King Kaka

Kenya counts King Kaka among its foremost hip-hop voices, a stature built through late-2010s and early-2020s releases such as Legend of Kaka (2016) and The Servant & the King (2020). His activity dates to the opening decade of the 2000s, when he issued his first full-length project under the alias Rabbit. The multilingual rapper and spoken-word performer, whose material addresses personal, political, and lighter day-to-day themes, broadened his international visibility via joint work with Jorma Taccone of the Lonely Island, Tracy Morgan, and Talib Kweli.

Born Kennedy Tarriq Ombima, the Nairobi native first gained recognition as a spoken-word artist and delivered his debut album, Tales of Kaka Sungura, under the Rabbit name in 2008. Three years afterward, Jorma Taccone traveled to Nairobi for an AFAR-funded project; a recommendation brought the two together, and they recorded a track and video.

Although Ombima kept releasing and performing as Rabbit for several more years, he later adopted the King Kaka identity and stepped up his recording pace. In the latter half of the 2010s he issued the densely featured full-lengths Legend of Kaka, It's the King, Orutu Ya Masudi, and Eastlando Royalty. The final title in that sequence alone featured contributions from Tracy Morgan, Talib Kweli, and Romain Virgo. Near the close of 2019 Kaka issued “Wajinga Nyinyi,” a spoken-word piece that criticized conditions in Kenya. He later stated that the track drew political pressure and anonymous death threats, yet it still opened the 2020 album The Servant & the King, which also included Xenia Manasseh, Raheem DeVaughn, and Kwesi Arthur.