International Jam - The Kenya Edition #1
I did want to post the full Jay-Z and Nas Black Republicans track on here but decided not to as I've been a little preoccupied over the last 30 odd hours or so. Finished the friday night show at midnite (really enjoyed it. If you missed it, then listen again here); ran over to Bar Rumba in London's West End to rock my monthly residency spot at The Get Down. From there it was over to Heathrow, on a plane and 9 hours later I'M IN KENYA BABY!!
I'm over here for the same reason that Blakey was last week - to deejay at a Project Fame eviction party. Project Fame is the East African version of Fame Academy and each week, another wannabe artist is evicted and a party is thrown in their honour at the Carnivore in Nairobi. Built on a game reserve, by day it's a restaurant serving the finest in East African game meats (mainly without any side dishes!) but by night, it's a nightclub - I'm told the biggest nightclub in Nairobi. It's my first time in Africa so MissisJam came with me and I'm out here until Wednesday!
I plan to get in as much as possible to check out the scene out here (Edu would be proud!!) and will give you a daily update on here.
Day 1 - 18th November
At 11pm local time I was greeted with fantastic African hospitality courtesy of the Tru Blaq crew at the airport and we went to the hotel, just enough time to shower but then it was off to the Carnivore. The place was RAMMED! Local deejays were on killing it with bashment, local music and HipHop. I was at the Carnivore and I am a carnivore so I had to try some of their famous meat before hitting the stage. Don't ask me what I ate (although I'm sure it's not something you can get from your local corner shop) but it set me right up for my turn on the decks - meat sweats and all!
Kenya was up for it - by far it was my favourite gig so far as a deejay and that's no overstatement. They were going absolutely crazy for all the Bashment, HipHop and R&B I could give them and they knew their ish. Bashment (they still call it Ragga) is VERY big and they know the dances. I can honestly say that it's the first time I've seen everyone in a club doing the actions to a song. When Lil Jon says "bend over to the front and touch your toes" on Get Low, EVERYONE was bending over to the front to touch their toes! I had Kenya's finest Blaze and Dee on the mic with me - we moved through the eras (Bobby Brown still gets love in Africa!) and through the genres and the crowd lapped it all up!
I was enjoying the vibe so much and so were the crowd that I ended up rocking a 3 and a half hour set! I had people dancing for the whole 3 and a half hours. Amazing. Biggest shock of the night for me was how many people were asking for Rock music. The response that Nirvana, White Stripes and Lenny Kravitz got rivals any UK student party I've played at!
As I said before, I plan to check out the scene as fully as possible while out here and will check back in with you every day but it's 5am local time now, MissisJam is asleep, I haven't slept since friday afternoon so I'm going to join her. Check back tomorrow for photos of tonight and an update on what I've done since...!
Comments
Post your commentI'm glad your getting to experience what I experienced a 1 and a bit years ago in the motherland.
Kenyan's really know how to party. As long as there is a beat their gonna dance. I hope they paid you well for 3 and a half hour set....lol
Jam if you get the chance, get a connecting flight to Mombassa in the day then you will see the beauty of Mount Killamanjaro. That is a view I will never forget. The snow capped mountain is a must see.
I'm gonna need to get a update on what's hot out there, as I'm doing my thing, fingers crossed in Kenya on the 11th of December. Don't worry bosses I will be back for the Xmas photo & party on the 13th...As if I'd miss that!!!!!