The Ying Yang Twins are an American hip hop duo consisting of Kaine and D-Roc. Despite the name, the duo are not twin brothers. They debuted in 2000 and rose to mainstream popularity in 2003 collaborating with Britney Spears on her album In the Zone and with Lil Jon on "Get Low". In 2004 and 2005, the Ying Yang Twins became more popular with party singles "Salt Shaker", "Wait ", "Shake" and "Badd". They have received notoriety for their song "Halftime " which is played at New Orleans Saints homegames after most touchdowns. In 2008, the hip hop duo released The Official Work mixtape. In 2009, they followed with their Ying Yang Forever mixtape. Just three months later, the duo released Legendary Status: Ying Yang Twins Greatest Hits. In 2013, the Ying Yang Twins released the Ass in Session and Twurk or Die mixtapes.
Jazzyfatnastees is a vocal duo, Tracey Moore and Mercedes Martinez. Originally a vocal quartet, they landed a deal with Tommy Boy in 1993. In 1997, their contract with Tommy Boy ended, two other members Stevvi Alexander and Arlynn Page left the group, and the current duo moved to Philadelphia. When the group was still a quartet they appeared along with many other 90's African-American R&B and Hip Hop girl groups in the song "Freedom " on the Panther soundtrack such as En Vogue, SWV, TLC, Xscape, For Real, Brownstone, Jade, Y?N-Vee, Salt-N-Pepa, Female, BlackGirl, Changing Faces, Zhané, Terri & Monica and several other African-American R&B and Hip Hop girl groups. The soundtrack also featured African-American female solo artist and female solo rappers and was released on May 2, 1995. In 1996 while still under contract with Tommy Boy the quartet appeared on a 4-Track CD Single "De La Soul 4 More Featuring Zhané" which was released under Tommy Boy Records and the quartet release a song on the single titled "Baby Baby Baby Baby Ooh Baby"
Kenyan hip hop is a genre of music and a culture that covers various forms and subgenres 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.
Gidi Gidi Maji Maji is a Kenyan hip hop duo from Nairobi. Its two members are Maji Maji and Gidi Gidi. Their lyrics are mostly in Luo language, with some English and Swahili. Unlike most local hip hop artists, GidiGidi MajiMaji do willingly mix African rhythms with their music. According to popular entertainment guide Ghafla, their music is a "fusion of hip hop/rap and African music [which] they mostly sing and rap in their native language called Luo."
Hubert Mbuku Nakitare, commonly known by his stage name Nonini, is a Kenyan hip hop recording artiste, entertainer, radio presenter, businessman and philanthropist. He is often referred to as the Godfather because he is very well known.
Ogopa Deejays are a Kenyan music production team and record label formed in the late 1990s who gained regional fame and popularity due to standards of their production work.
Necessary Noize was a Kenyan hip hop group.
Swabri Mohammed, better known by his stage name Redsan, is a Kenyan reggae and ragga musician. He is one of the most well renowned ragga and dancehall artists in East Africa. His popularity has extended to the rest of Africa, and parts of Europe, United States, and the Middle East.
Boomba music, also referred to as kapuka, is a form of hip pop music popular in Kenya. It incorporates hip hop, reggae and African traditional musical styles. The lyrics are in Swahili, Sheng or local dialects. It is associated with the Ogopa Deejays and is believed to have originated in the late 1990s with artists such as Redsan, Bebe Cool and Chameleone. It went on to dominate East African airwaves after the release of the Ogopa Deejays' first album in 2001, which included artists such as the late E-Sir, Nameless, Mr. Lenny, Amani, Mr. Googz and Vinnie Banton amongst others.
Jason Edward Dunford, OGW, OLY, also known as Samaki Mkuu, is a Kenyan Olympic swimmer, media personality, rapper and entrepreneur. During his swimming career he was predominantly a butterfly and freestyle sprinter winning gold medals at the Commonwealth Games, Universiade, All-Africa Games and African Championships, and reaching finals at the Olympics, World Championships and Short Course World Championships. He also held African, Universiade and Olympic records. He has worked as a broadcast journalist for the BBC, is a co-founder and adviser to software company, Safi and currently serves as the CEO of Baila Entertainment whilst performing as Samaki Mkuu, one half of the rap duo Romantico & Samaki Mkuu.
