Monski | |
|---|---|
 Monski performing on stage | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Sarah Mukethe Kiatine |
| Born | 8 February 1994 Nairobi, Kenya |
| Genres | Hip hop |
| Occupation(s) |
|
| Years active | 2014–present |
| Labels | Independent |
Sarah Mukethe Kiatine (born 8 February 1994), better known by her stage name Monski, is a Kenyan hip hop rapper, singer and songwriter. She was crowned as the Unkut Hip-hop Award best female artist of the year in 2019. [1] [2] [3]
Monski was born in Nairobi, Kenya in a speeding taxi en route to Pumwani Hospital. She is ethnically Akamba and was orphaned at a young age. Monski studied at Baba Dogo primary school, St Benedict primary school and Beadom Primary School in Nairobi, then went on to attend Kyangala high school in Machakos, where she discovered her rapping ability and honed her talent, pursuing music as a career after high school. This was after trying a series of employment positions that she termed "not her fit". [4]
Her recording career began in 2014 after she recorded and uploaded a set of demos on SoundCloud; receiving positive reviews and requests from a growing fan base to release more and was soon booking gigs while also getting airplay from Kenyan hip-hop radio shows. [5] In 2017, Pulse Magazine (Standard Media Kenya) listed her as one of the 'hip hop freshmen artists to look out for next year. She was the first Kenyan female rapper to perform at the annual Nyege Nyege Festival [6] [7] in Uganda. Monski describes her music as raw wordplay rap and experimental, [8] mixing oldschool hiphop and new school sounds. In 2019 she was selected as one of Mr Eazis empawa 100 artist, [9] a talent incubation initiative to nurture and support up-and-coming artistes in Africa. [10] [11] In December 2020 she released a debut Album Gold. [12]
Kenyan hip hop is a genre of music and a culture that covers various forms and sub-genres of hip hop and rap originating from Kenya. It is most commonly a combination of Swahili and English as well as Sheng and a variety of tribal languages.
Joseph Haule, popularly known by his stage name Professor Jay, is a Tanzanian hip hop recording artist, politician and former member of the Tanzanian parliament for Mikumi constituency. He is one of the prominent representatives of the "Bongo Flava" Tanzanian hip hop subgenre, which mixes elements from both Western hip hop and the Tanzanian tradition.
East African urban music is a popular music genre of the three countries customarily grouped as "East Africa": Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. The genre is basically an offshoot of western popular music, particularly hip hop and funk, somewhat influenced by more traditional African music. Kapuka, genge, and bongo flava are some of the subgenres which have arisen in this style.
Juliana Kanyomozi is a musician actress and entertainer. She is a multiple award-winning Ugandan pop musician, an R&B and Afro Beat Singer well known among Western Uganda's decent musicians. Juliana was born on November 27, 1980, at Toro Fort Portal in Western Uganda of the Mutooro tribe. She is one of Western Uganda's descent among other musicians including Angella Katatumba, Allan Toniks and Ray G.
The Kisima Music Awards is an annual awards program that recognises musical talent in East Africa. Despite being Kenyan-based the scheme awards artists from a variety of countries, predominantly Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, and incorporates a range of music genres.
Paul Julius Nunda, better known by his stage name Jua Cali, is a Kenyan rapper and record producer. In 2000, together with record producer Clemo, he founded Calif Records where he has been ever since, producing music which dominated East African music alongside Jose Chameleone of Uganda and Mr. Nice of Tanzania. Jua Cali performs in Swahili and Sheng in a popular Kenyan style of rapping called genge.
James "Jim" Wathigo "Wat" Mburu,, better known by his stage names Jimwat and Jimweezy, is a Kenyan genge rapper.
Camp Mulla was an alternative hip hop group originating from and based in Nairobi, Kenya. The group rose to prominence with the release of their single "Party Don't Stop" on 31 August 2010, with that and their subsequent works earning them a nomination for Best International Act (Africa) at the 2012 BET Awards. Following the release of their debut studio album, Funky Town, the group's lead singer Karun and rapper Taio both left the group to pursue higher education and solo careers. In September 2017 the main four members announced their reunion at The Wave performance at the Waterfront, Ng'ong racecourse, but soon after disbanded again. The group's musical style, fashion sense and origins have drawn comparisons to The Black Eyed Peas, while they have also been criticised for making "bubblegum music".
