UT-hYXqTN38 This got her wondering why African hip hop artists never use traditional sounds in their music - Arabs are proud of their strong heritage and culture. Through the process, she learnt how Swahili is deep rooted in Arabic. Hip hop is a very important tool of communication in Lebanon as a vessel of spreading messages. Lebanese hip hop artists are a conscious lot and their lyrics are mostly about issues about the civil war. They are in tune with what’s happening in their neighbourhood and politics.

Beirut Now
Nazizi visited Beirut a time when there’s a lot of revolution talk in the Middle East, we have seen the youth in Egypt and Tunisia hold successful revolutions in the last one month. “Lebanese youth are also speaking out and I could hear it in many conversations that they want change and they want to be heard. They are fighting for peace in their region. There were a lot of discussions about peace revolution in Beirut,” says Nazizi. You would’ve thought she would be scared for her life being around Beirut but she took memories. “I love Beirut, it’s close to my heart, it was the last place I thought I would ever be so attached to and I definitely want to go back. My overall experience was really inspiring for me to go out there and see for myself what Beirut was like, I will definitely go back and keep in touch with the artists there. It was an eye opening experience.

“I am blown away by the idea of this Translating Hip Hop and I’m really happy to be part of it. It is important because as an artist to sit and understand other artists’ perspectives of their lyrics and translating it to my own language,” says the enthusiastic rap scholar. While Translating Hip Hop she met Beirut’s biggest rappers - Malikah and Rayess Beks whose lyrics are quite political and have been subject to censorship due to sensitivity of their lyrics. For example there certain countries such as Israel which are not recognized in Lebanon and so cannot be mentioned therefore so Lebanese artists have to be smart in their lyrics and they use a lot of parables. They are currently working on a ground breaking and collaboration album that will be released at the end of the Translating Hip Hop project. It’s about to get really hot Swahili and Arabic hip hop.

On 25th of March to over 15 MCs including Nazizi, Malikah and Rayess Beks will converge in Nairobi to network and perform at TRANSLATING HIP HOP a workshop and concert featuring Big Mic, Octopizzo, Sharama, Wanjiku Mwaurah, Deejay Zaq, Deejay Steel just to name a few. Be there come witness. To find out more go to: http://www.facebook.com/buddha.blaze