The perfectionist he is – Musyoka sent this song last week, however over the weekend he was listening to the track at a popular nightclub and somehow heard some mixing that was off. So he pulled the song off the record pool list in order to rectify the sound and certain portions of the track. To me the song sounded the same – I honestly can’t tell the difference but I guess thats what makes him good at what he does.
P-Unit collaborated with Collo and Blavion to pull off this exhilirating track. Immediately I heard this track I called Lovy (down in Los Angeles) and told him Lovy real talk you need to be weary – this Logombas ship is about to be rattled a little. You see to me I think there are artists who have been comfortable somewhere in a corner because no one has challenged their style. Logombas to me got bored of their style and technique – hence released the well recieved QUEEN – which has been an instant hit all over the world.
This RUSH HOUR track is pure testament that the talent in Kenya is multi versed, multi levelled and very easily replicated (I am not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing). I think also Nameless needs to watch out 
First because it seems Musyoka can hack Kapuka beat anyday, but more importantly because to me P-Unit seems like one of those groups that can do anything – Right now I am definately watching out for anything they will be doing. Their debut album is definately going to be a must have…
Chap Chap ….. Kila mtu avuke na wake – RUSHHHH HOUR!!
listen to rush hour here:
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Not bad at all. I’m guessing it’s Musyoka himself singing the hook…he does that sometimes kinda like Ulopa only that he rarely gives himself credit for doing it. It will be interesting to see how this one will be received given the fact that the whole lingala feel has taken a dip among party-lovers in urban Kenya. Btw…come to think of it, DJs used to have a lingala session every time they played not too long ago…nowadays I only hear “karolina” by Awilo and maybe one or two others and that’s it. Just thinking aloud…
Hey Mark, i agree the song has Lingalaish to it, As far as Lingala songs not being played anymore, becoz Kenyanese songs are better produced in masses and the music is easy access, not like 5-10 yrs ago..its either Mambo Genge au Kapuka!!!
You know Mark I gotta agree with you, personally i miss Lingala – rather the DJs who play across the Kenyan events suck at playing lingala, unless you get a daring DJ. Its funny coz the more DJs dont invest in Lingala or Soukous – the less the youngn’s will learn or capture any of that genre that drove Africa for such a long time.
I think this is a good attempt at getting that flava back. In Tanzania they have a thriving genre called TWANGA PEPETA which is Tanzanians variation of Soukous music… The Deux vultures and Logombas have been key at maintaining this tempo – I hope this styles last coz honestly they are the only AFRICAN’esq styles that we have left.
this is a true banger…i like how they still remain lyrical n relevant on this beat n switch their styles up…n the fact that musyoka pulled the song when he realised a small error is just a testament of his dedication 2 his work…MASSIVE RESPECT 4 THAT…anyway, i can already see people saying ati why r they doing lingala kind of music?…others will say ati wanacopy Longombas na nameless…mimi naihisi kabisa coz “Poonate” has shown they are NOT “genre-ly challenged”…na Collo kama kawa si ni “KingWaRap”…all i can say is Lomgombas-oh oh, nameless-oh oh,hata boomba clan-oh oh…twendeni kazi…ngoma itambae
yaani joint imekwachu hadi nikasahau kuna trax zingine hapo nichi. enyewe hawa wazeia wana flow. ati lingala oh, mara lingala aaa, nuthing against lingala ya’ll…this track aint lingala vile naipiga usoro. inakaa style ya longombaz lakini ehehehe, si wathii watapigwa njeve yaani. nameless na kina lovi better have somethin coming up soon.props
mqenya, Mark & Getmziki, Yes, this a Kapuka and Lingala collabo. My Qns is, why u say Logombas, akina namesless.. need to watch out!! when all Kapuka,Jipuka & even niajo’s Artist ride the same bassline? As far as Lingala goes, Its Dead!!! Genge,Kapuka & Jipuka are the now hottest music in East and central African..whether they like it or not!!!!
