Sunday, August 2, 2020

Comments About Kenya's Genge Music & Gengetone Music Genres (From A July 27, 2020 That Fire LA Reaction Discussion Thread)




That Fire LA, July 27, 2020

Just giving y’all more content. Link to original video: https://youtu.be/VAyd4PZEMo0
-snip-
Here's information about that video that is the subject of the reaction:


The Story behind........ Gengetone

Nina form, Feb. 12, 2020

Africa has had a rise in emerging sounds and in Kenya, Gengetone is dominating the airwaves. Question is will it grow big enough to dominate the African sound or even the international market or will it die a slow death? In this episode, we look at the birth of Gengetone, its growth and where it currently stands.

****
Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post showcase a That Fire LA reaction video of a Kenyan vlog about the history of Kenya's Genge and Gengetone music genres.

Selected comments from that reaction video's discussion thread are also included in this post.

The content of this post is presented for socio-cultural and historical purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Nina form, That Fire LA, and all those who are quoted in this post.
-snip-
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2020/08/two-excerpts-of-online-articles-about.html for a pancocojams post entitled "Two Excerpts Of Online Articles About Kenya's Gengetone Music".

Also, click the Genge, Gengetone, and Gengetrap tags below for more pancocojams posts on these subjects.

****
SELECTED COMMENTS FROM THAT FIRE LA'S VIDEO DISCUSSION THREAD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7VzoXlxu44

All of these comments were published between July 27, 2020 and August 2, 2020 at 6:00 PM EDT. These comments are presented in chronological order with the "oldest" comments given first. Numbers are added for referencing purposes only.

1. Ian Leeroy
"Gengetone emerged from an old genre known as genge"
**
REPLY
2. kelvin k
"True"
**
3. Mwenye Kiti
"Kudo!!, this dude did his research right. I grew at the time  when genge and Kapuka  was taking off in Kenya and my goodnesses the reception was not a good one. Simply because most  lyrics in the songs were vulgar and  our parents were not ready to hear none of that. But after awhile, with persistent and consistency, Genge and Kapuka was slowly accepted. This opened doors to many new artist in the industry lead by Nonini and Jua Kali. Actually Nonini is the pioneer of Genge. He is known as the Godfather of Genge. He is the guy who got all the "beating"
Another artist worth mentioning in Kapuka is Nameless. Him and his Ogopa DJs lifted Kapuka high . To date,  Nameless together with his wife wahu are still relevant to Kapuka though she, the wife, is into gospel nowadays. They are blessed with two beautiful kids and I think should react to some of their  songs most of  which are patriotic and family friendly.
Though am a bit older now I still find Gengetone fascinating. The beats are on  another level. The only challenging thing is understanding they lyrics simply because they use Sheng and Sheng changes so quickly. The Sheng I use to speak is not the one the speak nowadays. The words and their meanings changes within days if not hours. So Ralph good luck keeping up with sheng haha!”…
-snip-
Here's some information about Kenya's Kapuka music from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boomba_music
"Boomba music, also referred to as kapuka (due to the beat pattern; not to be confused with kapuka rap), is a form of hip pop music popular in Kenya. It incorporates hip hop, reggae and African traditional musical styles. The lyrics are in Swahili, Sheng or local dialects. It is associated with the Ogopa Deejays and is believed to have originated in the late 1990s with artists such as Redsan, Bebe Cool and Chameleone. It went on to dominate East African airwaves (especially Kenya and Uganda) after the release of the Ogopa Deejays' first album in 2001, which included artists such as the late E-Sir, Nameless, Mr. Lenny, Amani, Mr. Googz and Vinnie Banton amongst others.
The over-saturation of playlists with this music style caused some to criticise it, including the artists K-South who had a hit titled "Kapuka This, Kapuka That". This[clarification needed] also led to other styles such as genge music being formed by producer Clemo to diversify the market. Despite the critics the music continues to be very popular in Kenya although more so now in Uganda. Of late, "genge" has also come to refer more generally to boomba and "kapuka" music."... 
**
4. Njeri M
"Hey Ralph. Genge is actually a Swahili word meaning ‘Gang’.
Some of the names mentioned on this vlog are from artists from back in the days who were signed up to Calif Records, which was huge back then. Some of those artists in Calif Records considered themselves as a part of a ‘genge’.
Soon after, I’d say in mid 2000s, ‘Reggae-ton’ music from Jamaica became huge here in Kenya. So just recently, people like Ethics came up with the Genge-ton music..a fusion of genres of Kenyan music, and their own unique style. “…
**
5. 
Greg Stephen
"The guy has some background knowledge on KE music. I think Gengetone is more like Reggaeton done in a Kenyan. The influence of Jamaican riddim is on the nasty lyrics and ratchet videos. The only association they have with the old Genge music is from the fact that they all come from Eastlands which is mostly ghetto."
**
6. Piman Mann Jaques
"Sounds like reggaeton using Kenyan lyrics. Not too original."

