In yet another edition of Slam Africa, Storyzetu was present to let you know what went down and up in the spoken word community. A recap of the last
edition: Abu-Sense came, “Slammed” and was crowned king. That’s justabout it.
So this lady Friday, we were at Daas restaurant and as tradition demands (for some reason that I am yet to know) most of the “slammers” never eat at the
Dass restaurant. You know what they say, money is poetry, but poetry ain’t money.
On this day, all the performers were clearly spoiling for a fight. After a music performance by B3 band, the first round was on course. Every performer
came out all guns blazing and the
judges were overwhelmed. The Slam was getting heated up rather fast. By the end of 12 performances, every one in the
audience had their appetite watery.
Round 2 was less emphatic but not for Luki who carried the audience away with his spoken-word rap fusion.
In the break that followed, there were powerful performances from Lele band who gave me goose bumps. These goose bumps became “goose hills” following an all king collabo of G-cho pevu, Teardrops and Ben Tena.
What with lines like “Rhymes
kochokocho kama crime korogocho” by Teardrops or the diminutive Ben Tena with “Sote tuko insecure juu gover yetu ni vegetarian, haiwezi beef-
up security” dope, right? Speaking of dope Dorphan had this to say “Me sitake dope juu hii poetry ni dope.”
That was in the third round. Luki, Raya and Dorphan were in the final showdown. Luki was the favourite to be crowned
king after coming so close last month, but the final piece was overshadowed by Dorphan’s “Hii poetry” a Sheng version of Mutabaraka’s “This Poem.”
After his performance, Dorphan got a standing ovation from the audience as they chanted “Meru! Meru! Meru!.” It was revealed that the soon to be king with 39 points out of a possible 40 was
from Meru. And so the 34th Slam
crown went to the East of Mt. Kenya. Slam Kings also graced the event with mind-blowing performances from the likes of Samo the Almighty and El Poet. Checkmate took the stage with a cocktail of rap and beatboxing. At the close of the edition christened the “Writeful Throne”, there was a general feeling this was the most competitive Slam Africa yet.
°