… let me add my 2 cent comment from my perspective and what i understand and see music. to me a genre is jus what is used to define the feel. it does not necessarily tie the artist to that genre. its like the diffrent types of cars. we have a choice of mercs, bimaz, landrovers, hyundais, toyotaz, etc… genres to me are like that. if you want to drive in the rhino charge what do you use? definately not a Lamborghini. you look for a rugged landy or toyota that suites that terrain. music is similar. what matters the most is the content. human nature subconsciously looks for ways to express ideas, emotions and feelings and hence the birth of all sorts of creations. one man saw that Mercedes would best express his desire for quality, another one saw that a toyota will best express his concept of affordability and the economically challenged, same applies to Music. genres have grown over time and each time an artist gets a concept he looks for an avenue to BEST express his idea…. if 50 cent was born in Zaire probably in the early 70′s he would have sung in Lingala. so basically Culture, Time period have to be factored in. imagine Nameless Sinzia on a hiphop beat… the idea would not be expressed well. when an artists has an idea and he expresses it in a way that hasn’t been done before, he gives birth to a genre… Hip Hip was not there in 1920.. but as society grows new ideologies arise and thus give rise to new forms of expression. there is absolutely nothing wrong with an artist using a genre to express his idea. choose what works for you. imagine Juu Tuu Sana on this Rushhour beat… it cant be, That was the way we chose to express it. as a producer my mandate is to advice an artist which genre will best suite his idea. Lets look at the bigger picture – its also important for an artist to identify with a certain genre basically because of 2 important factors 1. Identity and how his audience will relate with him 2. Sustainability – an artist must be able to sustain his idea using a genre or else if he is incostistent and has misplaced ideas (wrong ideas on the wrong beat) people cannot identify with him. also culture plays a huge role. this Time period we are in is very competitive and musicians need to be on their toes constantly supplying the rising demand. for P-Unit they are fortunate enough to have a following. Rush hour is NOT a deviation from who they are. The idea is best expressed in that genre or feel as you prefer to cal it. in the bigger picture RUSHHOUR still maintains the elements of who P-UNIT is – CONTENT. the content is not Foreign to P-Unit’s fans. its very relevant, witty and “genge”. Bottom line is that what makes a good song is CONTENT – A MAN IS JUDGED BY THE CONTENT OF HIS CHARACTER. Thats why artists release albums, and need producers to keep them on track and to prevent them from DRIFTING and getting lost and confused. in the bigger picture P-UNIT will alwasy be identified with Genge because of their cuktural background. How they express their views and ideas doesnt really matter as long as the CONTENT REMAINS RELEVANT TO WHO P-UNIT ARE KNOWN TO BE…… Thank you for your support. and sorry for writing a long comment.
Funny enough i agree and disagree with the comments above. As a huge music fan i am disappointed we do not have any music i can call Kenyan, we do not have a distictive sound and i wish we did. But then again who are we, meet us in NY and you cannot tell the cat is from Karatina. Guess if you want music with a true Kenyan signature you will have to fuse some Samba Mapangla,Kamaru,Ken Wamaria, Kalejin Sisters (Any one who rem them from Music Time)and blend it with Taraab and lace it with modern Soul, Hip Hop and R&B. My two cents its impossible to achieve that.
First & foremost,i know Kenya has a distictive sounds! Namely 2 at the moment, Genge & Kapuka! Kapuka as we all know started with Ogopa Djs & akina Musioka, Rkay & others back in 2001. Fast forward to 2009, We have artists from around the world embracing the Kenyan Kapuka Beat. A good example is P-Square “Do Me”, yes i said it, Its “Kapuka cloned” and the list goes on. Then we have Genge Music which has grinding bass and esp the “melodies” za Clemo from Calif records have a catchy sound. The big picture is Djs/Radios/Websites need to define the songs as either one becoz Kapuka & Genge are here to stay.E.g Its ironic when a few Kenyan Djs, start labelling a whole Mixtape/Flyer/Session as “Genge Something” yet 50% of songs are Kapuka??? Getmziki & the rest start identifying the songs the right way to fix the Genres issue.
i get what Musyoka is saying, being versatile enables an artist kuwa na longevity . a perfect example ni Ludaaahh. Jamaa ana flow kali, delivery noma na humor. bet wasee hawajui producer wa 2Pac kabla he signed with DeathRow lakini ngoma wanazijua. Content goes a long way
Musyoka,
I will disagree on a few things you commented on.
At what point do you develop an artist and decide or define his BRAND. To me this is all about Branding, using your car example, Lamborghini cant just wake up and decide that they want to make an SUV, or a TRUCK or a PICK UP. These types of decisions have to be fundamentally grounded on some strong facts. I know musicians are artists, creative people – but you forget as consumers we develop listening patterns and we categories artists and singers into these buckets based on our likes and dislikes.
