Six music acts to watch out for in 2020
Here are the Gengetone kids who emerged last year and will hopefully take Kenyan music industry by storm in 2020:
Ethic Entertainment
They made their debut in 2008 after releasing their hit song ‘Lamba Lolo’. However, they were heavily propelled to the limelight last year with the PlayKeMusic campaign.
Made up of Rekles, Swat, Zilla and Seska, the group dropped more than enough controversial hit songs in 2019 which included ‘Pandana’, Chapa chapa’, ‘Figa’, Instagram bae’ among many others.
They are surely a group to still watch out for this year.
Sailors
The group of Miracle Baby, Shalkido, Masilver, Lexxy Young and Qoqosjuma was born in April last year after debuting their hit song ‘Wamlambez’ that went viral.
Sailors became so popular in 2019 that they headlined a number of events across the country including major ones like Koroga Festivals and Oktobafest.
They got several hits under their sleeves which include ‘Pekejeng’, ‘Queen B’, ‘Wainame’, ‘Wakiritho’ and ‘Jesu Ni Mwathani’ which was their last jam for 2019. The jam was a thanksgiving song to God for their last year successes. It would be wrong not to place a bet on them this year to keep shining.
Ochungulo Family
It’s yet another Gengetone group that had a good run in 2019. Made up of three lyrical geniuses Benzama, Nelly The Goon and Dmore, they came into existence with the release of their ‘Kirimino’ jam sometime in October 2018.
Nobody took them seriously until the PlayKemusic campaign took effect making them very much noticeable to event organizers and corporates. Their demand to headline shows went up. With hits like ‘Na Iwake, ‘Aluta’ ‘Mbinginji imekulwa na ndogi’ ‘Kaa na mamayako’, ‘Dudu’ you can only help but wonder what’s in store for this year.
Boondocks Gang
This is yet another Gengetone group that took the industry by storm thanks to the #PlayKemusic effect. Comprised of Ex Ray, Odi Wa Murang’a and Edu Maddox, the group dropped their first song ‘Reing’ in December 2018.
It was then clear that they were just getting started as last year proved to be their best year since breaking into the game. They released a number of hits which include ‘Mathogothanio’, ‘Thao’, ‘Kimangoto’, ‘Mboko Haram’ among others. Boondocks coined the famous ‘aah taniua’ slang.
Rico Gang
It’s the only gengetone group with a female member. Rico Gang is made up of Grayce, Harry Craze and Triand Rands. The group made its breakthrough last year. However, they did have little success compared to the rest of the Gengetone acts. ‘Kimonyoski’ was their major hit.
Zzero Sufuri
The solo gengetone artiste broke into the limelight when he first recorded a short freestyle video of ‘Zimenishika’ song that went viral on social media. Due to public demand, he recorded and short the video of the song and released it in April last year. The song hit the charts and Zzero made sure to keep the fire burning by dropping more hit songs the likes of ‘Matiati’, ‘Matisha’ in the course of last year. Zzero sound is a mixture of dancehall and genge beats.
Chris Kaiga
He is yet another solo gengetone act who broke into the limelight last year. He possesses a laid back kind of sound that makes him unique. ‘Zimenice’ was his huge hit. Others jams he released and did relatively well include ‘hizi bundas’, ‘Niko on’.