Kenyan Producer/DJ Takes You On A Journey On Nairobi Lost Tapes, Vol. 1

On his latest album, Nairobi Lost Tapes, Vol. 1, Kenyan producer/DJ MR. LU* pays homage to Kenyan classics. This project was inspired by his desire to highlight local Kenyan music whilst giving them a modern twist. 

NLT, Vol. 1, is a follow up of his ethnic flips series that began in 2019 with the release of his 11 track EP titled CLU6, the opening track of which, “Royco!”, made use of a woozy Kikuyu guitar sample. His catalog has since expanded to include his solo beat tapes, collaborative albums and a revered series of remix projects, including a subset dedicated to samples from different parts of Kenya.

Nairobi Lost Tapes, Vol.1,  is a mesmerising offering that takes you on a journey through some of Kenya’s most iconic sonic landscapes as MR. LU* flips samples from different parts of the country, infusing his signature contemporary hip-hop, bass-leaning production. The first single off of the project, “Hot Luv”, saw the producer rework music from famed Kamba folk band, Katitu Boys; his second single, “Corporate” featuring Selo samples prolific Kikuyu, Benga artist, Joseph Kamaru. MR. LU* takes us all the way down to the Kenyan coast on “Tangaza Wenzako”, which borrows from local Taarab music, and predominantly samples from his native Kambaland on the remaining tracks.

Each track is below two minutes long but seamlessly flows into the next, a deliberate choice made by the artist: “It's kinda like my attention span, if you put it on repeat, it’ll loop perfectly...I also feel that people’s attention spans are short lived so I decided to make something you can listen to in a dash but enjoy still…”

Listen to the project here.