I think sometimes artists have the misconception that they can create different genre music to capture different audiences, which may work in the short term but in the long run these types of investments tend to hurt the artists career.
Ive worked with artists for a long time in my 20′s I especially worked with Reggae recording artists, to me these are clearly defined BRANDS they don’t veer off their Brand DNA or their course. Fair enough once in a while Sean Paul will sing a song instead of rap it but he is never put into the NEO soul category, into the Kapuka category, R&B category. So to me I would ask – What category do we put P-Unit in?
The challenge I think for me is especially for P-Unit, this is their first album (debut) how do they want to go out? How do they think we as consumers will perceive their music. Right now I love them I cant lie, but to me all these songs are individual singles – and not necessarily part of one sound. The songs make a good compilation album of their different talents, but I wouldn’t know how to sell them because the entire album wont have a single sound that I can pin point their uniqueness. Do you see what I mean.
What makes a Lamborghini stand out from a Ferrari, What makes a Merc stand out from a BMW what distinguishes one product from the other and how can these products be BRANDED – as such making them easily sellable.sellability.
Thats my 3cents
…. Yes getmziki… i totally see your concern
. but everyone knows P-UNIT is genge! they belong to the genge Genre of music. This is so because of their content and musical background. Genge if you look and analyze it carefully is more of the musical content than beat patterns. Listen to “Kwaheri by Jua Cali”….. the beat is Bumkapuka Bumkapuka.. but does that makeit Kapuka? No! its the musical history and background of Jua Cali that makes him a genge artist. Nonini’s “Furahiday”. The drum patterns and music in that song is more of a “bounce” BUT the song is genge. “Kushoto Kulia” by P-UNIT and Nonini is more of a Kwaito beat than anything. BUT its still Genge. You see thats what diffrentiates the two genre Artist origin and Back ground and Muscial Content! I did an Anti Corruption project for Homeboyz a while back and Clemo Produced a REGGEA SONG for nameless and another song for WAHU…..(i will email thm for your private collcetin as they belong to the govt of Kenya) does this make them Genge artists!!!! ESTELLE did american boy with Kanye and shocked us to death with Come on over a REGGEA song. she did not receive a GRAMMY for a reggea artist. did she? When Christina Aguilerra bust in to the scene we all thought that she was a bubble gum Britney Spears with the “Genie in a bottle song” but oh boy…. what is she doing now………and by the way what genre can you classify Jasmine Sullivan? is she a reggea artist or RNB? When Noreaga did that reggeatone HIT did that make him a reggeaton artist? When R Kelly did Burn it up did that make him a reggeatone artist? NO! The point am driving here is that MERCEDES is a brand than makes SUV’s. SEDAN’s, STATION WAGON’s, TRUCK’s ETC…. to me MERCEDES started as a small car maker. they have diversified and made trucks and even SUV’s. When Henry Ford made his fast car it was jus a small car and later he advanced to other things over time but he had made his mark as a car maker. P-UNIT made their make with “Si lazima” Kushoto Kulia etc as GENGE artists…. i would not think it as fair to keep on doing more Si lazima’s and Kushoto Kulia’s …. an artist must show growth and in my opinion they are growing. oh by the way is Nameless a Zouk artist after doing “Sinzia” and “Karibia” with R kay ? Music is a bit blurring even me i cant tell you why genres exist – i just enjoy dancing and making music! and as long as people like you appreciate what we do thats all that matters to me…. will the radio play it? will the DJ spin it? will your average consumer load it on his ipod? thats what am concerned about when i make music!
Musyoka,
Granted I agree and understand your point I still feel as though artists, P-Unit inclusive who are just starting off need to clearly define themselves. All the artists you mentioned have been doing music for years and been writing songs for other people, Jazmine , Estelle so for them to even get on a Reggae beat its just value add and not really their core genre. BTW they are all R&B artists…
Artists will spread their wings much later once they are clearly defined as with the case with LIL WAYNE who is working on a complete Rock album, Diddy who is doing a DANCE album right now, or people like FLO RIDA doing all sorts of things. Kanye got on the 808 much later in his career… he can gamble now.
