RABBIT'S 'ORUTU YA MASUDI' ALBUM REVIEW

                                                                                                                    By Nasta 

According to The Chinese Zodiac, the period 3^rd February 2011 to 22^nd January 2012 has been referred to as the year of the Rabbit. Bring it home and you find a rapper named Rabbit, who has experienced a tremendous rise since getting into the game two years back.

Early in the year Rabbit released a critically acclaimed mixtape titled ‘King’, but as it has come to pass, this rapper wasn’t going to let the year of the Rabbit pass by with just mixtape as the only offering (bearing in mind that the next year of the Rabbit will be in 2023), hence he dropped a sophomore album Orutu Ya Masudi.

Having been around during much of the production of this album, my anticipation of the final product wouldn’t have been overemphasized. But then again, I needed someone else’s perception before finalizing my review. Chris Prodigy a seasonal Hip-hop enthusiast states that “One thing which is conspicuously noted; in Orutu ya masudi, Rabbit tends to overly utilize his prowess when it comes to storytelling and he appears to be more confident and complacent” he also adds that, “Orutu is more of an introspective album, compared to Tales (Rabbit’s first album) which is more lyrical”

This album opens up with the intro track “Masudi” in which we hear an old man’s voice calling on the village people in Dholuo (Luo language), asking them to come and listen to him (the old man) play Orutu(a traditional musical instrument amongst the Luo community) . Rabbit then steps in saying that the old man is Masudi, his grandfather and states that it is from his grandfather where his musical journey started. The intro, Masudi is a careful balance between lyrical punchilines and poetic consciousness that unveils a very reflective and sensitive side of Rabbit.

Better days featuring Aziza the band, is the second track-a definite favorite to any female listener. The track is a sad relationship saga, where one partner travels for overseas studies, only to return and find that the once upon time love has faded off and no longer as strong as it once was. The live instrumentation is something very refreshing and soothing to the ear.

Punguza is a witty feel good song in which Rabbit aka Kaka Sungura narrates about his conversion with a girl at a bar in Kisumu, the wittiness in the song comes when Rabbit can’t understand the girl who only communicates in Dholuo, and the girl can’t understand the rapper who only speaks Swahili. Rabbit calls his friend Nebulaz (A Kisumu based rapper) to help him out, only for him to get sliced by Nebulaz. Though not a totally new concept, as it follows on Noorah's Lugha Gongana hit, it is still a track that one wishes to listen to, and would receive a favorable DJ play from your favourite pub.

 

Now, if you are into the deep meditative kind of Hip-hop, here is where you get enjoy music. "Najikataza nisi iangalie juu hio uni haunt kila mara/ lakini jana yetu ndio ufanya kesho imara" these are the opening lines to, Yesterdays;  a very deep and introspective song where Rabbit incorporates three different personal stories with respect to personal conflicts, family relations, love and loyalty friendship. Equally deep and Personal is Mama, a song dedicated to his mother Queen Liz.

Twisti is a definite big tune that when released promises to take  Kenyan party scene  by Tsunami as the official party anthem. Sampling the tune and voice of the late twisty legend mzee Daudi Kabaka, the track is good bridge between the our fathers’ zilizopendwa kind of music, and the new age rap music.  As much as it is a party anthem, the rapper still does good with flickers of wordplay every so often throughout the song.

Both Bangaiza and  Lazima kuhappen follow the party theme that is in Twsti, and if your life revolves around clubbing in the big city, then you need to add these two tracks on your favorite track list. While Bangaiza proves that when done right, the crunk beat is still relevant and very danceable, lazima kuhappen is on some grimy beats that would work well with a lyrical slaughter track.

Taxi driver featuring Poet cum obakano player & singer, Grandmaster Masese has a great movie like story line, only that the bumpy beat that fuses the Obakano string, tends to overshadow this one hell of a story.

 

Following in the story telling trail is a tragic Hiphop ballad titled ‘Kiwewe’ in which Rabbit introduces the coastal based vocalist Bwenyenye. Kiwewe is a type of song that every beautiful girl would wish to hate, but still play it over and over again.

