Kenyan rappers actually freestyle on Cyphers?… Really?

Lately, Kenyan rappers have been going extremely hard on cyphers. Audio recordings and videos have been unleashed to showcase what Kenyan rappers can actually do when they step up to the mic.

So far, most of the cyphers that have been shot have moslty been uploaded to YouTube for everyone to view. As I watch and enjoy the endless, back to back, rapping sessions that the rappers participate in, as a deejay provides the instrumentals at the back, I can’t help but wonder, are these rappers freestyling on these cyphers, or are all these just written lyrics to yet another track?

By definition, a cypher is a rap session where a group of rappers freestyle on a beat, back to back. Not written lyrics, no. FREESTYLE. It is with this in mind that we approached one of the best rappers in Kenya, Khaligraph Jones, on this matter seeing as he was part of one of the hottest cyphers from Kenya, ‘People’s Choice Cypher‘. This is what he had to say.