I used to like an artists called RES (I am sure no one remembers or recalls or even knows who she is). I adored her – but people couldn’t classify her music and hence she kinda just fizzled off (It doenst mean she wasn’t successful it just means she didnt make it to prime time). Right now I am watching closely how people are responding to Janelle Monae the Bad Boy Artists because if for a second people cant put her in a bucket – thats it.
Thats what people do – people like to bucket things in order for them to better appreciate their existence. if people feel that the music is all over the place and the artists are all over the place, then they cant follow that journey. And no one can create multi channeled journeys to capture each or every different market – I personally think its impossible.
Marketers created NEO SOUL to bucket a specific sounding artists (although the Genre has failed or been failing because there was a thin line between Neo Soul and R&B and artists felt pigeon holed). I still think it was important for labels to create Neo soul as a marketing scheme to push these artists at the time.
Lets look at Kenya for instance and the classification of Genge (Like I said earlier to Kenyans or Kenyan artists Genge is any music that you sing in SHENG – and you have just backed up that fact) Genge is not a tune or a sound that can be a signature beat or drum arrangement. Au sio .. so thank you for clarifying that.
I think Nameless established himself as a Kapuka artists first (his entire album – On Fire or something) was kapuka… Ogopa was onto something with that project… they defined all their artist as Kapuka artists (from their signature beat). Eventually these artists spread their wings…
Anyway this debate can go on for days
but none the less I am just glad that we have talent that can go either way, I like the track if its any consolation… I am just scared of short lived Careers because we are unable to create LONG LASTING BRANDS.
i think its important for artists to evolve and grow, The goal for every artist is not to be seen as kapuka, or genge or HipHop artist but rather as an artist[for some maybe it is]. All the great artistes have evolved overtime – Bob Marley started of with ska, then rock steady then eventually reggae. Fela kuti started off playing jazz funk and Highlife and eventually evolved creating the Afrobeat genre. Same with Youssou Ndour and even Eric Wanaina
- So there is no growth without experimentation, no risk no reward
1st of all,lemme say MASSIVE RESPECT 2 ERIC MUSYOKA AND GETMZIKI…this conversation has brought forth some interesting facts concerning the music industry especially 4 an up n comer like myself…i always stress that artists should b able 2 hop on any track and demolish it(i do so whwnever i can)…however, it requires PURE talent 2 hop onto a reggae beat n spit some sense then in turn get onto a pop beat n make people dance…in Kenya, i think that 99% of the artists cannot get on2 a pop, rnb or neo soul beat n be relevant with it…but why should they?when 99% of the fans r not interested in hearing serious music about politics,life in the slums,mau mau,domestic violence…they just wanna dance…so what is K-shaka/ukoo flani 2 do???get forgotten???i personally feel bad 4 most kapuka artists since all the songs they make are club/cover songs…thats not enough fully satisfy the requirements of a 12-22 track album…n thats why 99% of all kenyan artists have never dropped an album…but e-sir was able 2…he had club tracks(leo ni leo,boomba train), serious tracks(hamunitishi) and hard core lyrical spazzes(tongue twister)…sasa swali ni…will kenyan artists ever drop good albums???…or r we 4ever gonna be subjected to a singles driven market???if genge is content driven music, then is kapuka the bubble gum music that has more fans than it has respect???and finally, will hip-hop as a genre ever be accepted in kenya???we all know that ukoo flani,abbas,kshaka are always the target of kapuka artists coz ati its like they fell off…dudes are getting booed 4 doing hip-hop…as getmziki said, is it genge only coz its sang in sheng???if i rap in sheng over a hip-hop beat, is it hip-hop or genge???if i rap in english over a hip-hop beat, wont people call me a wannabe gangster???BOTTOM LINE – hapa kuna noma, this is a dillemma which i believe won’t be solved soon…but i know since Musyoka n getmziki have more experience than i do, you guys will shed some more light onto this situation…LOVE THE CONVERSTATIONS…ENDELEENI 2 HIVYO…RESPECT
Now this is what I call a healthy conversation and I am proud to have in some way initiated it as the first contributor to this thread. I am hoping that Musyoka did not take any of this personally. Having said that, I would like to TOTALLY agree with Leo’s take on the whole Kenyan music not having a definitive sound issue. I was really impressed and somewhat surprised (lol…no offense leo…you know I have had issues with some of your past critiques but it’s all for the love of music