Bwenyenye whose style of singing can easily be mistaken to Bongo music, proves that he too can get conscious. On  Kaza Moyo he is incorporated by Rabbit alongside a very conscious and lyrical Dann Dan of the 125 crew, to present a socio-political conscious rap. Kaza moyo is a testimony enough that Rabbit is far from abandoning his Hip-hop roots, and that revolution mindset that Kshaka set rolling years back is far from waning off.

Rabbit alongside Bwenyenye(left), with a fan during a recent concert.

Staki Kukuona has been around for quite sometime now, and if you haven’t listened to it, then “nani tembea, na staki kuku ona”

Both Takeova ft. Qritikal and Kata na Shoka ft. Kijana Masha and Ordinary, exposes Rabbits's lyrical side that was exposed in his debut album and his King Mixtape. On the former track produced by Sniper, Rabbit steps to stamp his authority amongst his industry peers. The song opens up with the lines;

"Wakikazana na ma omena, mi nina bigger fish to fry"  

then proceeds 

"Nina mimba ya mistari na mi uzaa kila siku/

ninapendwa na umati, we ni nani unionie wivu/

hii crown nimevaasio rahisi vile una kiche"

While on the former Ordinary proves to match Rabbits's lyricism thus far , Kijana Masha of Kalahari tends to come-through abit off-key with his rhymes.

Salam Aleikum featuring Ngallah of the group Yunasi is a calm concept track, narrating a marriage ceremony between a coastal lady (Rehema) and Luo lad (Otieno). The instrumentation of the song is purely acoustic and a good one for any wedding. It is amazing how Rabbit’s style blend well with Ngallah’s, as they give you a feeling that they’ve been a musical pair for eons.

Freedom is Orutu’s second track from the bottom, and it heavily uses the silky voice of Christine Apondi-the only idol we get to see, since the last edition of Mnet’s Realty TV. This highly intellectual song is yet another well crafted concept track, highlighting different meanings of what freedom is to the rapper.

Christine Apondi

Unlike in Tales of Kaka Sungura, which finishes with a vote of thanks outro, Orutu ya Masudi is closed on a rather aggressive note. Kredo ya mkopo the album’s final track is a subliminal diss to a wide array of artistes, most notably those who are in the habbit of bad mouthing  rappers who receive airplay as being ‘commercial’. With lines like “Heshimu miaka/ unafanya nini kwa playground na watoi" and "Ati US tour na uko club ndogo Alaska/so ile doh unakanjwa uko ndio na kanjwa hapa" the song comes as an indirect retaliation to Collo's Kuwa Mpole, which was widely viewed as a diss to Rabbit. The two rappers are both claiming the 'King Wa Rap' title. 

All said and done, this album shows growth and progression of Rabbit as an artiste.  He has come off-age to understand the dynamics of music, and more than ever before, he shows just how comfortable he is working with different producers (who include Sniper of G'ganji, Provoke and Dice amongst others). Overally out of a 60 minute rating Dakika gives this album which retails at Ksh.250/= and comes with a 2 hour Documentary DVD, a 45 Mins.

The Tale of a Lonely Hip-hop Island

Once upon a time there lived three white boys, one of them was called Jorma “Jorm” Taccone (pronounced Yorma Tuh-cone-nee), while the other two were named Akiva Scaffer and Andy Samberg. The three boys came together in 2001 to form the comic rap group The Lonely Island, and later on in 2005 they started a series of online short skits titled Saturday Night Live, which has a pulling of millions in terms of YouTube views, and now features on NBC as SNL Digital Short.  Amongst their popular tracks are Jack Sparrow, On the Boat ft T-Pain and the weirdo, I just had Sex ft. Akon. 

