By Abdi Ali
Published September 13, 2018
A Kenyan singer, rapper, producer and writer has released an eclectic music album that is likely to appeal to lovers of hip hop, especially the first video off the 20-track album titled Gems.
The project is by Sharon Alai, an artist who hails from Muhoroni in western Kenya and who is popularly known as MC Sharon.
Gems is described as being a depiction of the 33-year-old MC Sharon’s ‘transitional journey as a woman, mother, hip hop lover, writer and storyteller’, being the artist’s ‘personal dedication to her legacy with the introduction of her protege son onto the Kenyan scene’ and also as being ‘a statement that music freedom is necessary for the survival of the soul’.
The album tackles various themes, including politics and yes, love.
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What comes out of the creativity of the artist who is said to be representing a gritty blend of conscious hip hop, Afro soul, unapologetic lyricism, feminist pride and tones of attitude is an unparalleled, passion-filled quest for life-changing sound and prose intertwined into little artistic gifts for the world’s enjoyment.
‘Shaping the trends rather than being shaped by them according to popular mass culture,’ MC Sharon goes in, out, over and under; utilising her singing, rapping and production skills to bring out a raw finesse that is only true to her brand of life.
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So why has the music-maker who is also known as Alshaverb titled her album ‘Gems’?
“It refers to a Genetically Emancipated Musical Soul as evidenced in my transitional journey through the world of sound and beyond. From a girl to a woman, a woman to a queen and finally a queen to a goddess,” she says.
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MC Sharon has not only executive-produced, co-engineered and co-directed the project but she has also collaborated with various global producers and engineers to ensure her vision came to fruition.
Gems, like all the projects before it, is described as being ‘raw, gritty, honest, controversial, spiritual, melodic, hardcore and fun all rolled into one.’
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