We posted this song the same day it came out of the kitchen but its been stuck on our homepage with other songs which we don’t normally feel like writing stuff about. However I’ve been going back and forth with one of the DJ’s here at GetMziki so I figured I would post it, post the instrumental and then put my two cents about my recent argument with the DJ/Producer who I was arguing with.
Let me make one thing clear before I say how I really feel – Musyoka and I talk a lot (the producer of this track). Nikki and I are also fairly good friends, so any criticism here is nothing that I am scared off short of Musyoka and Nikki Making a Diss track he he he he. I say it as it is with no French toast in between, mostly because I respect and love these two folks – we’ve known each other for long.
To me the first time I heard this track I was like damn thats a heavy beat – its tight, who produced that? Then I looked at the credits and saw Musyoka. I felt as though Musyoka had changed his style and is going POP – the song sounded too Western and too Hiphop Young Jeezy-ish. I still feel its too Western/Urban. I don’t find this a strong part of Musyokas production technique, and I have told him this on numerous occasions. But I respect the fact that a producer at times will want to venture out of his comfort zone and try something new, which to this argument this wasn’t the right artist to venture out and challenge that conventional reality. Nikki is an okay singer – actually I prefer her singing style to many other Kenyan artists but I am constantly asking myself if its time for her to switch it up! (am not saying her career is done, I am saying I have often felt her style needs to be switched up or changed up to something more current, more mature, more in-line with the people she grew up with, like I thought Nikki should have been part of the whole Imekubaliwa movement… but thats another story)
Nikki has been singing for a while so for me to make this statement its not like its unprecedented (I’ve voiced my opinions about her singing on this blog frequently in the past), I mean I used to watch her perform “Mapenzi Tele” back in the day so I feel like I am a large part of her success and growth… (ohhh boy I get so emotional talking about Nikki)… There are days I feel like the whole singing in English is just not – an us thing – its not an authentic African-ness, its not authentic Afrosoul – Genge – Kapuka – or whatever Kenyan Music Genre we want to put this music into. To me once you start singing and rapping in English it means I need to compare your flow to an American artists and thats just where the sadness comes in. For the few artists who can pull it off and get away with it like STL – let them be merry, but to the few who just havent had the opportunity of adopting the language and the swag that comes with singing and rapping in Kimombo! please just let it go. Nikki is borderline with this style, she almost gets away with it but to me I prefer it when she adds Swahili or some other dialect in her music.
So in continuation or to sum up the argument I was having with one of the DJs last weekend here is my summary.
- NO I don’t think this is a good song, I think the beat is cool but its not a song I would play in a club nor is it a song I would want to listen to over and over again. It’s just okay.
- YES I think Nikki can sing, but I think she should stay focused on the “Hii Ngoma” and other “Niwe wako” and “Mapenzi Tele” but I accept the fact that in your album you will always have one spirited song and this possibly was the song that she wanted to be inspired by.
- NO I don’t think Musyoka will agree with anything I have written here and even if he does he won’t openly admit it.
- NO I don’t think Nikki will respond to this post either (lol)
Thats my take…
For the DJ heads eat your heart out on this Musyoka instrumental – enjoy
listen to am leaving here:
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download the track here:
listen to the instrumental here:
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download instrumental here:
someone like Abbas or Chiwawa should get on this sick beat!!!
it’s so – so. Nikki is talented she should have done better
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Seems like they were def tryn to Westernize the song…The reason it works for Beyonce is because she brings an element with her vocal dynamics (going up where she needs to, going down, getting soft, going hard) and the right timing of where she needs to get dynamic. Nikki (no offense) seems a little flat on this beat. I think she takes away from it rather than adding on to it.
I love the “Mapenzi Tele” Nikki…I feel like that was her niche in the industry (what she could do as well, or better than anyone else)…
I hope this was just experimental for her. The instrumental is def on point, but with the vocals, I can’t honestly say that I want to listen to this song again.
Actually i prefer this song 100% to when she sings in swa. her swa songs to me sound like childs play and irritate me to the core coz she wengs in them and they have no kenyan swaness if u know what i mean. i had actually dismissed her due to the way she sounds in her swa songs
Kenyangal up there has made a very interesting observation about Nicki and the whole singing in swa. As much as I’m of the same view as the poster, that singing in English just doesn’t sound “us”, singing in Swahili on the hand is more often than not, abused in the Kenyan music scene. Instead of standing up to the Bongo flava wave that rocked the boat for Kenyan music and devising creative and original ways to re-capture the hearts of music lovers in Kenya, Kenyan artists got swept by the wave too! They started trying to sing in that swahili sanifu shit which just sounds too plastic especially when adopted by a hardcore born-Nairobi female “babi” like Nikki. I insist the problem with our music is not the language or choice of words. It’s way more than that, details of which are beyond the scope of this post. So yeah, I think if Kenyan artists want to sing in Swahili they should just remain natural and original and quit trying too hard to adopt an identity that is not theirs. They should not be ashamed of doing sheng’. Heck, even those Bongo flava songs are full of Tanzanian slang’ which some of our artists ignorantly incorporate in their lyrics thinking that just because a Tanzanian said it, it becomes sanifu.
On another note though; singing in English is not such a bad thing either. Whether or not an English track becomes successful just depends on the delivery and style of song. Try doing RnB and immediately your work is put to the test with legendary works by the likes of Maria Carey…you definitely do not want that! On the other hand, Nameless pulled it off quite well in “Salary” and Wahu too with “sweet love”. Oh yeah, the Naijas also have an interesting way of doing English tracks and getting away with it. Go figure!
change is good no matter who. look at mary j blige she has been there forever rapping singing dancing. it jus shows that nikki is an al rounded artist she can do whatever jus because she can!!!