In a house tucked away in Nanyuki, a group of Kenyan artistes disappeared around Covid time for two weeks with little more than instruments, conversations, questions and imagination. What emerged from that residency was not just an eight-track project, but a meditation on Kenyan identity, sound and belonging — a sonic experiment shaped by friendship, grief, nostalgia and the restless search for what contemporary Kenyan music can become.
The residency brought together an eclectic cast of collaborators: producer and artist Blinky Bill and Muthoni Drummer Queen, musician and writer Mũkoma wa Ngũgĩ, alongside Leon “Manchild” Omondi (the founder of Debe), Dillie, Lisa, Musa Omusi and several others. They lived together, created together and the result was an 8-track album, Now It’s Experience Talking, which they released late last month.
MDQ recalled how the question of identity guided their trajectory. “We started reflecting on our experiences as travelled Africans, as people with perspective, with this big lingering question about Kenya; what it means to be Kenyan, what it means to be fully global and fully local at the same time.”
The residency itself became part of the art. Filmmaker Gatehi Mwaniki documented the process while living alongside the musicians, capturing conversations, jam sessions and the unpredictable rhythm of collaborative creation. There was no rigid structure, only instinct and openness.
“At some point we were asking ourselves, ‘What are we even writing about?’” MDQ continued. “And then this wise old man (Blinky Bill) basically told us: this piece is ‘now it’s experience talking.’”
Muthoni Drummer Queen and Blinky Bill talk about their joint album 'Now It’s Experience Talking' that was released two years after it was initially meant to drop in 2024. The two held a listening party for the 8-track album on April 23, 2026 while the album dropped on April 24.
Photo credit: Thomas Rajula | Nation
From Nanyuki, the project travelled outward. The artistes workshopped the material in Paris and Southern France before returning to Nairobi, where they continued expanding and refining the music with additional collaborators.
The final result is intentionally concise: eight songs across 38 minutes. However, within that short runtime lies an ambitious exploration of Kenyan sound. One of the earliest tracks, “Running”, began as an experiment with Kikuyu dance rhythms.
“I’ve always found that groove very special,” Blinky, the producer explained. “It has this atmospheric drama to it. It feels like the opening of a show.”
Blinky described the rhythm as both sophisticated and distinctly Kenyan — an example of how traditional local sounds can exist comfortably inside modern electronic production without feeling forced or nostalgic.
That philosophy runs throughout the project. Blinky prides himself in finding sounds that are not the everyday choice. “There are certain progressions that I know Kenyans would expect,” the producer said. “But I deliberately avoid making those choices. If you listen to songs like “Gong Gong”, “Get Down” by Just A Band, or “Boss”, there’s a different sensibility there.”
That experimentation shaped “Niko Hype”, a track built almost entirely on instinct. MDQ began absentmindedly freestyling in the studio while Blinky played around with sounds using his feet.
“He just told me, ‘That’s the one,’” MDQ recalled. “So we turned on the mic and went with it.” The song eventually became one of the collective’s favourites.
“This is a genre of its own,” MDQ declared proudly. “Blinky is a genre.”
Collaboration sits at the centre of the project’s DNA. The artistes bounced melodies and unfinished lyrics off one another in real time, constantly reshaping songs through collective instinct rather than rigid authorship. Dillie, whom the group jokingly referred to as “one of Kenya’s best-kept secrets,” became one of the project’s key co-writers despite never writing lyrics down on paper. “We just bounce ideas off each other and find pockets,” MDQ explained. “Then Blinky makes me rewrite it until we really find the groove.”
Muthoni Drummer Queen and Blinky Bill talk about their joint album 'Now It’s Experience Talking' that was released two years after it was initially meant to drop in 2024. The two held a listening party for the 8-track album on April 23, 2026 while the album dropped on April 24.
Photo credit: Thomas Rajula | Nation
Yet beneath the humour and spontaneity lies a deeper artistic mission: the search for a distinctly Kenyan sound in an era when African pop culture is increasingly dominated by broader continental trends. One of the project’s most emotional moments arrives in “Keru”, a song partly shaped by the memory of a close friend, Bob, who died in a tragic car accident earlier this year. Bob had long participated in conversations about Kenyan identity and music, questioning why local artistes often looked outward for inspiration instead of inward.
“Sometimes we try too hard to become other people,” Blinky reflected. “We want to be the purveyors of Amapiano. We want to become a province of South Africa, musically. But every answer we’re looking for already exists in Kenya.” Bob’s melody ultimately became central to the song, even if the original lyrics did not survive the final edit. “The melody was just so Kenyan.”
That tension — between global influence and local authenticity — drives much of the project. Throughout the listening session, the artistes repeatedly returned to questions of cultural ownership, originality and confidence. “What identity does Kenyan music have?” asked aloud. “And are we bold enough to find it?” The music itself attempts to answer that question by blending electronic production, dancehall textures, hip-hop influences, folk rhythms, Benga and experimental sonic structures into something intentionally difficult to categorise.
At moments, the project channels the communal energy of old-school Jamaican sound systems. Elsewhere, it leans into dreamy electronic textures or politically charged spoken-word reflections. Tracks unfold like conversations rather than polished commercial products. Even the live performance ideas mirror that philosophy.
During one playful moment in the listening session, MDQ imagined staging future performances with “50 hooded guys mobbing the stage” in the style of a chaotic Kanye West concert.
“It should feel bigger than just music,” one joked. But underneath the jokes is a serious conviction about Kenyan creativity. “Africans already have the answers,” one artist insisted. “We just have to stop waiting for permission.”
Other tracks on the project include “Sina Makosa” which features Boutross, “Amazing”, “Aina Moja” (which MDQ describes as “the halfway point between Luo music and House), “Bazu” and “Nawapa”.
The songs’ videos will be released in bits throughout the year. “The videos we’ve done are phenomenal. Then we’ll start working on the show. We want to have more in-person sessions. You’ll remember me as the drummer queen,” says MDQ.
There will also be a release of the full documentary filmed by Gatehi later in the year. Undoubtedly, the factors for the two-year delay were Blinky Bill’s We Cut Keys II and the return of Blankets and Wine.