Paul Julius Nunda, better known by his stage name Jua Cali, is a Kenyan hip hop artist. 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.
Simon Kimani, more popularly known as Bamboo, is an MC who represents Kenya and lives in New York City. He was raised in Inglewood, California by parents of East African descent, and at the age of 17, his parents sent him to Nairobi, Kenya to eschew the potentially dangerous life they feared he might have if he stayed in Inglewood. Bamboo transferred the success he was beginning to have in California to Nairobi, acquiring a record deal and producing his first album, Nairoberry, with his group K-South in 2001. He formed the record label Project 254 in Nairobi with Kenyan emcees Tim Waindi and Attitude. Bamboo is also a member of the record label The Grass Company, and he states that he intends to re-record a previously released album "exactly the way [they] did it in Kenya but now with state-of-the-art equipment" in Atlanta, Georgia.
Kleptomaniax is a rap group from Nairobi, Kenya. The group consists of three members: Roba, Collo and Nyashinski.
Nyota Ndogo is a musician from Kenya who performs taarab-influenced pop music.
Far East Movement is an American hip hop and electronic music group based in Los Angeles. The group formed in 2003 and as of August 2018 consists of Kev Nish, Prohgress, DJ Virman, JT Rollerson, and formerly J-Splif. Their 2010 single, "Like a G6", featuring pop-rap duo The Cataracs and singer Dev hit number one on both the Billboard Hot 100 chart and on the iTunes chart in late October 2010, making them the first Asian-American group to earn a number one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Among their other chart successes are: "Rocketeer" featuring Ryan Tedder of OneRepublic, which peaked at number seven on the Billboard Hot 100; "Turn Up the Love", which peaked within the top ten of the charts in the United Kingdom, and their 2012 remix of the song "Get Up (Rattle)" by the Bingo Players, which topped the charts in the United Kingdom.
Mercy Myra Grundberg, better known as Mercy Myra, is an R&B musician from Kenya.
Brasse Vannie Kaap (BVK) was a hip-hop group from the Cape Flats in Cape Town, South Africa. They rapped predominantly in the Cape Flats dialect of Afrikaans. The original line-up included Deon Daniels (Boeta-D), Roger Heunis (Hamma), Ashley Titus and Enver Pietersen. Bboys Cheeze, Baby-L and Levi joined the group soon after they started to perform live.
Andrew Kabiru Karuku, popularly known as Abbas Kubaff, is a Kenyan hip hop artist who was raised in the Kariobangi South, Nairobi. As a member of the rap group K-South, and later as a solo artist, Abbas has shaped and pioneered rap music in East Africa from the in 1995. K-South was a trio formed by Abbas, his brother KC and neighborhood friend Bamboo. The group split in 2005 after KC went missing and Bamboo move to the United States. As a solo artist Abbas is famous for hit songs such as "Chapaa" and "Tokelezea". He won a Chaguo La Teeniez Awards award in 2008 and a Golden Mic award in 2011. In 2006, Kubaff released his debut album Angabanga. He has toured extensively in Europe and has performed in Nairobi as the opening act for Coolio, Lost Boyz, Maxi Priest and Akon. In 2014 he released his fourth studio album known as Ghettoholic.
Kevin Ambalwa popularly known as Kayvo Kforce, is an African hip hop artist from Nairobi, Kenya and currently based in Kenya. He gained recognition in the music industry while he was still a member and a pioneer of the neo-Kenyan rap scene. He released a diss track 'Kill A King' which disses all the Kenyan hip hop artistes.
Odi pop is a Kenyan music style which involves localized hip hop and draws influences from reggae and Dancehall music to build on an African Rhythm base performed in sing-along rap in heavy Kiswahili/Sheng language. There are several sub-genres stemming from this umbrella term including Gengeton, Dabonge, Debe and others. The music is spearheaded by Kenyan youth and most of them are pursuing their careers as music groups opposed to solo careers.
