Musical Interlude

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When covid plays out over the next 5 years and beyond, folks will remember the 90s, 00's and 10's as the best times of their lives. "My bird" tells me that life will never ever ever go back to how good it was back then.

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1995 was my year, man SMH. This whole album was FIRE

Whatever happened to the RCB mid- '90s late teens and early twennies?
Wakina Asali
Bryan275
Mungu Ngai Pan
And everybody else?

Me against the world hit the charts a mere months before I left Kenia for the USA, leaving flames in its wake. We had our whole lives ahead of us. Hard to describe that optimism and sense of excitement of youth.

Dear mama with its thumping bassline rocked speakers at Carni, JayKays and Visio bwaad. Then hunting for delicious Topaz kukus  at 5 oclock in the morning!! Tupac was so real, man. He wasn't rapping, he was just delivering pure truth on wax no filter. That's why he was so loved man. No fakeness at all in everything he wrote.

And once I got to the land of opportunity, I will never forget the first time I heard Temptations BUMPING from a '95 Mazda MPV with crazy woofers back when folks used to cruise and show off on Canal St in the Big Easy during my school break after the first sem in school. I was blown away by the cars, the chicks, the seeming wealth of these young guys and gals which was quite awe inspiring for a nobody from Nairobi  . The Big Easy is a crazy nice city man, unique in the whole wide world. Canal, Bourbon, The Garden District, Congo Square jazz nites, Jackson Square. ...strong coffee and beignets at Cafe Du Monde at the French market the next morning after we woke up after a night of partying?  Let me just shut up man SMH. Those surely were the days!!

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ISTYLE . Brand new jam. That hook is thorough and very catchy. That transition at minute 1:32 Jameni Kwaito forever man I do not care what they baptize its variants which are mutating like covid (Gqom, amapiano, whatever!)

On another note. Alulululu I just discovered this remix (RESISTA) on Spotify (now available in Kenya at long last!) sema Fwaya!
https://open.spotify.com/track/7E8VhBeSXavIfWNV1IGjf0?si=544a1cdecb7d486a

[Kim Jong-Un's Pajama Pants]

Focalistic Ke Star

Kali sana. Is this a new Kwaito offshoot? But these kids are not dancing bwana, maybe that's part of the new trend.

This is still amapiano.  Here is a version he does with Davido(who has endured in relevance compared to his peers akina p-square.  I suspect it's coz he is open to expanding his craft with collabos).

[KenyanPlato]

Smooth,

Maisha ina songa Mbele. Tumzee tumeangushwa na Kavid vilivyo

https://www.memoireonline.com/10/10/3996/m_The-image-of-the-woman-in-Okot-pBiteks-iSong-of-Lawino-and-song-of-Ocoli4.html

[KenyanPlato]

Narudi Nyumbani

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This is still amapiano.  Here is a version he does with Davido(who has endured in relevance compared to his peers akina p-square.  I suspect it's coz he is open to expanding his craft with collabos).

Chonjo sana. You are right about Davido staying relevant via collabos. He reminds of Mejja in Kenya. Was making genge songs in the 90s to early 00's but the millenials kiddos still love him because of his collabos with totos who are their peers. Another OG in Kwiinya who is causing chaos on the charts is Kalligraph Jones/Papa Jones wa Kayole. Rap flows so far unmatched for the past 5+ years and both his peers and the millenials are huge fans. He has somehow made swa rap flows cool even among so called posh kids.

[.]

Smooth,

Maisha ina songa Mbele. Tumzee tumeangushwa na Kavid vilivyo

https://www.memoireonline.com/10/10/3996/m_The-image-of-the-woman-in-Okot-pBiteks-iSong-of-Lawino-and-song-of-Ocoli4.html

Sad. Kavid has turned the world upside down blo. These msungus have done a number on the world. But this too shall pass one day hata kama it is 10 years from now

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Narudi Nyumbani

Good stuff. These are the songs that put me on likizo mode on the many balconies of the hundreds of Somali restaurants in Kenya that have flooded CBD that serve food of better quality than Chili's! Come home my broda. Masiku zinaenda. Kavid has taught us that life can change drastically at any time. Sisi hapa tunanjienjoy jiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii. As I told you before I wish I had returned 5 years earlier! We are still playing catch up with dudes who came back 10 years earlier and are now on their fourth or fifth apartment complexes in Kili or processing coffee through value addition and selling to Quickmart while buying porsche Cayennes and vacationing in Vipingo Ridge every few weeks! USA is nice while young (18-45) after that nyumbani ni mambo yote.

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Krisi Nairobi 2014!!
Those were quite some times, man. Life will never be the same again, take that to the bank!

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Bad memories kabiza, kabiza, kabiiiiza from this one. NYC, Summer 1998.

It's crazy just thinking this song came out 23 years ago! Seems like just juzi 

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Njamba, these songs these songs these songs I tells ya remind me of Boston. Or Baaawston as the local ferengis call it. Boston is just a unique place, man. I liked walking through Sommerville each morning tena saana. Easy neighborhood with lots to see and do. Riding the T too was fun (why is it called the T again?)! Na a mhindi owned Dunkin Donuts seemingly every two steps you take  Na Charles River cruise shwaaaaaaa after shopping at Cambrigeside Galleria. And shopping for latest gear at Filene's basement wit it's crazy bargains! I wonder if it still exists.  And those pizzas..auuuuuuiiiii. These were the songs that were playing in the car around that time. Feels like yesterday pwana. Enyewe Stateside had its fun moments. The mid-2000s were some of the best yet 

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1995!! Dreams! I am surprised that makuti roof at Carni did not blow off and "the bonfire" was not extinguished from the bass on this song whenever DJ Babz (Is he still alive and in Kenya?) rocked this joihnt SMH .

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When L.A. use to run tings

G-Funk Era, Dre and Snoop, Eazy-E, West Coast. When the West took over, they took over for like 5 years non stop from 1993!
After Dre Day came out, everybody in the West wanted a '64 Chevy Impala on hydraulics. And when Pac joined Death Row it was GAME OVER. Why lie there is no place like L.A. ESPECIALLY in the Summer . Those were surely the days

Man oh man let me just shut up

[Kim Jong-Un's Pajama Pants]

Chonjo sana. You are right about Davido staying relevant via collabos. He reminds of Mejja in Kenya. Was making genge songs in the 90s to early 00's but the millenials kiddos still love him because of his collabos with totos who are their peers. Another OG in Kwiinya who is causing chaos on the charts is Kalligraph Jones/Papa Jones wa Kayole. Rap flows so far unmatched for the past 5+ years and both his peers and the millenials are huge fans. He has somehow made swa rap flows cool even among so called posh kids.

This Kaligraph is good.  I have heard of the guy but not listened to his music till now.  His rap is totally legit and not the usual tacky stuff some of the genge artists put out there.

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Tuku -Waskara. Timeless classic

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Jirani
You know a song is fire when it sparks a tiktok craze in Kwiinya

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When I heard these song these song these song in a mathree in Kenia on my way to tao in 1995, I couldn't wait to experience a USA summer. I miss USA summers man. Was always the best time of the year for me. BBQs, the beach, fly honies and cruising around town, preferably with the top down 

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These song these song these song i tells ya is anoda wan that reminds me of end of summer 1995 when it was causing a storm on the charts. Freshman year when I stayed in the dorms. Terrible experience. My roomie was an AA named Dushwan who smoked weed daily and had very long unkempt hair. He dropped out even before the semester was over to join those TV technical colleges that teach you how to repair fridges na kadhalika.  I wonder where he is now or even if he is still alive!

[MOON Ki]

I never get tired of hearing her sing.