Simon Njoroge, popularly known as Shrekeezy, was a Kenyan advertising strategist. He was also largely involved in art and entertainment as a radio host, TV presenter, rapper, DJ and Entertainment Executive. He first gained major attention for his successful online radio show Shrekeezy Live which was later taken up as a daily radio show on Hero Radio Kenya after gaining over 40,000 fans on social media. As a marketing executive at Hero Radio, Simon developed huge interest on Internet marketing and took part-time classes with Chartered Institute of Marketing. During this period, he played a major role in marketing muicbook.com, a social networking site that was founded by his colleague and close friend Samuel Keige. The site was however sold to Afroleo.com. He left Kenya a year later to be the personal assistant of Tanzania-based Indian entrepreneur Nilesh Bhatt. He later that year joined Pilipili Entertainment, a Tanzanian film production company owned by Nilesh Bhatt as the marketing manager. He had since worked as a Digital Strategist in major East African Advertising agencies like Scanad, MetropolitanRepublic, Express DDB and BrandVision Advertising.
Daniel Lubwama Kigozi is a Ugandan rapper and record producer. Starting off his career, he was part of the award-winning hip hop group Klear Kut, along with fellow rappers The Mith & JB, that introduced the term "Ugaflow" to describe Uganda's hip hop scene. Navio is best known for his successful solo career with hits such as "Ngalo", "Bugumu", "One & Only", and "On and On".
Sandra Nankoma, previously known as Sandy Soul, is a Ugandan recording artist, singer-songwriter, composer, actor and performer of Afro-soul and jazz music. She is well known for her single Kaddugala from her debut album Ye'nze for which she won an award for Best Female Artist in African Inspirational Music at AFRIMA Awards in 2018.
Petra Bockle known professionally as Petra, is a rapper, singer and songwriter of Kenyan and Seychellois descent. She performs in both Swahili and English, sometimes switching back and forth. She cites 2Pac, Eminem, MC Lyte and Lil' Kim as her musical influences.
Nyege Nyege is a collective in Kampala, Uganda that promotes outsider music, primarily electronic, by African artists. It was founded in 2013 by expats Arlen Dilsizian and Derek Debru. In addition to organizing ongoing parties and an artist residency, the collective runs two record labels and a multi-day annual festival. Its name refers to a Swahili word describing "a sudden, uncontrollable urge to dance."
Koang Deng Kun Kong is a South Sudanese born-Canada based musician, songwriter, dancer and artist professionally known as K-Denk. He was born in Renk.
Brian Ouko Omollo, popularly known by his stage name Khaligraph Jones, is a Kenyan rapper known for his hit singles "Mazishi" and "Yego". He released his debut full-length studio album Testimony 1990 in June 2018. Khaligraph Jones has achieved numerous awards during his career. He was nominated for 'Best Male Artist' at the 2018 Afrimma Awards, won 'Best Hip Hop Artist' at the 2020 Afrimma Awards, and was nominated for 'Best International Act' at the 2020 BET Awards.
Rowland Raymond Kaiza, better known by his stage name BigTril is a Ugandan rapper, producer and songwriter. He is widely known for his single hit "Parte After Parte"and giddem ft Beenie Gunter.
emPawa Africa, headquartered in Lagos, is an African talent incubation enterprise, known for nurturing and supporting up-and-coming artistes. It offers mentorship to 100 African artistes yearly, with a $3,000 (dollars) grant. emPawa is headed by Mr Eazi as Founder/CEO, and houses a publishing, and licensing division, with a streaming service, emPawa Music. In 2020, Billboard Magazine named emPawa as one of The Gatekeepers of the Nigerian music industry.
Angela Kariuki well known as Camille Storm, is a Kenyan music executive, journalist, talent developer, publicist, entrepreneur, and curator, pioneering the East African pop culture. She is the founder of Camille & Co., and a music journalist, and pop culture contributor for OkayAfrica, and The Fader. In 2022, Camille joined All Africa Music Awards, as one of its juries for East Africa.
Karungari Mungai, professionally known as Karun, is a Kenyan-based singer, songwriter and producer. Karun debuted in the music industry as a teenager as part of BET-nominated group Camp Mulla. Following the group's split in 2012, Karun returned to the Kenyan music industry after her studies and released a series of singles in 2019 one of which was launched as part of Mr Eazi's Empawa Arica Music Program. She has released several EP albums, singles and collaborations since.
Wakadinali is a Kenyan hip hop group with three members, David Munga Ramadhan professionally known as Domani Munga, Churchill Mandela professionally known as Scar Mkadinali and Salim Ali Tangut professionally known as Sewer Sydaa. The group is also known as Rong Rende. Wakadinali who are from the Eastlands area in Nairobi started out as an underground hiphop group and broke into the mainstream in 2020.
