Nokia announces recording deal for East Africa’s best rapper

The winner of the ongoing Nokia Asha Don’t Break the Beat competition will receive a one-year recording contract with Decimal Media/Universal Records. Decimal Records is an independent record label that focuses on music recording, publishing and licensing, as well as the management, marketing and promotion of its artistes.

Commenting on the recording contract, Eric Musyoka, managing director of Decimal Records said: “We are excited to work with fresh talent coming out of East Africa through this Nokia competition. This is a fantastic opportunity to showcase East African talent both locally and to an international audience”. This is will be in addition to a Sh 250,000 in prize money. The deal will see the winner record four songs and shoot three videos within a span of one year with one of the videos being shot in collaboration with Kenya’s hip-hop star, Stella Mwangi, popularly known as STL.

Since July, Nokia has been on the search for East Africa’s finest cypher or rapper. The campaign has been taken to various universities, followed by auditions in Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, Eldoret, Kampala and Dar-es-Salaam. The panel of judges selected to assess the talent includes: Nazizi; Point Blank Evumbi; Eric Musyoka; Joey Muthengi; Frasha (Francis Amisi) and DJ Joe Mfalme.