Category: Pop Culture
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James Rugami. Nairobi’s Vinyl King
Like the story of vinyl, the story of James ‘Jimmy’ Rugami never gets old. An equivalent of a music curator, the merchandise in Jimmy’s store is the kind to be treasured, priceless relics if you appreciate the fine things in life but a pile of old junk if you are on the other side of…
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The Evolution of Nairobi Cosplay
When Jessica ‘Jess’ Olago (26) made an uncomfortable matatu commute from Donholm to Westlands to attend her first cosplay event at NAICCON back in 2014 dressed up as the DC supervillain Joker, she had no idea that she would one day become one of Kenya’s most popular and respected cosplayers. In a conversation with Angela…
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Lokassa Ya M’bongo, A Tribute
My generation came of age with ace Congolese rhythm guitarist Lokassa ya M’bongo, the man who taught us how to dance, seduce girls, have fun on moonlit December nights; how to wear silk and viscose shirts with the top-three buttons undone to show off our sprouting chest hairs, and how to bleach our faces with…
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King of Calypso Takes a Last Bow
He is widely known for his chart-busting album Calypso, the first album in the world to sell over 1 million copies in a year, which included the smash hit “Banana Boat Song”; but he wore the title ‘King of Calypso’ with reservations because he was no Calypso Monarch but a New Yorker of mixed Jamaican…
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Necessary Noize: A Mixtape Down Memory Lane (Side B)
It’s the year 2003. We spend all our free time in [Redacted] Boys High School huddled up listening to Kiss 100. Ogopa Deejays have taken over the airwaves. Through the illegally smuggled Palito auto scan radio sets, we listen to E-sir and Nameless’s Boomba Train, Nameless and Amani’s Ninanoki, Wahu’s Liar, Kleptomaniax’s Haree, Mr. Googz…
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Daylight Come And Me Wan’ Go Home: Remembering Harry Belafonte
Daylight has come for the banana boat man. Harry Belafonte, the 96-year-old actor, singer, and civil rights activist, passed away in his home on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Harold George Bellanfanti Jr was born in 1920’s Harlem, New York to Jamaican parents. Back when Harlem was the heart of the New Negro Movement,…
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Necessary Noize: A Mixtape Down Memory Lane (Side A)
Every origin story has a soundtrack. This is mine. It’s the year 2000. I’ve just sat my KCPE and the whole world is ahead of me. I spend a lot of time at the base where Waruish sells water. Everyone I hang out with is much older except for K who is one week older…
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The People Who Took Care Of Us Had Their Own Battles. Aftersun: A Review
We grow up being oblivious to the humanness of those who raise us despite being found in the intimate convergence where they meet us. Some of them did not get to familiarise themselves with buoyancy before they were catapulted into the deep end of parenthood. And, it is easy for us to forget this, because…
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Music’s Making Vernacular Cool Again (For Me)
Sometimes I wish I could turn to Google Translate and learn how to say ‘‘this song goes hard’’ in 5 different vernaculars. Unfortunately for me, Google Translate does not list any Kenyan vernacular languages. It is 2023 and I barely know anyone my age who can fluently speak their mother tongue. The majority of the…
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Vinyl Is The Sound Of Friction, Of Rubbing Intimacy
I am in Pereira, a city in the foothills of the Andes in the Eje Cafetero (Coffee Axis) region of Colombia. This is not my first time in Pereira. The first time was when I came to my friends Sara and Stanley’s wedding. The second time was a year after their wedding when I visited…