img courtesy of Howee
Its amazing how our little brothers and sisters grow up so fast. Howee was the little kid on the block just the other day, my my my look how big and grown he has become. Its also funny how the fruit doesn’t fall so far from the tree. About 15 years ago Howee’s big brother revolutionized Kenyan hiphop as we virtually know it today. A few people were there to attest to the new rap and style – This group came in form of ZIG ZAG (mainly Patrick Osiri and Patrick Mureithi). It’s funny how these cats got me to wear like 3 pairs of jeans back then thinking it was a very cool thing. Zig Zag was one of the first few rao duos in Kenya, they paved the way for most of the new cats singing and rapping today.
A couple of years later and you have a more refined, more settled and more mature brand – HOWEE. Ive grown up knowing Howard not only as the youngest Mureithi – but the Black sheep of the family. Howee was the epitome of cool, epitome of hustler and epitome of I got to get it. His attitude has defined a lot of what he has done in life and a lot of what he continues to do through his music. To me his music is not necessarily about creativity and or lyrical competence, its more about the message. The stuff that we dare not say in public or say to the people we care about, or worse to our enemies. Howee just bares it all. I think Kenya is need of such a soldier at this critical time as we struggle to break freedom of press, freedom of expression amongst other freedoms.
This track is not only real but honest of the realities in his life – I think on average many Kenyan artists need to talk about real stuff. The lyrical flow to me is still wanting, Howee has always been laid back so I feel as though he cant afford to be the same way in his music and delivery. People want more emotion out of an artist… I draw too many similarities between Howee and Prezzo but thats just me – either way this is a good start to something great – although my feeling is this track is not Kenyan material (in terms of the average Kenyan feeling it and relating to it).
Thats my two cents…
listen to Sorry Mama here:
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download the track here:
watch the video here:
personally i’m not feeling this track at all. The rapping is so so, and labored and the beat is generic – there is nothing new here. there is more budget here than talent. Honestly you can’t out Prezzo, Prezzo and Prezzo is a whack MC its only that he was the first in Kenya so we have learned to accept him.
I am really feeling this track and Howee as an artist. He puts himself out there and stays true to himself. Compared to Ni Nani, the first video some year and a half back, his work has evolved and from listening to some of his other tracks on his , I’m looking forward to what’s to come.
i like this track for two reasons
1)the lyrics are honest and soulful which is something i am a fan of.
2)i think the beat is tight because it goes with the message the artist was trying to communicate
but the flow is of poor quality.
Sorry Mama has a great western feel to it. I penda the way local artists are assaulting the world markets on all fronts. DNA even did a Crunk Joint on “Kama Kawaida”, Bamboo “Tabia Mbaya” track {The Instrumental Track} is as good as any T-Pain producshizzle, akina Shamir are doing serious reggae, Doobiez staying true to HipHop, the number of rock bands in the country is alarming, yaani…
Howee and Kwame did great on this one. But, from this joint, you can tell they’ve got a along way to go if they’re to make it big in that genre. They sound like Nameless when he did Megarider. It was a promising track that received sufficient airplay. But when Nameless completely ditched rap..the result was a song that set an all-time record in the country. “Ninanoki”, a colabo with Amani established Nameless as we now know him.
Am I advocating for Howee and Kwame to ditch this style? Not really, but if they stick in the game long enough, maybe they too will find themselves. And the results could be bigger and sweeter than Ambrose Akwabi’s former project – “Jawabu” a group that would have easily established themselves as the most successful R&B outfit in Kenya had they stuck together. Maybe Howee and Kwame could be Kenya’s answer to Uganda’s new kids on the block, Moze Radio and Weasel!
Peep Howee’s host website http://www.reverbnation.com/howee
I think it’s the realest material I’ve ever come accross. There’s a blog and free downloads. This cat is creating online buzz b4 the airwaves man.
I actually really feel this boy…
I like the beat at the end, but i agree with louis the rapping is labored, he’ll prolly get better with time if he just getting started.
Kwame vocals make the hook interesting, do you have any of his music?