Bridging the gap between Africa and Caribbean cultures The #LazeReggae Invasion Podcast

BY EMBUKANE LIBOSSO

Each and every week, The #LazeReggae crew, hosted by Blak Ice (Bill Libosso), Emperess Rafiiki (Melissa Nyaboke), Vinny Puppa Rankin (Vincent Libosso) and audio engineer Lucky Jakes, present a one hour dancehall reggae show with your favorite, fresh, hardcore dancehall: juggling, exclusive interviews, remixes, dubplates, roots and culture, oldies, foundation, Afrobeats and more.  Plus, your dancehall e-news and event highlights. It’s your bombastic plug to everything Dancehall and Reggae from Kenya to the world. The podcast is available on Soundcloud, Mixcloud, itunes, Spotify and all your favourite podcast streaming platforms!

What’s Good Studios has always been mirrored in the success of Nairobi’s urban talents. Some of those talents are the #LazeReggae Invasion Podcast team! To understand the journey of the #LazeReggae Invasion Podcast, it is crucial to reflect back! In 2016, as the sun shone above The Good House (Home to What’s Good Studios) in a serene location in Nairobi, Teddy ‘The Great’ Kilonzi and Moffat Kamau had the vision to start a reggae show.  They shared it with the leadership at What’s Good Studio.

At the dawn of the New Year, What’s Good Studios went live, and are now the leading digital media platform in East and Central Africa. With a radio arm that is home to young world-class presenters and DJs such as: Vidza, Suraj, DJ Wabba, Kalekye Mumo, DeeSkul, Shiro Le Hero, Hustlajay Maumau, Teddy Kilonzi, Arnold Mutisya, Michael Kalinga, Andrew Wambua among many more, the connection was perfect.

“I joined them I think on their third show recording if I can remember clearly,” explains #LazeReggae Invasion host Vinny Puppa Rankin. “The term Laze was actually derived from ‘lazy’ since the online reggae show was meant to air in the afternoon.  The vision was to play foundation roots reggae music for a relaxed lazy afternoon mood.”

Nominated Best Podcast in this year’s Sondeka Awards, the #LazeReggae Invasion Podcast has with time grown with a mission anchored on bridging the gap between Caribbean and African cultures. With a growing weekly listenership and urban music frequently making up for the playlist, the weekly podcast airing every Sunday from 10:00 am (GMT+3), is the first port of call for anything reggae-dancehall, soca and Afrobeats/Afropop.

Through weekly Whatsapp meetings and a show run-down update on Sunday, their playlist is quite crucial, especially to the alternative sound Urban Nairobi scene. Incorporating live event coverage on the podcast, Blak Ice, Emperess Rafiiki and Puppa Rankin play exclusive hits of today all the time becoming the hits of tomorrow for other radio stations in the capital. With the podcast becoming quite popular among artists’ every email submission discussed in playlist meetings are shrouded in mystery because they are the place where new tracks can be made, and new talents discovered.

From interviews with: Nigerian Songstress, Omawumi to Major Lazer’s Walshy Fire, event coverage from Chronixx concert in Uganda to Nairobi’s homely festival, Reggae In The Sun, the aim of the podcast remains the same; to keep re-inventing the wheel and serve the wide audience from around the world. What’s Good Studios has made sure the production for the podcast is world class.

With the COVID-19 lockdown, the podcast crew is hoping to resume recording sooner than later. Equally promising is the revelation that the #LazeReggae Invasion Podcast really is bridging the gap between the Caribbean and Africa!

Here are some songs on our playlist this week!

Cathy Matete – No Retreat (Kenya)
Cathy Matete has been likened to Etana and this songstress has potential to break the global reggae market! Her 2019 reggae single No Retreat is currently enjoying heavy rotation!

Olatunji and Destra – We Are One (Trinidad and Tobago)
We are always excited to break out some Soca stars in the Kenyan market since the genre does not get that much airplay here. This song has the most positive energy outlook the world needs right now.

T’neeya – Text Me (Cameroon and Ghana)
T’neeya is a Cameroonian singer and songwriter based in Ghana. We discovered her on Soundcloud and we feel in love with her music! A pearl on the Afrobeats scene!

Buju Banton – Ganja Man
With the unwritten holiday lockdown, Buju Banton leads the smoke session on this one! Happy 4/20!

Skillibeng – 50 Bag
A new addition to the dancehall sound, this Jamaican star on the rise is definitely one to watch!

For Inquiries:

Email: lazereggae@gmail.com or trinitystarfamily@gmail.com

Phone: +254716659166 (Whatsapp)