CELEB BUZZ: My favourite Kenyan songs of 2018

2018 has been a great year for Kenyan music. Many great songs were released and they all commanded the charts either briefly or lengthily depending on whether the artiste was a titan or a pygmy. Given that I’ve been writing about celebrities for quite a long time, I think it’s appropriate for me to name my top songs of the year. Creating a list like this is never easy because there is a large pool of quality to fish from. Here we go.

“Baby Love” – Otile Brown

Extreme emotions, whether good or bad, bring out the best work from creators of art. It just so happens that the year in which Otile Brown has been a total infatuation junkie has also turned out to be his most impressive year musically.

In 2018, he has had a couple of really good songs like “Chaguo La Moyo” with Sanaipei, but “Baby Love” topped them all.

No, it’s not because Vera Sidika doubled as the subject and the vixen. Here, Otile brewed a rhythmically relaxed and soulfully fluid cube of R&B candy. All musical elements, including the mellifluous outpourings of flirtation and falsetto vocal range, were spot on.

The lyrics were pretty easy to sing along to as well. “Achana naooo…..oooh…achana naooo. Wenye roho mbaya….wanatusema vibaya.” Good stuff.

“Dundaing” – King Kaka ft. Kristoff and Majix Enga

I am not sure whether Majix Enga should be singing at all or just concentrating on being a producer. I am yet to come up with a final verdict on that. Maybe if he would be concentrating on beat-making he wouldn’t have copied part of the beat of this song from Olamide’s “Motigbana”.

I am also not a fan of the new King Kaka and I made that clear in a previous article. I liked the previous King Kaka, the one that was known as Rabbit.

However, I enjoyed this song very much because Kristoff really delivered. Here, Mluhya Wa Busia sounded more alive and dedicated than most of his recent sleepy songs. Even if you really wanted to hate “Dundaing”, you couldn’t. It was too infectious and that’s why it makes my list.

“Ngori” – Khaligraph Jones

Khaligraph thinks I hate him. He actually asked for my number from one of my friends so that he could lash out at me. He called but I didn’t pick. I am not a fan of arguing. This was after I said that Pinye was right to not play his videos because they are always low quality.

Contrary to what he thinks, I really respect his art. And I feel that the trunk-rattling “Ngori” is one of the best songs he has ever done. The way he flows from start to finish is just incredible.

I actually liked this song more because he used more Sheng than English. He should keep the Sheng to English ratio at 80:20 in future tracks. Not vice versa.

“Wema Wako” – Guardian Angel and Baraka

Guardian Angel is one of the realest gospel artistes in Kenya. Over the past few years, he has carved out his own pure diamond rocks from the surface of contaminated Kenyan gospel.

His thoughtful religious messages, punctuated by jim-dandy rhymes, give what would otherwise be a relatively average song a sexier feel.

This song makes me want to dance and pray at the same time. Both artistes keep the song buzzing with great energy and spiritual presence. I had never heard of Baraka before this song but he is good. He has a bright future.

“Noma Ni” – Octopizzo

On this track, Octopizzo unleashed one of the most incredible bars ever by a Kenyan rapper. The way he plays with words is jaw-dropping. F

rom verse to verse, he comes up with really witty lines like “Walianza mwaka na pupa Mi’ kwa hosi nime-chill tu ’cause I’m sick and you know it.”

‘Sick’ is a slang word for ‘dope’ and the fact that he says he is chilling in a hospital because he is too ‘sick’ is just incredible.

Octopizzo really awed me with this song. It made me develop a new form of respect for him. That’s until he released “Oliel”. You all know the drama that followed that song.

“Finyo” – Nyashinski

Isn’t Nyashinski the luckiest human alive? He quit the limelight, went to the US, spent many years there, then he came back and said: ‘You know what? I think I am going to continue with this fame business.’ Then fans accepted him back with open arms.

But he isn’t just lucky, he is good. Even the worst Nyashinski songs are better than what 95 percent of the rest of Kenyan artistes release.

“Finyo” is only a few weeks old but it has already made my list. In it, he manages to easily switch between singing and rapping like a V8 driver switching lanes on Thika Road. Nyashinski wafts over the sheen, violin-driven beats with finesse.

“Finyo’s” only flow lies in the video on minute 1:39, when either the artiste or the video director (I don’t know who is to blame) decides to include a crowd of people nodding their heads like in Kendrick Lamar’s video for “Humble”. It comes off as very poorly done and cheap.

“Mary Jane” – Timmy and Arrow Boy

I like Timmy’s personality more than his music. In fact, he has almost capsized his career this year with a string of unimpressive songs. However, once in a while, he manages to create melodies that impress.

When he teamed up with Arrow Boy, it was quite obvious that something refreshing was going to be created. When they both started jamming to the producer’s beats, they said “Let there be Mary Jane. And there was Mary Jane.”

Here, both of them wear their unruliness like iron armour. The song is also supported by dance-ready beats that make the union worth it.

“Mpaka Chini” – Nonini ft. Prezzo

This song draws you into a calming web of old-school magic while still keeping the modern vibes. It made me feel like I had time-travelled back to 2004. I was even about to wait for Sunday so that I could check Buzz magazine and see if the lyrics had been printed.

Remember back in the day when song lyrics used to be printed in Buzz? As kids, we would cut them out and stick them in exercises books. Ooh…the good old days.

“Mpaka Chini” reminded me of those days. Two of the greatest artistes in Kenyan history came together to deliver awesomeness in a way that’s rare for aging mainstream gods. Perfect…Just perfect.

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And that concludes my list of favourite Kenyan songs that dropped this year. May Kenyan artistes continue in the same spirit of releasing great songs next year.

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