Women In Gengetone
It is no lie that misogyny is close to being a world problem not only in the music scene but the entertainment industry at large. Kenya was first introduced to Gengetone in 2016 but thanks to the founding fathers, Ethic, the genre gained popularity among the youth in mid 2018. If “Lamba Lolo” wasn’t jamming in cars, mini-buses, clubs or events “Wamlambez” was the substitute and the Nairobi scene took to the genre and made the most of it while they could. Despite being able to unite the country for a period of time, the genre has heavily been dominated by male presence with few notable names such as Femi One and Ssaru. It is no surprise that when you interact with music heads you’ll often hear the question, “Are there any other females in the scene?”
EQue is a student at the Kenyatta University pursuing film and theatre arts and has caused a disruption in the gengetone scene. Dubbing herself as “dame akona IQ’ (An intelligent person) she gained recognition in the scene with “Chuma Ya Doshi” . Possessing unfathomable skill in delivery, her straight face as she raps her raunchy lyrics drives you to being fully consumed by her songs. Considering rap when she was in highschool, she started off as a HipHop artist before getting into gengetone and did her first gengetone song “Nimetokea Kisos” which was a collabo with veterans Benzema and Ssaru. Heavily motivated by her fans, EQue claims to have a strategy to ensure she stays in the game, going against the common saying that it is easy to get a hit song especially since she is a lady in the industry.
The streets have been hinting about the death of gengetone while gatekeepers emphasize that the genre cannot grow past the Kenyan borders,it is undisputed that it has been the closest genre that sounds like a Kenyan sound after Kapuka and Genge. Dirty lyrics and perverted videos have mainly contributed to this ideology but Murasta is preaching a different gospel to the audience. A victim of sexual abuse she aims at passing positive messages to everyone while still maintaining the vibe in the genre. She teamed up with Benzema ,who was accused of rape, to produce little know gengetone track “Paka Permit”to educate the public on rape and its consequences. Murasta is heavily associated with Jamdown Shafflas, a studio affiliated with reggae. She has hit singles such as Ghetto that are paving the way for her as she builds her name in the industry.
A feeling I often have is that a large part of the society isn’t ready for sexually liberated women. Bragging about oneself is an important part in lyricism when it comes to music and the female bragaddocio has often challenged the male one. At the same time the sexualization of females has undermined the females in the industry but Sylvia Ssaru isn’t stopping anytime soon. She takes advantage of what excites most of her crowd which is female sexuality and goes ahead and brags about it in explicit lyrics. Critiques of females show an example of double standards because i fail to understand how it’s okay when Parroty says “.....juu nilinyonya ya mummy na before ilinyonywa na daddy , mi mso ntanyonya ya nani?....” but it becomes a huge issue when Nash says “....Mi nadai mjulubeng nikichora saba….”
Brisbane from Highgrade is one who isn’t living by anyone’s terms. Magnificently enjoying her femininity in their latest single Mamacita she does not only please us with her savvy flow that is refreshing to listen to , she leaves us with an image of her curves engraved in our minds. Nimoh from Northlando captures the audience with her hard-hitting, caption worthy bars as she makes it clear that you can still craft some hard bars and look pretty while at it.
Overtime women have gained their position at the table, proving that they have equal rights to be as sexual, raunchy and also heavy on the bars in their songs. Bjork once said” “I want to support young girls who are in their twenties now and tell them, ‘You’re not just imagining things.’ It’s tough. Everything that a guy says once, you have to say five times.”
