Kenyan Rapper Octopizzo comes up with a new offering ‘Something for you’. The song is a musical contribution to the kenyan debate on a lack of originality in contemporary Kenyan pop music.
‘Something for you’ fuses Kenyan rap with Kenya’s pop music from the golden age of funk, benga and psychedelic rock from the 70s and 80s. Octopizzo teams up with his neighbour Blinky Bill from Just A Band to get the funky spirit of Kenyan soul into his music. They sat down and sampled the song ‘You can do it‘ by Slim Ali and the Hodi Boys. A massive hit back in the days selling over 40,000 copies in Kenya alone.
Octopizzo had already contributed a verse on the Just a Band song „Dunia ina Mambo“. A tribute song to the musician Issa Juma that sadly died poor after serving a six month term in a Kenyan prison, being arrested for entering Kenya without a work permit. And that even though everybody knew him as the frontman of the Mighty Cavaliers, one of Kenya’s most legendary bands in the 60ies.
On ‘Something for you’ Octopizzo tells an urban-village love story. A young man from Nairobi falls in love with a girl from the village. After their marriage he introduces her to city life: “Me ni Oscar, na we ni Lupita / so ni obvious utanifuata, nikipita”. ( I’m the Oscar and you are Lupita. So its obvious that you’ll come and follow me) The video was shot by German director Daniel Obradovic at Olympic Primary School in Kibera and brings Octopizzo back to where he grew up: Kibera, this time as one of the countries most celebrated rap stars. Additional production by Musyoka and Dillie. Mixed and mastered by Eric Musyoka. Bass by Sedar Oddenyo.
