MTV weren't exaggerating when they described Kenyan singer/songwriter Muthoni the Drummer Queen's debut album as "… the kind of explosively creative album that heralds the arrival of an extraordinary new artist." Like a cross between Missy Elliot, M.I.A. and a drum fanatic, she draws from many sources to realise her ideas - salsa, kwaito, afro-rock, electronic/dance, taarab, rap, floetry and R&B - usually blending a few of these in any one track, so that you never quite know what to expect, but look forward to whatever it is. (For the best example of this, check Mikono kwenye hewa).

She indulges her more hip hop side in her most recent - relatively mainstream - two singles.



Vile Inafaa, on heavy rotation on radio and TV in Kenya since it dropped, features Octopizzo (Henry Ochieng), a fast-rising 25-year old hip hop artist who proudly flies the flag of Kibera, the slum he grew up in, which in turn has endeared him to music fans in slums across the country.

More accessible to non-Kenyans, is Feelin' It, which has something of an old school feel to it.



Download Feelin' It above and Vile Inafaa at her Reverbnation page, and check her previous releases at iTunes: The Human Condition, Mikono Kwenye Hewa (Remix EP), and Welcome to the Disco (EP). Track her via Twitter or Facebook.