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Around the world · Kenya · since 1997

1997
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Nairobi

Kenya
Sheng slang · genge · gengetone
Ride the roster1:20
Story, bloodline and 6 names

Kenyan rap runs on Sheng, the Swahili-English creole of Nairobi's estates. Kalamashaka's Tafsiri Hii turned it into a movement in 1997; twenty years later gengetone took the same slang, sped it up and filled the clubs with it.

Bloodline · 1 stop from The Bronx
  1. 1973The Bronx
  2. 1997Nairobi

TransferSouth Central (LA)·London

American tapes and British radio, filtered through Sheng — the Swahili-English creole of Nairobi's estates. The language is what made it Kenyan rather than imported.

Ukoo Flani Mau MauCalif RecordsEthic
Roster
1995
Ukoo Flani Mau Maudeep cut

A sprawling collective that made Sheng rap political.

YTW
1997
Kalamashaka

Tafsiri Hii — the record Kenyan hip hop dates itself from.

YTW
1998
Nazizi

The first lady of Kenyan hip hop, with Necessary Noize.

YTW
2011
Octopizzo

Out of Kibera; built a career and a youth programme on it.

YTW
2015
Khaligraph Jones

The technician — battle-bred, and Kenya's most competitive pen.

YTW
2018
Ethic Entertainmentdeep cut

Gengetone's breakout crew; raw, funny, banned from radio.

YTW

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