Tanzania: Underground with hiphop
Inside a dark, cramped, music studio on Arusha's hillside slum of Kijenge Juu, a thumping hiphop beat rattles the window-less room.
A soft-spoken 26-year-old who goes by the name Raf MC steps up to the microphone. He glances down at a piece of paper in his hand.
Taking a deep breath, he starts to deliver rhymes in Swahili, the unifying language of Tanzania's 47 million people: "Hiphop game sio kama tu ma game mengine” (The hiphop game is not like any other game)
Three other Arusha MCs stand behind the microphones: Pacha the Great, 21, Sight Mo', 28, and Motra the Future, 20. Together they call themselves KINGS, which stands for Kijenge, Ngalimi and Sekei, three of the city's most notorious slums.
"We all grew up and live here," says Raf MC. "I'm from Sekei, Motra is from Kijenge, Pacha and Sight Mo' are from Ngalimi."
KINGS are a hiphop group brought up in the nurturing environment of northern Tanzania's underground hiphop scene. Acheni Blah Blah is the first single released by them and the group is expecting to release an album later this year.
Daudi Bakari is a music producer at Watengwa Records based in Arusha. He's also the co-founder of Saving Underground Artistes, known locally as S.U.A.
For almost two years, Bakari, 25, and his colleague Biggie Shirima, 25, have hosted Hiphop shows featuring aspiring artistes.
"Arusha is known as a tourist city in Tanzania located near most of the countries national parks and major attractions," Bakari says. "What people don't know is there's an emerging hiphop movement here that dates back to the late 1990s."
A few years ago, Tanzanians started to fear Arusha's hiphop scene was disappearing as more young people began turning to jobs in the burgeoning tourism industry, leaving music behind because of the lack of opportunity.
"There were some tough times that we faced trying to promote local Hiphop shows," Bakari says. "People stopped buying records and turning up to performances."
Bakari and Shirima stepped up to the challenge and started a showcase for Tanzania's hiphop talent. A few times so far this year, music fans have gathered outside of Watengwa recording studios in Kijenge Juu.
Graffiti covers the doors and walls. Over the stage area, the words "Read more, learn more, change" are inscribed alongside a young person holding a book.
"We always choose those eager to learn about the history of hiphop and how it took shape in Tanzania," Shirima says. "That's how we found KINGS. Now their music is playing on radio stations across the country."
Swahili hiphop, still referred to as Bongo Flava, has changed dramatically since its early days when emcees and groups like X-Plastaz gained prominence internationally. It's gone underground.
"Hiphop in Arusha has never just been about songs and beats. It's always been about substance," former X Plastaz member Mohamed Yunus Rafiq, says. "It's because of hiphop music that a lot of us avoided becoming criminals."
Rafiq was a young man during the transition from socialism in Tanzania to the free market. He admits hiphop music in Tanzania is still heavily influenced by founding President Julius Nyerere's brand of African socialism, known in Swahili as Ujamaa.
"The 1967 Arusha declaration officially made Tanzania a socialist state," Rafiq says. "In the 1980s, there were Cuban doctors and Russian military advisors everywhere. I remember going to ANC (South Africa's African National Congress) meetings as a boy and receiving candy from Russians."
All of this made Arusha the international city it is lauded as today. Now it is home to many international organisations such as the United Nations. Arusha was even once referred to as "The Geneva of Africa" by former U.S. President Bill Clinton.
This all made Arusha fertile ground for a socio-political music scene to flourish. From "muziki wa dansi (Swahili jazz music)" which gained prominence in the 1960s to today's bongo flava music popular with youth across the continent, Tanzanian hiphop seems to remain true to its roots - and in Swahili.
"The Bongo Flava you hear on the radio now is a blend of rap, dancehall music and R&B. What we do here is much different," Shirima says.
"We focus on the four pillars of hiphop: breakdancing, emceeing, DJing and graffiti. We hope by teaching the fundamentals that it will empower youth to make change in the community."
By promoting hiphop artistes to express themselves in the Swahili language also empowers Tanzanian youth to continue reaching new heights. Across East Africa, from Tanzania and Kenya to Uganda and eastern DRC, Hiphop fans are taking notice.
"We're a linguistic nation. Swahili is a creative language that adapts quite nicely to hiphop," Rafiq says.
As the hiphop beat fades away, Raf MC takes a step back from the microphone and folds up his piece of paper.
"We just want to represent our culture and our city. We do this by using music to educate the youth on how to do something positive in the community," he says
Credit: allafrica.com
