Hardstone
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Hardstone (real name Harrison Ngunjiri, born 1977) is a Kenyan musician. His music is a mixture of ragga, reggae and hiphop. He sings in English, Swahili and Kikuyu languages [1]. He is a pioneer urban style artist in Kenya and topped the Kenyan music scene for a while in the late 90's [2].
He emerged in 1997 with popular hit "Uhiki" and an album named "Nuting but de Stone", produced by Tedd Josiah of Sync Sound Studios and released internationally by German-based Kelele Records [3]. Guest artist on the album were Fiona Mungai (of Shadz O'blak) and Eric Wainaina [4]. The album contained two versions of he Uhiki his, original and Pinye's remix. The latter version contains samples of Sexual Healing by Marvin Gaye [5]. At the 1997 Kisima Music Awards, Hardstone won the "Best new artist of the year" category [6].
He recorded a second album known as "Ziwe Nkulu", but it was left unreleased while he moved to the United States in 1998[7]. He left Kenya to enhance his career, but since then has been without much success [2]. In 2003 he released another album "Hardstory" [2]. The song "Uhiki (Pinye's remix)" was also on "African Groove" compilation released by Putumayo World Music in 2003 [8].
[edit] References
- ^ Rap, Ragga and Reggae in Nairobi
- ^ a b c Daily Nation, June 22, 2003 Pioneer Kenyan hip-hop star on a comeback trail
- ^ Kelele Records - Hardstone
- ^ Amazon.fr Hardstone - Nuting but de Stone
- ^ "Nuting but the Stone" CD notes
- ^ International Pop Sounds from Nairobi
- ^ Nation FM: Like A Rolling Stone
- ^ Putumayo World Music - African Groove
