Not a Rapper, Pt. 2

While coming up with ideas for a follow-up to Not a Rapper, I liked the thought of creating a Part II for its title track, even though it's not exactly an original idea in the world of hip hop. I had really enjoyed writing that song after getting inspiration from Noel Miller and the boom bap tracks he's done like "Motor Yola", and I wanted to drop some more bars on another song with no central theme or subject matter.

I realise that on the surface, it's disingenuous of me to say that I'm not a rapper, while doing the very thing that rappers do. The whole idea is to say that my aspirations aren't limited to music; giving myself the space to explore my creativity in whatever medium I choose at any given moment, be it music, stand-up comedy, or whatever else, rather than letting people put me in a box by categorising me under one label. I also feel like some rappers often take themselves too seriously, whereas I'm just having fun making music that I like while trying to entertain people and get my name out there.

At first, I had only written one verse to a beat I found on BeatStars, but when G'zay sent me the beat I asked him to make, my vision for the song came together quickly and I felt the need to write another one, which ended up being the first verse. Seeing as I simply wanted bars and more bars, G'zay was an easy pick for a feature given his pedigree as a lyricist in the Kenyan hip hop scene. The fact that he also made the beat made me feel he would give the song some extra care overall.

Vikta Mirage was also an easy decision because I'd previously worked with him on "Nairobi Tofauti", so I knew exactly what he'd bring to the table. I've followed him and his music for years, both as a solo artist and as a member of Masai Black Gold, since I got to know him and the group's other members through my brother from their high school days.

After Vikta and I recorded our verses in the studio, I felt the track was still missing something, so I decided to try an intro and outro with Emmanuel Kisiangani, a veteran comic and host/MC that I've gotten to know while doing stand-up. I wrote the intro for him, but he came up with the idea of rambling in the outro while we were in the studio. On top of being funny, I think it serves as a nice break from all the rapping before heading into the next track.