Month: May 2012

The head of state president Mwai Kibaki is an angry man because he can’t believe that

radio programmes that discuss sensitive issues like sex and infidelity could be aired during family broadcast time.

In his speech when he was opening the Media conference in Nairobi, the president said,’’…I also take issue with vulgar talk on some radio programmes during family broadcast time.’’

This statement comes at a time that parents have been complaining to the Media Council of Kenya to try and regulate what goes on air and at what time.

We hope that our media houses will try and accept the president’s advice or else the government should take strict measures to the perpetrators.

Following the release of DJ Flaev’s ‘C.L.A.P’ barely two months ago, the Wryterz Block have not been sleeping on their laurels. This new and fresh crew are coming up with their second single “Dance” which debuted at the tip end of last month.

Click here to read more on the C.L.A.P that sought to destroy the world

The group’s first single, “So Special” was released on HomeBoyz Radio 103.5 FM on 26th February 2012.

“Dance”, has already received some international attention with the Wryterz Block looking at their music going into advertising. This is the 2nd single they have produced in a span of a month.

The Wryterz Block consists of Atwal, the Manager/Producer @AtwalSides, Phaze the Rapper @Phaze_blaQmusic, G Zay  the Rapper/Producer @iamGzay, DJ Flaev a Rapper/Producer @DJFlaev and Njoki who is the Lead Vocalist @njokiiru

Listen to ‘Dance’ below…

The Africa Gospel Music Awards 2012 were announced on the 21st of April 2012 at the venue of the inaugural event in Sydenham, South London.

The date for this year’s awards ceremony, which will be the third edition, has been set for the 7th of July 2012 at the Hippodrome in the English capital and organizers are welcoming nominations from both the artistes themselves, labels and fans strictly for gospel music from Africa, by Africans.

Featured performances set for the 2012 AGMAs will include Kenya’s 2012 Groove Awards Female Artiste of the Year Emmy Kosgei, Zimbabwe’s Mkhululi Bhebhe and Ghana’s Royal Priesthood, among others.

Nominations for the broad 23 categories are open until midnight of 21st May 2012, thereafter public voting will commence from the 1st of June 2012 until the 30th of the same month.

The nomination categories are:

DISCOVERY OF THE YEAR
ARTISTE OF THE YEAR EUROPE
ARTISTE OF THE YEAR EAST AFRICA
ARTISTE OFTHE YEAR WEST AFRICA
ARTISTE OF THE YEAR NORTH AFRICA
ARTISTE OF THE YEAR SOUTHERN AFRICA
ARTISTE OF THE YEAR CENTRAL AFRICA
ARTISTE OF THE YEAR USA/CANADA
ARTISTE OF THE YEAR -AUSTRALIA/ASIA PACIFIC
SONG OF THE YEAR
ALBUM OF THE YEAR
MALE ARTISTE OF THE YEAR
FEMALE ARTISTE OF THE YEAR
PRODUCER OF THE YEAR
VIDEO OF THE YEAR
EVENT OF THE YEAR
INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC OF THE YEAR
GOSPEL RADIO PRESENTER OF THE YEAR
GOSPEL TV PRESENTER OF THE YEAR
GOSPEL TV PROGRAM OF THE YEAR
RADIO PROGRAM OF THE YEAR
BEST CONTRIBUTION OF THE YEAR
GROUP/CHOIR OF THE YEAR

Click here to view nomination guidelines and to nominate

When I first saw the music video for Jackiwa’s latest song ‘Life History’, I couldn’t help but click on the replay tab. I don’t know what exactly caused this, could be the dancing or the lyrics. Either way, something about it is really catchy and entertaining. Haven’t figured out which comes first yet.

Most of Jackiwa’s songs received little interest up until she did this one. Ghafla! wrote about it (read the article) and it wasn’t long before the video went viral. She is now the topic of most hilarious conversations.

“My style is new and it is called probox style. I decided to name it so because the probox is an active car and economical and I’m also active,” Jackiwa told Word Is. I’m not sure if other artistes will join in on this genre but I’ll be watching this space just in case. With over 35, 000 views on YouTube, ‘Life History’ is becoming one of the most popular music videos in Kenya. Check it out.

Groove awards happened this past weekend, but what surprised many is when US gospel artiste

Antony Faulkner joined the sensational gospel diva Kambua to sing ‘it starts with you’.

They gave an outstanding performance before B.M.F’s energetic show that made guys standup and dance to their songs.

