Cultural origins 1990s
Nairobi, Kenya | Derivative forms Kenyan hip hop | |
Stylistic origins Hip hop, reggae, traditional African music Typical instruments Rapping, vocals, keyboard, sampler | ||
Boomba music, also referred to as kapuka (due to the beat pattern; not to be confused with kapuka rap), 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 (especially Kenya and Uganda) 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.
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The over-saturation of playlists with this music style caused some to criticise it, including the artists K-South who had a hit titled "Kapuka This, Kapuka That". This also led to other styles such as genge music being formed by producer Clemo to diversify the market. Despite the critics the music continues to be very popular in Kenya although more so now in Uganda. Of late, "genge" has also come to refer more generally to boomba and "kapuka" music.
Riftsyde flava
Riftsyde flava is a genre of hip hop music that originated from the town of Nakuru or colloquially Naks/Nakx as many youths call it. The music is a blend of indigenous kapuka mixed with a reggae baseline. It is characterised by very flashy rappers who mainly rap about their sexual escapades and the number of women that they keep, but cipher their language to avoid being explicit.
Artists in this genre include O-Life Civilians, GML, F.N.M, I.P, DNK DANIKA, Danika Supreme among other rappers that are affiliated with Double-O Records and Southnakx Music.
Kapuka rap
Kapuka rap is a genre of hip hop music that is derived from Boomba music, but incorporates more dance-pop, synthpop and electronic music than reggae and ragga but still incorporates some hip hop. Artists such as Collo and Camp Mulla incorporate kapuka rap in some of their songs.