By Yuvenalis Wakoli
Kenyans were that into Naija & Bongo songs until Kenyan artists pushed a harshtag #playkenyanmusic by Kenyan DJs. That went on until mid 2018 where Kenyans were introduced to Gengetone genre making Kenyans take a break from Naija and Bongo songs. The first breakthrough of Gengetone was a song called ‘lamba lolo’ by Ethics which did well across the East Africa Region.
This paved way for other artists coming with hits after hits thus making Kenyans love the music genre. DJs promoted the genre by playing in Clubs, Radios & TVs.
Gengetone artists like sailors came up with songs like Wamlambez, Wainame, Pekejeng, Queen B etc. Bondoocks gang came up with songs like Rieng, Mboko haram, Mavitu, Mathogothanio etc. Ethics came up with songs like New position, Lamba lolo, Saba, Pandana etc. Ochunglo family came up with songs like Krimino, Doremi, Bora uhai, etc. Many artists joined in producing hit songs as they call it (Club bangers).
‘Older’ artists saw their potential and decided to come in and support the genre. Ethics collaborated with the Kansoul to produce New position song, Sailors gang collaborated with KRG the Don’t to produce Nyandus, Sailors too collaborated with Octopizzo to produce Wakiritho which was also a hit song.
Many Gengetone artists collaborated and came up with hit songs that was loved by most Kenyans especially youths.
The genre performed well until early 2020 when the genre started having controversies. This is when people started claiming the genre promotes Drug abuse, Rape, Thuggery and other bad vices.
This controversies made the genre start losing plays in many platforms. Some of the songs were brought down from You tube due to bad content while other artists lacked money to promote their music/shoot their videos. The fan base started reducing since almost everyone was criticizing the genre of ‘lack of content’.
Recently Ethics chorus star Reckless was seen producing solo songs despite being a group of four. (Reckless, Swat, Seska & Zilla). This made Kenyans judge that the singer had quit the crew despite the crew’s Dj stating that they were all still together and working on the next project together.
Regardless of the genre’s downfall, Gengetone die hard fans believe the genre is still on top of the Kenyan music industry and that people should listen on rhyme/flow of the song but not judge on the content part alone. They also claim if Gengetone artists get good management and support then Gengetone will be the best music genre in Africa.
Kenyans moreso advice Gengetone artists to follow footsteps of musicians like Sauti Sol, Nyashinski, Otile Brown, Stevo simple Boy, Octopizzo etc inorder to prosper in their music despite the difference in genre. Through good music & good content, Gengetone will rise again and get plays in many platforms including Spotify, Sound cloud, Sound click, Noise trade etc.
Tukia 