After a brief hiatus, the Unkut Hip Hop Awards are back in 2025. Founded by former Homeboyz Radio presenter, Ruby V. The Unkut Hip Hop awards offers a platform to artists and creatives in the Kenyan hip hop scene, giving them their flowers for a job well done. This year’s edition features some notable names as panelists, including veteran podcast Ado Veli, who is the founder of The AdoVeli Podcast, […]
Come April 2026, Carnivore Grounds will transform into a living stage for seven nights as Nyashinski, unveils Showman, The Residency — a bold, intimate, and deeply theatrical reimagining of what a live music experience can be in East Africa. This is not just a simple concert series. It is Kenya’s first true music-theatre residency: a seven-show run spread across nine days, where the artist plants roots in one venue, perfects […]
Three days ago, Shakira Wafula, one of the most recognizable younger faces inside David Maraga’s campaign secretariat, announced her resignation. Her statement cited “diverging paths on key values, priorities, and decisions.” It was brief, diplomatic, and carefully worded. But online, the reaction was immediate and intense. Within hours, speculation emerged that the public letter was a stripped-down version of a more detailed one said to reference misconduct allegations against a […]
The selection this week arrives with a strangely cohesive collage of Nairobi soundscapes—tracks that, on the surface, share nothing beyond a release date, yet together map the tensions, experiments and emotional fissures shaping the city’s pop culture today. Unspoken Salaton, long known for his rugged gengetone instincts, surprises with a subversive arbantone production crafted for a gospel legend, bending the genre’s edges without ever betraying its pulse. Iyanii, the ever-consistent […]
Kenyan-American musician Xenia Manasseh has earned her first-ever Grammy nomination. Announced on November 7 as part of the 2026 Grammy contenders, the 29-year-old Nairobi native's nod in the Best R&B Album category marks her as the latest Kenyan artist to crack the Recording Academy's elite circle, following trailblazers like Sauti Sol and Nyashinski. Manasseh's breakthrough comes via her behind-the-scenes contributions to Teyana Taylor's critically lauded visual album Escape Room, a […]
As a child, I always knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur. Long before it was cool to be your own boss, I was inspired by seeing my parents build their business together. Having been a business owner since 2013, the biggest lesson that I have learned in business is to be careful and vet who you choose to go into business with. Even as I say this, I have […]
In the sweltering heat of Ubungo, Dar es Salaam, on October 29,mere hours after Tanzania's polls closed under a shroud of blackouts and boycotts, John Okoth Ogutu, a 38-year-old teacher from Siaya County, was gunned down in the streets. He'd spent eight years molding young Tanzanian minds, sending remittances home to his wife and three children in Kenya, only to become the first confirmed Kenyan casualty in what has spiraled […]
November’s first playlist hums with tension,the kind that comes from artists confronting their own contradictions. Wuod Omollo’s production fingerprints run through two of this week’s most striking releases, his signature fusion of traditional instrumentation and modern synth work binding the stories together with an earthy pulse. The raw-edged swagger of Mwanaa & 4MrFrankWhite and the self-assured poise of Charisma contrast beautifully with the gentler introspection of Jivu, yet all acts […]
Radio 254 is closing 2025 with a bang! After the success of The Hustler Challenge and Kenyan Riddim Challenge, we’re launching the #RentsDue Challenge on 5th November 2025. Kenyan artists now have the chance to win their December 2025 rent and feature on the #RentsDue Riddim, which will be played on Radio 254 and uploaded on YouTube. How to Join: Be a Kenyan artist. You can rap or sing on […]
In a declaration shared on social media on November 4, Kenyan hip-hop artist Octopizzo(born Henry Onyango Ohanga) announced his intention to contest the Kibra Member of Parliament seat in the 2027 General Elections. "Kibra, it's time we rise – I'm running in 2027 to build the future we deserve," he stated during a live X Space session and in subsequent posts. The move has drawn immediate attention, with supporters praising […]
