Ethic, Ochunglo family: Nine popular musicians Kenyans love despite vulgar lyrics

 Ethic.

With X-rated lyrics and videos as well as signature dance moves, there is a new crop of singers commanding the new urban Kenyan music trend. With characteristic ratchet moves, they get everyone hooked.

Defying almost all the rules in the book, a new breed of musicians is commanding the attention of Pulsers with their crazy acts.

They need neither your TV listing nor the radio show countdown. No, not when you want to question their X-rated lyrics and ratchet dance videos. The Internet is their playground.

With their low cost videos, the number of views they are attracting on YouTube are insane. You would wonder how they have amassed such wild following.

Singing in hood groups mostly from Eastlands, the young blood have made dance moves like ‘Odi’ and ‘Kanyanga Lami’ a national dance code among the youth and have in the process formalised the street slang, the new sheng that comes with phrases like ‘lamba lolo’, ‘cheza na nare’, ‘wamundeges’ and ‘wamunyonges’.

So big is the demand for them that clubs are playing their songs on heavy rotation, no one seems to resist this dance moves. From Eastlands to Lavington, we are jamming to their beat.

Ethic entertainment

The poorly-shot and directed Lamba Lolo track is what thrust them into the limelight and soon everybody was singing along to the anthem. Nearing one year since its release, the song has garnered 3.3 million views.

Seeking to tap into their growing fame, Kansoul came on board and they did New Position, which now stands at 3.1 million views. Ethic have gone ahead to release Saba and Instagram, which both have one and 1.2 million views respectively.

In all the aforementioned videos, they feature girls twerking and grinding, which was mostly a reserve for select artistes but now it’s a feast for everyone. They also feature the signature dances moves.

The members were individual artiste when they did Lamba Lolo, but after the success of the song they came together to form the group. Their songs have featured prominently in Dallas Mavericks home games courtesy of DJ Poison Ivy.

Ochungulo Family

 Ochungulo Family.

When Nairobi MCA’s sought to eject county speaker Beatrice Elachi, she is said to have used pepper spray on them as one MCA would narrate to the media.

The MCA used the word ‘Krimino’ (criminal) to describe the act, which Ochungulo family tapped into and had Krimino, a follow-up to their first song from Bora Uhai. The group has then released Thutha, Na Iwake and its remix.

The songs are doing well online with the least garnering over 300,000 views and have bagged them notices if their current appearances in events are anything to go by. Na Iwake has been played by BBC 1Xtra in the UK.

Rico Gang

 Rico Gang.

Their first song Dance It Up got a mere 19,000 views. This marked their entrance into a new front for them as they sought to break into the industry. Their second song F**k Boy has over 700,000 views.

The sudden rise in the number of views was a clique of followers they were creating for themselves and now almost everyone was talking about the group. In their new song Chachisha they feature Ochungulo family. The coming together of the groups shows an unwavering support between them.

Boondocks Gang

 Boondocks Gang.

Following in the footsteps of Ethic, this group has so far released four songs, with the least garnering 17,000 views. Their lyrics are all about ‘weed’, parties and sex. The trio comprises of Exray, Maddox and Furnace who believe they are original from the rest as they actually speak the reality of the ghetto side.

Just as their name suggests “Boondocks means ghetto or hood and we are a unique anthem as we are trying to beat all whack MCs out there,” says Exray.

“We do street music, which nowadays actually sells and people are really supportive. But in as much as we try to school this whack-jobs we still appreciate the old artistes but again, honestly speaking, their time is up. Some platforms such as Coke Studio gives humongous stage to some outdated artistes in the industry with the claim that the new wave we do won’t last long but for us we are purposely here to give the streets what it wants and do a god job while at it,” he adds.

The group is dedicated to dropping new singles working together with the likes of Ochungulo, Gwass and other artistes and their fans should sit back and relax as they drop new hits.  “Rieng was our biggest jobs to date, which garnered more than 350,000 views but more is coming,” Exray adds.

Psycho (Team Kata Tenje)

This group, comprising of Francis Juma-the manager, Rockcil - video director and singers Joseph Juma aka Joseph Hill, Ian Njiite aka Iano Mabling and Kelvin Nduati aka Nduati, is slowly creeping up in the local musical industry.

Representing Kangemi 23 as their hood, the dancehall, Afro musicians grew up together and later met at Joseph Hill’s house where they played instrumentals and, as they put it, the vibe just flew and that is how they came up with their first song Kata Tenje although they have 6 more songs.

The group has two songs and a remix to one of them. The famous of the two is Kata Tenje, in the song they diss Ethic and rap how they are breaking into the music industry without care and adorning silver rings, which is a signature feature or dream for any kid brought up in the ghetto.

“We think at the moment Ethic are our biggest competitors because they copy our music. If you listen to our Kata Tenje well and listen to Ethics’ Instagram and Pandana you can clearly feel our original touch. They basically copy our vibe,” says Frank, the group’s manager.

Team Ganji 254 entertainment

Pana Tambua Lawama is their first song which has over 250,000 views. In the song they rap how they don’t give a damn about people from other hoods and the police. They come from Umoja.

G-Rock music

Their first song was posted two years ago and didn’t even hit a thousand views. Other releases struggled to get views with the highest getting 4,000 views. Their song Ma**ko was widely used to dismiss the debate on playing Kenyan music and it worked in their favour because it has so far garnered over 600,000 views. Their follow up song Gikomba did fairly well getting over 60,000 views.

Mob K

This gospel ragga dancehall group released the song, probably inspired by a nursery rhyme Kipara Ngoto. This has garnered over 250,000 views on YouTube. Shot on a rickety bridge this group sings about how when they “catch” Satan ‘watampiga ngoto’

Adf

 Adf.

These ‘youngins’ in the industry gave birth to a new subgenre of trap music, ‘Shrap’ which is slowly catching up. This is the Kenyan version of trap music. Shrap simply stands for ‘sheng, trap and pop’ music all in one.

This is a wave that is taking over urban music and we got to give it to the brains behind it, Alliance Domini Family, ADF Comprised of K-Green, Boutross, Dope I-Mean and their manager Musau.

They are the new generation of artistes who are set out to put the Kenyan music where it is supposedly supposed to be. “We can call it a revolution because we are doing trap music and making it have that original Kenyan taste in it.

That is why we have called it Shrap. We are a family that has been together for a while and are pushing forth into the Kenyan industry, also putting the Country on the map,” says Boutross.

Although there are not low budget videos and are not from Eastlands they represent hip-hop to the best.