HIP HOP is alive and conscious!
Meet a Kenyan Representative – (Hustla)Jay Mau Mau
If Hip-hop still sounds like Bling-Bling, Bitches, Booze with Bass and Beats to you, this little article will introduce you to a broader view. There are awakened forces in the industry that hold the spirit of the spoken word to be a sacred tool to actively take part in building a community, strengthen identities and lead towards unity, peace and love. Celebrating the transformative power of the strongly rooted culture Hip-hop, the artists refer to the term Conscious Hip-hop to distinguish them from the commercial or gangster vibe. Conscious Hip-hop is a sub-genre of Hip-hop which challenges social and political inequalities by questioning the status-quo of a society.
A conscious MC will aim at creating awareness and imparting knowledge about current issues that exclude, abuse or hinder especially young people from becoming meaningful members of their community. In this tradition the artist becomes part of the solution – he/she is not THE solution, as being a (Hip-hop) musician is also not for everyone – but an advocate for education, political involvement and non-violent social activism.
In this spirit and deeply disturbed by the post-election violence 2007/08 in Kenya, the young James Masaii starts voicing his pain and anger about his divided nation as a Hip-hop MC aka Hustlajay MauMau. Inspired by his grandfather being a powerful teacher and preacher in his county and international artist like Common, NAS, Immortal Techniques and his now fellow MCs Kenring, Vigeti, Salif Keita and Babaluku from Uganda, Hustlajay turns his poetry into deep and deadly rhymes.
“It’s our time to reclaim Kenya from the thugs. Keep spitting those deadly and courageous lyrics!” (Boniface Mwangi, dedication to Hustlajay in his book “Unbound”, 2017)
2010 first album Minyororo ya haki
2016/17 Political and Social engaged in Kenya, Manager on the ground for Masa Music East Africa, one of the biggest music production label in the region