WAWESH, Sweden

Wawesh is a swedish based music entrepreneur.  Working as both a hip-hop artist, and a producer, he has produced music for award-winning artists and uses the name Kiboy when he is performing.  Under his alter-alias, Kiboy, he also co-owns BlaO Entertainment, a production company that has been involved in many projects including work for the likes of international names like CNN, Samantha Mumba, Talib Kweli, Floetry, NAS and many more. Some of the artists he has produced for, have been nominated for different international awards. Having had experience in developing artists and creating hits for others Kiboy decided to step forward to deliver something he believed the Swahili speaking community and fans of quality international hip-hop worldwide wanted. Thus, WAWESH was born. “Wawero” is released mid-February and then followed by “Poa” in April 2006 and is enjoying a growing following internationally.  Find out more about him on his web page.

Bamboo – Atlanta, Georgia

Bamboo has been making waves with his lyrical smoothness and his tight musical sound.  Born in California in the notorious Inglewood neighborhood, he was sent to Kenya to get away from gang activity.  It was in Kenya that he honed his musical skills and began to build a following.  His return to the U.S. has been a successful one that has shown his talents to an appreciative, growing list of fans.  He talks about the sucesses and his new projects here, and more information about him can be found on his myspace page.

Michael Wanguhu – Oakland, California

Michael Wanguhu earned critical acclaim with a much needed documentary about the rise of hiphop in Kenya. Hip Hop Colony went on to win several documentary and film awards and has been instrumental in attracting much needed attention to the rise of hip-hop in Africa in general and Kenya in particular. In New York, the screening of the movie drew the attention of QDIII, Quincy Jones son, a producer in his own right, who helped him secure his first distribution with Image Entertainment. It’s the first African title that they stocked.

The movie has also helped launch some rappers into the limelight — Necessary Noize got on the film Constant Gardener, Bamboo on Primeval and, most recently, Kalamashaka’s song, Ni Wakati, was recently picked for a film. In 2007 he went to Kenya with M1 of Dead Prez, Umi of POW and they wowed the crowds with their performance. In his interview on Jamati Online, he talks about future plans to produce a new movie. We can’t wait to see what it is. You can see more about Hiphop Colony here. He is also an owner of the media entertainment group, Emerge Media Group. He was recently interviewed on Jamati Online.