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Watch here the greatest perfomance at 2012 groove awards

The similarities among some of our celebrities are just overwhelming. Gets you thinking about who’s copying the other, or is it all just a coincidence?

Take for instance these two fabulous rappers. Look-a-likes, just just so obvious is you take your time to observe their photos. Both usually stunt similar positions when snapshots are taken. When it comes to rapping, they both posses similar slow but clear flow. All these attributes are up for debate on who actually came up with them first.

On the other hand, some characteristics that they share just come natural to them. Their wealth for example is one thing. Although Prezzo’s amount of money cannot be compared to that of Baby’s, he surely flaunts it almost as good as Baby does. With all the grills in his teeth, all that is left out of Prezzo’s skin is some tattoos here and there and the two will be a lot alike.

What’s funny is that they both have a flashy and dreadlocked friend/patner (Lil Wayne and Cannibal). This is just too much. Not to mention the expensive videos that they love shooting.

With an increasing number of people being constantly on the move right here in Kenya, almost no one has the time to sit down and catch their favourite television series or movies.

Employees and employers are in constant commute, between offices, locations, towns and cities or are either stuck in the horrid traffic that has become characteristic of cities such as Nairobi or end up being too tired at the end of the day to even watch a rerun.

A necessity for entertainment on the go has been created, with gadgets being produced to cater to the mobile generation that is taking over. And with this niche being identified, brands are toning up their production plants to come up with clearer and more ‘life like screens’ as well as enormous capacities and efficiencies to support their technologically advanced givings.

We’ve selected our top five gadgets which we think should give you an unparalleled experience in mobile entertainment.

*NOTE: Prices are estimates and exclusive of Value Added Tax

1. Apple iPad 3

Approximate Price: 42,000

Features include: a 9.2 TFT and the Apple A5X processor but this nifty iPad almost at the top of its class in performance and imagery.

 

2. Kindle Fire

Approximate Price: Kshs. 12,000

Features include: This device effortlessly links in with Amazon’s extensive list of digital music, video and magazine content to make entertainment seamless and literally always at your fingertips, all on a 7 inch display screen.

3. Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1

Approximate Price: Kshs. 35,000

Features include: Lighter than an iPad 2, this gadget has a front and back camera and PLS display with 1280 x 800 pixel resolution making images startlingly life like.

4. Asus Eee Pad

Approximate Price: Kshs. 41,000

Features include: 10.1 inch TFT screen with active matrix equipt with an NVIDIA tegra 3 processor and 1GB RAM to make any gaming experience or visual display phenomenal.

5. Sony Tablet S

Approximate Price: Kshs. 37,000

Features include: Offering exclusive apps and revolutionary ergonomic designs, this 1 GB RAM and NVIDIA Tegra 2 product has a clear and bright display which slants slightly reducing glare and ensures a comfortable experience.

Celebrated Kiss 100 radio presenter Kalekye Mumo will return back on air today

evening after she was discharged from Aga Khan Hospital some few days ago.

The radio queen was suffering from septic tonsillitis that made her to be admitted in Aga Khan Hospital for a couple of days. Read here more about her illness

The Kiss100 Rush Hour show host confirmed that she will be back on air today from 3pm via her twitter account

The 2012 Groove awards came to a fantastic and satisfactory conclusion last weekend at the Nairobi Baptist Church in the presence of leading musicians and media personalities in the country. The performers on the day brought out their very best as most of the renditions were nothing short of great.

As with any awards ceremonies there are a few that we had to take notice of as they stood out in both vocal delivery as well as visual expression.

2012 Groove Award Male Artist of the Year, Eko Dydda was amazing to watch on stage as usual, with his hit single ‘Ghetto’ as was his mentor who preceded him, Juliani who gave an energetic performance of ‘Exponential Potential’.

Click here to view the complete list of winners

Kris, Kelele Takatifu and Alemba would also be awarded a gold star for the electrifying and jolting display they showed on the Mo Sound stage, but what Ghafla! would like to single out was the duet by Neema and Nikko.

Have a look at the recording by Capital FM here for yourself and tell us whether you agree:

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Coola Gang have been extremely busy lately. Dropping track after track. With their latest hot cypher that has sprout multiple beefs (read related article), came a remixed track of Rick Ross’ ‘Stay schemin’.

This time, the fast rising group linked up with Kayvo K-Force, to deliver this African remix of the Ross’ hit song.

