For precision’s sake, this isn’t necessarily a ranking of the period’s greatest artists. It would be too broad and beyond our current interests. Rather, this is more about the cumulative weightiness, narrative consistency, and progression curves of said bodies of work. It’s also important to keep in mind that it’s all from the vantage point of our scope of coverage and nothing more, by strategic choice.
Equally helpful to note, we prioritized inclusion of artists with more than one multi-track project, even better if they were full-length studio albums. That’s mainly because it’s easier to assess a cross-project multi-year trajectory with distinct content if the material is wide and necessarily varied.
That cleared, let’s go!
1. KABEAUSHÉ (as pictured in the cover still)
Berlin-based, Kenyan genre-tweaker Kabeaushé’s been a real show since 2023’s 13-track “The Coming of Gaze” project. The concept-driven hiphouse-meets-electronica album was artistically emblematic of all that makes bro a unique unit; brainy without being offputtingly self-indulgent, crafting a spectacle without wearing out the gimmick. Within the same year, he’d follow up with the joint with “HOLD ON TO DEER LIFE, THERE’S A BLCAK BOY BEHIND YOU!”, which evaded the sophomore slump by cheffing up a delightfully clownier quirkfest. In between & since then, he’s unleashed a slew of singles in the same vein, the latest of which just dropped on the day our team is drafting this piece. Barely a soul (EA/EA-adjacent) is on this brother’s arc, so don’t blame us for nudging him to keep cooking up more of the same expeditiously.
2. Degs
From his early mixtapes, to his 2020 debut album “Letters from Ndegwa”, all the way to his significant presence on last year’s “Anton Invicta Presents: Mars”, Kenyan-British multi-instrumentalist, MC and producer Degs has been weaving up a captivating drum & bass motif, with curious multicultural influences from his heritage and his current home base. Our team is putting together a genre feature about this particular scene in the coming days, eyes peeled!
3. Xenia Manasseh
2023-24’s “LOVE/HATE” Parts 1 & 2, in sequence with prior singles & EP’s, along with “MAYBE II” the latest joint EP helmed by Ukweli, are a sublime testament to Kenyan-Ugandan R&B star Xenia Manasseh’s aptitude to zoom out of her moment-tailored projects and sculpt a narratively coherent catalog that neither blurs the individuality of each joint nor comes off as a patchy sum. Any point you pause at on the multi-year trajectory serves as a reference to everything that she’s come to be loved for. Whether it’s the sheer beauty of her silky delicate pipes, or her conceptual intentionality, or even her grip on cultural nuances that she’s ever so fittingly moderate with, it’s all there in the mix. And you always get the sense there’ll be more soon.
4. Bunjoville Ug
This is the one exception on the list for whom there’s no full-length album to remark on, in the first place. Yet here we are? Why? Well, their catalog is too contextually vital to our scope to be excluded. This devotional stock of siblings and crew are CCM (Contemporary Christian Music) stalwarts on this our scene. They’ve proved themselves time and again as sonically competent in a category that’s often dismissively pigeonholed by the mainstream industry machinations that be. You get the sense, they’re just going about their journey without seeking to make a self-glorifying mark, yet their presence in these parts isn’t without notice. From entries at the turn of the decade to their current “Rewind It – Live” EP, they’ve revitalized the subgenre with the kind of innovativeness that mogs many of their mainstream peers. We actually reviewed their latest project back in April. To get a good picture of our disposition towards the crew, help yourself to it in our <EP Reviews> section.
5. Kohen Jaycee
Riding off the past decade’s early signs of momentum from his EP “Wena” (a proto-album in a sense), Kohen eased into the 20’s with a buncha similar multi-track projects of the Afro R&B variety. A crooner by distinction, he further set himself apart by espousing a certain thematic weightiness to his craft, all the while evading the temptation to drown out local lingual sensibilities with a typical urbanness that defined many of his cohortmates in the subgenre. His debut album “Rwebembera” would arrive a coupla years later and cement him as a scene mainstay. So intricate was the 2024 project that a glance at the features and an intentional dive into the craft would leave one marveling at it being his first official full-length joint. It’s been a year & a half, and we’re freaking ready for more output from his arsenal.
6. Angell Mutoni
For her whole hip hop music career so far, but more so in the last five years, Angell’s demonstrated how expansive her sound is. It’s not even a subgenre-hopping kinda thing for her, but more of a mastery of her niche to such a point as to be familiar within its nuances. Something about that makes one’s craft come off as vast. It’s evident on 2024’s tellingly named “The Rediscovered Collection”, a retrospective curation of her old music, some from before the turn of the decade. And the same ethos is embodied by “The Delivery”, her latest album from last year. One hopes she doesn’t take too long between now and her next multi-track drop.
7. XPRSO.
Kenyan producer collective XPRSO.’s on the list, purely on account of their unique technical chops and the aptitude to translate that proficiency into an enjoyable coherent identity. Right from 2020’s “Nairobass” to last year’s “NAIRO 2”, they’ve paired a brainy production combo with a fun-centric outlook, rooted in EA suburban culture along with an international flair. Hyped for their next entry!
8. GrG
Hopping between the +254 and these our parts, dude’s had a solid run that’s caught a good measure of attention by peers, but even deserves a firmer chronicling. Beyond his rap chops, he’s quite a force in terms of visual & brand narrative and strategic collabs, evident on the triple chord thread of 2020’s “House of G” and “The Ideal” (both fully fledged albums in a technical sense), & “A King’s Pack” (his latest EP from last year). Psyched for all the cheffery in the pipeline!
