The Chapaa remix by Kenyan musicians is a really special song in my opinion, and it should be looked at for a reason: it was released about 2-3 years ago and it’s doing well now. This is something I thought could be done in Kenya. I had no idea how well a ‘resurrected’ track would work in Kenya, and am very pleased with the results!
This song is definitely one of the most popular right now! Nazizi informed me that the Chapaa remix was recorded a long time ago, and she herself was surprised to hear it on the radio lately. Proof of this is the fact that Baby Gangsta is seen in the video representing Abbas, but that chapter died a while ago.
The concept of resurrecting a song is simple: you take a song that didn’t really get the recognition it deserved, weirdly revamp it a bit, and re-release it to give it another chance on the charts. Besides the Chapaa remix, you could also take the cue from Brick and Lace’s “Love is Wicked” which was released a long time ago with the other Diwali Riddim songs (eg TOK’s Galangal, yes THAT long ago) . So Chapaa remix is a mix of Kenyan artists from various genres coming together and oddly enough making this track work. The artists who shine are Nazizi (the change of pace in his verse is just EPIC work by Tshazi) and Wyre, who does his thing in an unusual style, far from his usual “shy guy” approach. The only negative is that Abbas himself is overshadowed on this track due to a number of factors (verse placed in the middle of the song, very unoriginal rhymes, nothing special).
Otherwise this makes for a hot set and hopefully this clears the way for more resurrected tracks in Kenyan online music in the future. My preference is Frakaz’s ‘Chapa Ilale’ when it first came out back then, and it has been duly resurrected by DJ Nruff and the Lyrical Assassins.