I have to say that they make quite an entrance in the beginning of the video as they role up in an Impala drop top. The video portrays the hustle that the Kenyan artiste goes through in selling his music as it also shows the love they have for hip hop and ‘the streets’.

It takes guts to take a world wide hit song and attempt to do a remix off it, so kudos to Coola Gang. Hopefully, Ross won’t come all this way to play the copyright card. Check out the track below.

Talented rapper Kayvo Kforce has dropped his new hardcore street hip hop video

‘we here now’ where he has featured another emerging hip hop talent called Lonski whom has showed why we should watch him in the hip hop industry.

The song is dope, and definitely you can’t question Kayvo’s ability to spit. Lonski did very well when it came to his part, and I think he is the next big thing in the hip hop industry.

Watch the video and give your comment about it.

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There seems to be some tension building up in the Kenyan Hiphop scene as multiple blows are swung here and there… lyrical blows, that is. The cyphers just keep on coming, exposing more talent than we can bare.

Rapping ain’t easy, but these guys from Coolagang sure make it seem so. With more than ten guys spitting rhymes back to back on their latest cypher titled ‘The People’s Choice’, their opinionated verses explore the Hip hop scene with some expressing their feelings about being underrated and ‘wack’ rappers.

“Oxide huwaga crazy, ma-rapper hawaniwezi. Ma-rapper kama Ken venye huwaga ma-razy…”. I don’t intend to insight a war, but these lyrics from Oxide are simply a knock-out blow to Kenrazy. Well constructed and original. Can’t wait to hear Kenrazy’s reply.

The one and only Kaligraph also contributes to this hot cypher, coming with both Kiswahili and English languages. He is also on the war path and goes hard on Camp Mulla. I don’t get it though, why guys diss the Mulla Camp seeing as they are currently one of the most successful groups right now. But hey, beef is beef. As long as good music is produced, the ground is open, and this cypher is good music. Check it out below.

Oxide… that right there, is original, perfect flow of flawless lyrics. Kenrazy, do something!

Chrispin Mwangale , better known to his musical fans as Big Pin, celebrates his 28th birthday today. The musician, alongside the late E-Sir and the late K-Rupt are said to have firmly cemented ‘South C’, a suburban area in Nairobi, as one of the country’s urban music circles.

So proud were the youth in ‘South C’ about their hood thanks to these maestros, that they are said to have created a clothing line with catchy phrases as well as matatu graffiti.

Born on 3rd May 1984, Chrispin Mwangale later joined the upmarket St. Christopher’s’ Secondary School in Karen, Nairobi where his interest in music steadily grew and especially while serving as the school rugby cheerleader.

He was soon scouted by the Ogopa Deejays stable and speedily concocted a debut album ‘Ogopa 2- Strictly For The Hanyee In You’. It was also in this album that Big Pin released his first solo track, titled ‘Big Pin’. 
The song went on to enjoy such massive success that it was used as a soundtrack to the Trust TV Commercial at the time.

In 2004, Big Pin was nominated and won ‘Best Male Artist’ in both Kisima and Chaguo la Teeniez Awards.
Big Pin then made a guest appearance on the Ogopa DJ’s next compilation album: on the lead single ‘Talk To You’ with Patonee and Amani, and he also recorded his second solo track ‘Natafuta’.
In December of the ssame year, Big Pin won a KORA Award for “Best Male Artiste in East Africa” for the song ‘Natafuta’

Big Pin has gone on to have a number of hit songs including ‘Benteba’, “Let Me Pumzika”, “Breath In Breath Out…”, ‘You’ with Sanaa and his latest ‘Boss Yangu’. 

Ghafla! wishes Big Pin a HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Share your comments and wished to him below as well…

Impressively successful gospel rapper, Juliani is spreading his wings across the world. Having conquered the music industry in Kenya, the lyrically certified rapper will soon be expanding his fan base.

Late last year, US gospel singer Antony Faulkner was briefly in Kenya and Juliani didn’t waste the brief chance to create Divine music with the international star. The song, ‘Connection’ was recorded at the Homeboyz Studios and was released last month. In the song, the pair made it clear that music has and always will bring people together irregardless of their race and culture. That music is love.

That’s not all. The video to the song is currently being shot and is set to be released this month. ‘Connection’ promises to be an international hit and this will definitely put Juliani on the brighter spotlights. It seems everything is working well for Juliani and they should, considering all the hard work he’s been putting in. For now, have a listen to the great song below.

Keep in touch with Ghafla!Kenya for the exclusive video once released.