Once a big name in the hip-hop circles, Bamboo, the African Bantu, went into showbiz oblivion, taking a four years’ sabbatical from rap. He relocated to the United States. Fans forgot him, only for him to return to the country last year with a vow; I am back. I am still the king of hip-hop!
His return coincided with that of Kanja, another hip-hop head who had also be horning his skills abroad. Then there was Collo, who seemingly sparked by fresh entry of the two, came to live, releasing two new singles, one of them being the Floss na Wewe track featuring Norway-based rapper STL and Mimmo.among them Octopizzo, who took advantage of the vacuum, seemed well on the driver’s seat, making it a gigantic task for the likes of Bamboo to make it back into the hip-hop apex. Within months, some cold war started brewing between the new generation of hip-hop artistes and the pioneers. The bitter verbal war got the attention of the masses as fans took sides ushering in the start of a new beef season in the local hip-hop industry. With that, the rappers are not only exchanging verbal jibes on the social networks, but have even gone to the recording booth to record the kind of diss tracks that ruled the industry about a decade ago. After a certain fan hatched a heated online debate, comparing Octopizzo with Bamboo recently, the Compe rapper took the opportunity to spit the hate, forcing Octopizzo to hit back. In an interesting twist of events, Bamboo got the raw deal when social media took sides, writing in Octopizzo’s favour as they spoke trash about Bamboo. It didn’t go well with Bamboo. As haters hurled accusations at him, he seemed to get unsolicited support from rappers of his generation most notably from Chiwawa — him of the infamous 2011 Abass beef. In the Octopizzo and Bamboo verbal tiff, a couple of truths, half-truths and misconceptions seem to be popping up. Listening to Bamboo on Mama Africa or his track version of Campton rapper Game’s Blood, there is no denying that Bamboo blends well with the Western market. He seems to have mastered his own accent, street lingo and lyrical prowess and with this, his years of experience are a plus to him. But it is the same accent debate that has some of Octopizzo’s fans pouring scorn on Bamboo as they claim his sound is not a real representation of the Kenyan rap. When contacted, Octopizzo played the goose on the beef currently ping-ponging on the Internet. “I would rather sleep than talk about that guy,” he told us. That aside, Octopizzo’s music has seemingly made an incredible turn-around since his debut lines; “...walidhani wakibuy subaru watawacha legacy...” in his maiden On Top track.
Once a big name in the hip-hop circles, Bamboo, the African Bantu, went into showbiz oblivion, taking a four years’ sabbatical from rap. He relocated to the United States. Fans forgot him, only for him to return to the country last year with a vow; I am back. I am still the king of hip-hop!
His return coincided with that of Kanja, another hip-hop head who had also be horning his skills abroad. Then there was Collo, who seemingly sparked by fresh entry of the two, came to live, releasing two new singles, one of them being the Floss na Wewe track featuring Norway-based rapper STL and Mimmo.among them Octopizzo, who took advantage of the vacuum, seemed well on the driver’s seat, making it a gigantic task for the likes of Bamboo to make it back into the hip-hop apex. Within months, some cold war started brewing between the new generation of hip-hop artistes and the pioneers. The bitter verbal war got the attention of the masses as fans took sides ushering in the start of a new beef season in the local hip-hop industry. With that, the rappers are not only exchanging verbal jibes on the social networks, but have even gone to the recording booth to record the kind of diss tracks that ruled the industry about a decade ago. After a certain fan hatched a heated online debate, comparing Octopizzo with Bamboo recently, the Compe rapper took the opportunity to spit the hate, forcing Octopizzo to hit back. In an interesting twist of events, Bamboo got the raw deal when social media took sides, writing in Octopizzo’s favour as they spoke trash about Bamboo. It didn’t go well with Bamboo. As haters hurled accusations at him, he seemed to get unsolicited support from rappers of his generation most notably from Chiwawa — him of the infamous 2011 Abass beef. In the Octopizzo and Bamboo verbal tiff, a couple of truths, half-truths and misconceptions seem to be popping up. Listening to Bamboo on Mama Africa or his track version of Campton rapper Game’s Blood, there is no denying that Bamboo blends well with the Western market. He seems to have mastered his own accent, street lingo and lyrical prowess and with this, his years of experience are a plus to him. But it is the same accent debate that has some of Octopizzo’s fans pouring scorn on Bamboo as they claim his sound is not a real representation of the Kenyan rap. When contacted, Octopizzo played the goose on the beef currently ping-ponging on the Internet. “I would rather sleep than talk about that guy,” he told us. That aside, Octopizzo’s music has seemingly made an incredible turn-around since his debut lines; “...walidhani wakibuy subaru watawacha legacy...” in his maiden On Top track.
