Snaps

Kenyan hip hop has gone through several phases. This mixtape tries as much as possible to identify them through their unifying act of Sheng poetics. These tracks observe, report, criticize, accuse, and protest. Together, they paint a conscious picture of Nairobi.

A selection of ten music videos from Nairobi from 2020 onwards, plus two older ones by DJ Raph’s algorithm. Some are examples of popular current music addressing heavy political themes, while others are a sort of antithesis.

After growing up in Japan, Sally, a Kenyan teenager, wanted to reconnect with Kenyan music upon returning home, while dealing with the meaning of that term, «home».

Nairobi-based artists Kamwangi Njue (7Headc0) and Raphael Kariuki (DJ Raph) remixed conversations between seven Nairobi musicians and Norient’s Thomas Burkhalter, resulting in this compilation album.

Kamau Ngigi aka Kamaa aka Githingithia (Earthquake) is one of the founders of legendary rap trio Kalamashaka, widely regarded as originators of Kiswahili rap in Nairobi. Here, he tells the story of the Nairobi of his day.

Journeys through Nairobi take on an abstract, haunting quality, where familiar traffic sounds transform into otherworldly voices, transporting us into a fugue state where the mundane act of moving in the city begins to suggest other journeys, other places.

Conscious Kiswahili rap gave the youth a voice of protest towards the turn of the millennium. Today, more mainstream popular musicians have joined in, making music with direct critical messages.

Nairobi’s Westlands district is the rich side of a highly unequal city. But it also provided a space for electronic musicians and music-lovers from across social divides.