). On the other hand I don’t think many here understood where Leo was coming from with his comments. I will try to add my take it on it and hopefully shed some more light on the issue here. The other day I was listening to a Kwaito song form South Africa and I thought to myself “what better example of a definitive style than Kwaito?”. A lot of South African songs, be they Kwaito or the other popular genre there called house, will start with just the beat and you will need NO hint at all to tell where the music is from and what genre it is. When a Kwaito/house song starts to play even before the vocals in Afrikaans or whatever other language kick in you will already know it is a South African song. Some non-South Africans have even used Kwaito-style beats to spice up their albums and though the song will clearly be from a totally different country, when jamming to it you still zone out to the South African spirit of the song and all the good that comes with it. One good example is one of my favorite Lady Jay-dee songs (Tanzania) as can be seen through this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIV1EoGEPKs . As much as I personally appreciate Lady Jay Dee as an extremely talented and unique artist, I still cannot help but to “bucket” this jam among my favorite ‘Kwaito’ jams…because that is exactly what it sounds like to me. Now the same cannot be said of genge or Kapuka (whatever the difference is). For some of us who have followed the Kenyan Music scene closely for a while, with a sprinkle of luck, the best we can do is tell which production house did the track just by listening to it and SOMETIMES knowing who the artist is. But that’s just it. A foreigner cannot and will not be able to identify a song as “Keanyan” or as Genge or Kapuka just by listening to the beat. And too bad for them if they cannot tell the difference between say Swahili and Luganda.
dang ! all the comments, ehhhh idc lakini this songgggg I LOVE LOVE LOVE. it`s banging definately goin on my ipod.
…. Mark am loving this blog.. nothing taken personally here. it just goes to show how unique humans are and how we each perceive things differently. ever heard of the Elephant Story? 6 blind men told to each describe an Elephant….. but am glad that guys appreciate the song irregardless of our “confused ” genre orientation and thanks for all your massive support…. THANKS SANA!
What an interesting read….this is what the industry needs..
First things first this track is killer, love P-Unit serious talent there…Musyoka gud job and it was interesting the way Collo imitated several artist..(Wahu …usilete compe…Nyash…Nameless…)
The Uk had a similar problem…artists doing hip hop had identity issues..they sounded american and only the accent was different. In the last few yrs they have developed Garage then Grime/UKG and several more. They are still developing….Now the garage beat is old but it was the opinion that could not compete well. Things changed wen artist doing garage underground started getting credit and media exposure. When Lethal B, Sway And Dizze hit more artist embrased it and now the genre has grown and gets recognition internationally with alot of Uk artist featuring in American albums…
Now lets go back home in Kenya…basically Negeria and Kenya r going through what Uk went through…in my opinion artists what there music appreciated globally..How to achieve this is the difficulty. What happens wen u play a track from a Kenyan in a club overseas or even in Negeria…how do we target this audiences as well as staying rellevant with the main/home audience. For me the best way to go about it, is the example of reggae/dancehall did it, I dont understand every word Movado says but thanks to Sean Paul I get a few…..the beat is still distincive; and how UKG(Uk Garage) also went about it…the beats are unique to Uk. Now the Kapuka beat is unique to Kenya…more producers and artist should embrasse it and develop it…that way even if a Kenyan artists raps in english if the beat is Kapuka…it may not be a genge track but it will reach all the audiences…if the artist go a step further and mix local dialect with english on Kapuka beat…What we have now is kenyans doing genge on a hip hop beat…Nigerians doing their Naija on hip hop beats…Now how will they compete with Hip hop tracks in the club…the audience will hear the beats and expect certain content…but if a different sound is introduced things change. If the problem is that Kapuka is weak then why cant producers & artist develop it. All I know is artists in Kenya are very talented and people need to hear a track and know where that talent is from.
Wooow….. Seems like we should just have a show set aside for this discussion. Am loving the constructive dialogue and I believe everyone has a point and as long us we understand each other then we can agree to disagree. Big up everyone for your thoughts this is much needed and big up P-unit and the whole squad on the song and Musyoka for the beat..
I like this..
s@s@b@s!
lovely track you guyz got thea !!!!hala
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Cheers! Sandra. R.
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