The latter song must had captured the attention of AFAR- a travel magazine ,  and so one day Jorm got a call from them, asking him to take part in a journey to a random destination and then write about his experience. The project was dubbed Spin the globe. Jorm agreed to it, and his random location happened to be Kenya. The  New-yorker later packed up his bags, and booked February 2011 as his month of travel. While here, Jorm thought of collaborating with a local rapper, and through a hotel clerk, he got introduced the ultimate story teller-cum-rapper Rabbit. Jorma met up with Rabbit after listening to ‘Jam Na Kam’ which was the lead single for Kenyan rapper’s debut album Tales of Kaka Sungura. The two formed a musical bond and it was only natural for them to hit the studio and do a track together titled ‘Simba’.

 

YOUTUBE VIDEO

‘Simba’ (lion) got featured on Rabbit’s 3^rd mixtape King, and a video that had been done for it was uploaded on TheLonelyIsland YouTube Channel, about four months later. With the massive online following that The Lonely Island enjoys, this video became the 1^st music video  featuring a Kenyan artist, to hit  close to a million views in just 3 months-a status that not even Kenya’s first viral video makmende by  Just-a-band, or the now rated #1 Kenyan Music video on YouTube ‘Kigeugeu’ by Jaguar could reach.

However, despite the video's wide view from across the globe, one fact that is rather disturbing became apparent through it. Most of the viewers were for the first time seeing and listening to a rap song done by a Kenyan and in Sheng for that matter. Even more shocking are the comments they've been making on the YouTube video. To a number of them; Kenya exists as a Stone Age third world nation, where rap civilization is yet to reach. For instance one of the viewers quips;

“So I’m Christian and my youth group (is) going to Kenya, and I didn’t know there was a rapper there, this is wired O_O” while another comment reads “I thought ghetto posers were just hear in America. I thought Africans were just homeless cloth wearing zebra hunters”. 

Nonetheless, viewers with such opinion were not the only ones posting comments. There were others who liked the song, and really admire the rap skills rabbit has to offer.  As much as they can't understand the language, they can’t get enough of the flow and delivery coming out of Rabbit’s mouth.  About a month ago lordfinchington , stated about the video “I honestly  do not know what this (Rabbit’s rhymes) translates to, but it sounds f*cking amazing.”  While hickelbobbing  wrote “dis nigga (Rabbit) went H.A.M, nd i couldnt even understand him!” (sic).

Despite these positive comments, the negative ones cannot just be ignored, if anything, they are the reason for this post. The comments have gone ahead to prove that whereas Hip-hop is a global phenomenon, with emcees from other nations mostly, United States causing lyrical waves-the wider world has remained oblivious to Kenyan Hip-hop.

With over ten years of active Hip-hop in the country, it would be absurd for anyone to imagine that existence of a Kenyan rapper is weird, more so with the upsurge of online technology that has seen Kenyan music being shared on sites such as Reverbnation, sound cloud and YouTube (that now has a Kenyan page), alongside the online live streaming of local fm stations. 

AFRICAN COUNTERPARTS

Whereas this is the current global perception of Kenyan hiphop, Emcees from other African nations are causing ripples internationally, amongst them is HHP from South Africa who has done collabos with the heavyweights Nas and Talib Kweli, and his videos have become a common feature on MTV Base.   The other one is D-Black a Ghanian emcee whose sophomore album scheduled for January 2012 release features guest appearances from Keri Hilson. Others on D-Black’s The Revelation album are…(wait for this)….Cory Gunz (the 24 year 0ld who goes toe-to-toe with Weezy on 6 foot 7 foot), veteran Twista, and the great emcee from D-Block-  Sheek Louch. Thank God our very own Stella Mwangi aka STL will also be on the album’s track #12 ‘Freaky wit U’. 

DBlack/ photo courtesy of xfmnewscenter.com

Bring it closer home to East Africa, and you find the ever humble South Sudanese Emmanuel Jal doing it big. Tanzania’s Bongo Flava star AY is still riding high on his collabo with Romeo (Master P’s) son, for the song ‘Speak With Your Body’, while bordering Kenya to the East is Somalia who’s son K’naan is an international rapstar in every sense of that word.