**
7. Mark Bosire
"A lot of creativity in gengetone but limited theme...sex & weed... Kenyan Music come with uncertain expiry dates"

**
8. Emmy K
"You just been given the history of gengetone..checkout and react to the older versions Kapuka and genge. For night life in Nairobi wetlands has a strip of clubs..B-Club is the hot spot"
-snip-
The comment about the Kenyan clubs was in response to a question Big Ralph (That Fire LA host) asked. 

**
9. Kennedy Mwangi
"he is spitting  truth boy has done his homework well"

**
10. Arthur Adinda
"With the right exposure to the international stage, Gengetone will be a trademark genre from Kenya, just like Gqom, Kwaito and the rest"

**
11. Mutegi Kanana
"That Makmende vid was the 1st kenyan video to go viral........ Within I guess 24hrs.... It ws featured on CNN"

**
12. Otieno
"Gengetone originated from Genge producer: Clemo and main artist were Jua Cali, Nonini, Flex which was crazy back in the mid 2000's and gengetone has a future it won't stop cause it can't stop and E-Sir is a legend Bamboo and Abbas were also 💥 back in the day... Makmende was Kenya's version of Chuck never watched your video this early must be the timing"
-snip-
My guess is that "Chuck" mentioned in this comment is Chuck D, "an [African] American rapper, author, and producer.[1] As the leader of the rap group Public Enemy, which he co-founded in 1985 with Flavor Flav,[2] Chuck D helped create politically and socially conscious hip hop music in the mid-1980s."...https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_D#:~:text=Carlton%20Douglas%20Ridenhour%20(born%20August,music%20in%20the%20mid%2D1980s.
**
13. Stephen Kyenze
"It's true Genge was Born in Calif Records, which included the likes of #JuaCali #Nonini and #Mejja.
And it ws produced by #Clemo #BeatyaClemo"

**
14. Gathenya Kamau
"CTA- Clearing The Airwaves has good coverage of the history of various of genres of Kenyan music 🎶.
**
REPLY
15. Victor Dali
"
True 💯 CTA is dope history...
**
16. Samwel N
"Ethic type of Gengetone may not last unless it slightly evolves to embrace the fact that corporates in Kenya are key to sustaining the music industry. A slight tweak to match the Chris Kaiga brand of gengetone will suffice.

**
17. FT Maren"Well if yo gonna do an analysis of our music and history come correct, i give him a 40/100"
**
18. Coffee Radio
"Gengetone is Just Kapuka, Periodt. Same same Kapuka started by Nameless, Got a swing by Jomino, Then Grandpa, The Kansoul, Timmy Tdat timez, Then it got a new Name. Nothing New"
**
19. ale key
"I feel like gengetone won't last.. because these days anyone can just hop in the stu and drop a gengetone as long as the beats are right... Genge needed one to actually be talented"

**
20. Master Wong
"You should react to #For the culture festival,the best genge tone fest to date."

**
21. Clement Gitonga
"Genge in Swahili means a large grouping (of people in this case) so Genge music from back in the day was music for the masses, hence Gengetone would fall in the same lines... music for the masses"

**
Edge T"This guy has a done a good job on history of gengetone in addition to some questions"
1. The part he talks about chris brown's 90 mil ($900k) payday in kenya answers another question you asked in the reaction for micasa sucasa by khaligraph where he mentions the same issue and talks of how kenyans dont appreciate kenyan.
2. Please react to the Makmende song.  Very few people realise this but makmende is the ONLY kenyan superhero. The song seemed to kinda mimic a shaftlike 70s themed badass.
3. Genge came about to give kenyan music a name and was proposed by the calif records guys but some players dint see the vision. That said, genge and gengetone are not the same. Genegtone by design is (as put in there) very ratchet, while Genge wasnt. I guess gengetone is a version of genge like mumble rap is a subset of rap.
4. Finally, gengetone will not have another 5 yrs. If you listened to the guy who did the video, kenyans go through genres of music periodically... We had the kwaito season, edm season, dancehall season and rhe always returning bongo season. Its gengetone season now but one thing is for sure.. Kenyans are loving and appreciating kenyan entertainment more than ever and whatever will come next will be equally loved"
****
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

No comments:

Post a Comment