Is Khaligraph Jones preaching water and drinking wine?
Rapper Kahligraph Jones has released his first video of 2019 titled “Gwala” with Nigerian artist Ycee.
Papa Jones has been in the forefront in the play Kenyan music debate where many artists are claiming that radio stations and deejays are not giving Kenyan music airtime and support as much as they do to Nigerian, South African and Tanzanian music.
However, his new release contradicts his efforts to get Kenyan music as much exposure as it deserves. The song that features a Nigerian artist YCee, was also shot in Lagos Nigeria early this month when he was in Nigeria for the SoundCity MVP Awards. The video was done by Nigerian director TJ Omori while the audio was produced by Kenyan Motif on the Beat. In regards to supporting all things Kenyan, Khaligraph may have shot himself in the foot by teaming up with a Naija act. Whether it was well-intended or ill-advised, Jones’ latest release could be termed as a let down in the efforts to ensure all things Kenyan are propelled to a new level.
“Gwala” is Khali’s second video off his ‘Testimony 1990’ album that he released in 2018. The song has garnered over 70,000 views on YouTube 24 hours since its release.
Born Brian Omollo aka the OG, hails from Kayole and has received a lot of success in the last few years in the music industry. He is celebrated as Kenya’s best rapper, seemingly going international in 2019 with collabos with top tier artists such as Nigeria’s Ycee, and his highly anticipated Coke Studio Africa collabo with P-Square’s Paul Okoye aka RudeBoy.
In his pursuit of getting Kenyan music to be played widely, the “Yego” rapper has teased starting his own radio station.