MISSED CHANCES

It became a popular belief amongst Kenyan Hip-hop lovers, that when Bamboo relocated to America and did a remix to The Game’s ‘One Blood’, someone would finally take note of what we Kenyans have to offer on the hip-hop spheres. Another one of those moments came when the Kenyan Hip-hop pioneers Kalamashaka did ‘Red, Black, and Green’ with Umi and M1 (of Dead Prez) back in 2007. Once again it became a dream deferred, like seeing Kenyan football team Harambee Stars qualifying for a World Cup event.

When the Hip-hop journalist and emcee Mwafrika, attended the prestigious Rock the Bells Festival in New York back in the 2009, expectations amongst Hip-hop heads in Kenya were elevated. Many had hoped that besides the numerous photos he took with Hip-hop giants such as DJ Premier, Common, KRS One and Immortal Technique, Mwafrika would bring back something more-perhaps news that attendees and participants at the Rock the Bells were interested in Kenyan Hip-hop-regrettably this was not the case. It was yet another missed opportunity for Mwafrika, who has done more for Kenyan Hip-hop, than Kenyan Hip-hop has done for him, to put this East African nation on the map. 

Mwafrika and DJ Primiere at the 2009 Rock the Bells Festivals in New York (Image courtesy of Mwafrika Mwaf)

BLNRB-NRBLN and Translating Hip-hop are two brilliant initiatives by Goethe-Institut Nairobi in partnership with Teichemann Brothers and The House of World Cultures respectively-The projects have made an attempt to expose Kenyan Hip-hop to broader and beyond the boarder audience, (particularly Colombia, Germany, Philippines and Lebanon). The former project has already resulted to veteran Kenyan rappers Abbas, Nazizi and Ukoo Flani, teaming up with a range of German artistes, while a 7 track EP featuring Moroko(Nairobi) and Anne Khan(Berlin) is in the making-thanks for the latter. These are definitely positive indications, and we can only hope for more follow ups of such. 

FINALLY

Jorma’s idea of collaborating with a local rapper as opposed to an Afro-fusion artist doing “Yousou N’Dour/Angelique Kidjo “ type of music (no disrespect to afro fusion), was perhaps the angel’s call we’ve for much too long been waiting for. With all strong indications, that Rabbit might be heading to New York in two months time, for more music projects with  Jorma, and the rest of The Lonely Island. Those who thought that Kenya was just a land of Zebras, Maasais and long distant athletes, will finally get the chance to take note of the country, from the urban culture perspective. 

While in New York the talented 24-year-old rapper Rabbit, is expected to work on a track with the complete set of The Lonely Island, shoot a video for a track from his upcoming second album Orutu ya Masudi, and feature on the highly rated NBC’s Saturday Night Live which has in the past hosted Kanye West, Lil Wayne, Eminem, and Nicki Minaj. The show also hosted the Canadian born rapper Drake a fortnight ago.

Pepe Haze and Rabbit's New Videos

Late last week saw the release of two rap videos in the Kenyan market. The first video is by the multi talented Afro actor-cum-rapper Pepe Haze who happens to be a poet and beat-boxer as well. This video for Rain On My Lips is a unique piece of art directed by Loi Awat from Stop-motion animation studios.

The second video posted on late Friday evening is by Kenya’s ultimate story teller Rabbit. The video is for a highly charged political joint Kaza Moyo and features two of Kaka Empire’s new signees Dan Dan and Bwenyenye(the one on Kiwewe hook). This video curtsey of Snap Productions-the ones who did Octopizzo’s On Top- follows the theme of the song showing the ravaged life lived by Kenyans in the Northern part of the country.

Rabbit took a big chance with this one by including the head of state’s face on the video, and that of the Government spokesman Alfred Mutua.  It remains a doubt if it will receive airplay on our TV stations. It also risks a possible deletion from youtube all together.

All said and done these two videos are well done, and they help drive the message of the respective songs home, have a look.