Legendary Kenyan rapper Nazizi, Namibian rapper Lioness and South African rapper Boity did not come to play in their new Coke Studio Africa produced jam, ‘Switch It Up’.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qv3ZPJe2uZY
Coke Studio Africa has released the music video of ‘Switch It Up’, by fierce fast-rising Namibian artist Lioness, South African media personality and rapper Boity and legendary Kenyan rapper Nazizi.
The new song by these three female rappers is an all-female original composition produced by Kenyan producer Viola Karuri with the video directed by Thandi Lottering.
The video carries through the theme of the season finale of Coke Studio Africa, which was to blaze a new trail for women in music, and place talented females behind the scenes and in front of the cameras and mics.
“I was trying to think back to my day, and if I had anybody to inspire me as an African female rapper. I started rapping in 1998, so that’s 20 years of rap, being the only female,” said Nazizi according to a press statement by Anyiko PR.
Naz added that she frequently wonders if she is inspiring anyone. She got to see on Coke Studio Africa when she met up with other Femcees that they are many female rappers coming up. “It’s nice for me to sit back and watch and see other female MC’s coming up. You can really tell how different we are on Switch it up,” noted Nazizi.
Lioness on the other hand, not only managed this balancing act, she flourished, making serious waves all over Africa. She said, “We can do what we want, we can choose what we want to do.” For her this made the whole experience even more dreamlike, “I had to be in the studio and in the hospital, it was really hard for me to balance a lot of my life.”
Boity had lots to say about the banger, “This track is based around women and female empowerment. At the core we are doing this without having to be ‘female MC’s, we are just being rappers.”
The music video of ‘Switch it up’ follows the impressive run of the Coke Studio Africa 2017 original composition ‘Said’ that featured South African award-winning rapper Nasty C and highflying Nigerian singer and producer Runtown. The song has over 12 million views on YouTube.
Coke Studio Africa is a non-competitive music collaboration show, which seeks to bring together and celebrate the diversity of African music and talent. It also gives upcoming artists the opportunity to work with some of the best local and international music and production talent. The artists are drawn from different genres, eras and regions and put in pairs to create a modern and authentic African sound through musical fusion.
