As the Season 5 debut, the Yes Girls say yes to learning how to rap. But actually, just one of them said YES to this challenge: Akumu.

Watch the video log on YouTube after or before listening to this audio episode.

Certainly the perfect way to start a season where each Yes Girl only does half of the challenges (similar to Season 2). But the unique thing this time though is that there are more experts for each challenge!

You should know that Akumu went into this with no rapping experience - just a deep fear of poetry and a cult-like admiration for hip-hoppers and rappers.

And for this particular challenge, unlike most others, it did not take a week or a couple of weeks to get done. All it took was an entire day (i.e. a rap boot camp) with two of the most talented hip-hop artists in Kenya: Juliani and Tonii Vendetta.

Juliani is easily Kenya's rap and hip-hop godfather, an activist in his own right, and a well-known artist mentor. Tonii Vendetta, on the other hand, is a singer/songwriter, DJ, rapper, music producer, filmmaker, director, DOP, video editor, photographer, a model---- just to name a few. 

They both helped Akumu write and cook up the lyrics of her very first rap song as well as her final performance which you will get to listen to (within this episode) in its fully-produced glory flanked by Tonii's newly-minted beats and "hype man" sound effects: the song is titled: Season Ya "Mayoo" ("Mayoo" is a Luo exclamation).

So listen in if you're curious about what it takes to write rap lyrics, how to structure a rap song, how to flow in rap, how to develop a rap style, how to find your rap voice, how to perform rap live or in the studio, and how to use metaphors and wordplay in rap.

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Important resources: 

The number of bars in a rap song verse as Tonii mentioned:

https://dailyrapfacts.com/19599/how-many-bars-are-in-a-verse/

Tonii Vendetta's Spotify playlist:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/2i0hJ4kfvCw4vGc4TcKVzd 

Tonii Vendetta's Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/tonii_vendetta/ 

Juliani's website:

https://juliani.co.ke/ 

Juliani's Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/julianikenya/ 

Juliani's YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCL8fZ0gpTA3x21j1J2jbz7Q 

What is Riddim?

https://www.last.fm/tag/riddim/wiki 

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