{"id":6783,"date":"2015-06-12T10:42:27","date_gmt":"2015-06-12T10:42:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/africanhiphop.com\/?p=6783"},"modified":"2018-09-18T19:39:05","modified_gmt":"2018-09-18T19:39:05","slug":"yasiin-bey-travellin-man-in-nairobi-zanzibar-video","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/africanhiphop.com\/yasiin-bey-travellin-man-in-nairobi-zanzibar-video\/","title":{"rendered":"Yasiin Bey, the travellin man in Nairobi and Zanzibar"},"content":{"rendered":"

The original travellin man, Yasiin Bey – formerly known as Mos Def – has been frequenting the Motherland for years, but his recent move to Cape Town, initiated when he visited in 2013, was much discussed on the web. In a handful of interviews (see MG<\/a> and Beats by Dre<\/a>), Yasiin explained what inspired him to spend more time in Africa – and denied that legal issues had anything to do with his move. Apart from working in South Africa, Yasiin was also seen at ARCH<\/a>, a creative meeting organized by the African Union in Addis Abeba (Ethiopia) in May 2014, along with 100 other Africa based creatives. At that meeting he hung out with Moses Mbasu (Buddha Blaze), the Kenyan writer, marketeer and music promoter well known for having organized the legendary WAPI events in Nairobi, and more recently for working with Coke Studio Africa and organizing weekly hip hop events under the Nairobi Hip Hop Rapsody banner.<\/p>\n

It was only a matter of time for Yasiin to come and perform in Nairobi, but it still took a year to organize his performance on\u00a0May 28th, navigating schedules and postponing because of terrorist attacks. In the meantime, in October last year Yasiin’s former artistic partner in Black Star, Talib Kweli, came to rock Nairobi Hip Hop Rapsody to a sold-out house in the Ebony Lounge<\/a> (capacity 1000) – watch a video here<\/a>. Tickets for Yasiin’s show in the same venue were not cheap at Ksh 5000, about 50$. As Buddha Blaze said, bringing out an artist of the Yasiin Bey caliber for a one-off gig costs a lot, but there is a growing audience in Nairobi who’s ready to pay to see good live music. The event certainly created a buzz in town, and besides reaching his core fans it also attracted a number of people who may not even know much of Yasiin’s recent work, or care too much about the thoughtful, conscious stream of hip hop that Yasiin represents since his Mos Def \/ Black Star days.<\/p>\n

Watch a video report of Yasiin Bey’s Nairobi show here:<\/p>\n