MUSIC REVIEW: ‘Masheesha’ by H_Art the Band featuring Bensoul

H_art the Band has distinctly managed to disengage themselves from their initial spoken word style fame.. PHOTO| Mwas Mahugu

What you need to know:

  • Bensoul’s voice hides an untapped talent, and I am now interested in his solo renditions outside of his sing-song rap.
  • And am I the only one who thinks that this song has phrases that sound very much like Atemi’s "Kama We"?

H_art the Band are back with a new song, and they are still broke!

“Masheesha” is about ordering shisha, I suppose, in a bar that you can’t afford, and thus trying to get out of the bill in what I guess is the modern-day version of leaving without paying – climbing out of the bathroom window and running away. As someone who has been on dates, though, that leaves the woman or man in a very compromising situation, does it not? Especially if the bill of Sh 220,000 in the video is true…if that is even possible.

I love the beat of the song, though not so much the video, and of course the true-to-life theme – a lot of people go places they can’t afford and are left with the headache of trying to figure out how they are going to pay their bills – not just in the bar, but also concerning credit cards, car loans, rent, et al.

On the other hand, I do not really understand the elitism associated with shisha. Maybe I am not the target market (for this song and Njoki Chege’s debilitating articles) but is shisha really that big a deal, and that much correlated to living the ‘good life’ – enough so to rack up a 200k bill? I think not.

H_art the Band has distinctly managed to disengage themselves from their initial spoken word style fame, crossing the bridge towards more commercial club-bangers with their recent hits “Adabu” and now, “Masheesha”. They are still keeping to that old-school flavour of denim-on-denim clothing, geek glasses and faux gold chains, while paying homage to a notably zilizopendwa feel of Kenyan music, a la Calif records and other pioneers in the same vein. I am also loving the feature in this record – Bensoul’s voice hides an untapped talent, and I am now interested in his solo renditions outside of his sing-song rap. And am I the only one who thinks that this song has phrases that sound very much like Atemi’s Kama We?

Watch the colourful Mushking-produced video here.