Sarah Mukethe Kiatine (born 8 February 1994), better known by her stage name Monski, is a Kenyan hip hop rapper, singer and songwriter. She was crowned as the Unkut Hip-hop Award best female artist of the year in 2019.[1][2][3]
Monski | |
|---|---|
 Monski performing on stage | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Sarah Mukethe Kiatine |
| Born | 8 February 1994 Nairobi, Kenya |
| Genres | Hip hop |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 2014–present |
| Labels | Independent |
Early life
editMonski was born in Nairobi, Kenya in a speeding taxi en route to Pumwani Hospital. She is ethnically Akamba and was orphaned at a young age. Monski studied at Baba Dogo primary school, St Benedict primary school and Beadom Primary School in Nairobi, then went on to attend Kyangala high school in Machakos, where she discovered her rapping ability and honed her talent, pursuing music as a career after high school. This was after trying a series of employment positions that she termed "not her fit".[4]
Career
editHer recording career began in 2014 after she recorded and uploaded a set of demos on SoundCloud; receiving positive reviews and requests from a growing fan base to release more and was soon booking gigs while also getting airplay from Kenyan hip-hop radio shows.[5] In 2017, Pulse Magazine (Standard Media Kenya) listed her as one of the 'hip hop freshmen artists to look out for next year. She was the first Kenyan female rapper to perform at the annual Nyege Nyege Festival[6][7] in Uganda. Monski describes her music as raw wordplay rap and experimental,[8] mixing oldschool hiphop and new school sounds. In 2019 she was selected as one of Mr Eazis empawa 100 artist,[9] a talent incubation initiative to nurture and support up-and-coming artistes in Africa. [10][11] In December 2020 she released a debut Album Gold.[12]
References
edit- ^ "Unkut Africa Hip-hop Awards 2019". 5 December 2019.
- ^ "Unkut Hip Hop Award winners celebrated". The Star (Kenya). Retrieved 20 January 2020.
- ^ "the top best, prolific female rappers in Kenya in 2019 thus far". 13 November 2019.
- ^ "7 random facts about Kenyan rapper monski". 23 May 2017.
- ^ "Fine Figure Vicious Verse". The Standard (Kenya). Retrieved 21 January 2020.
- ^ "Nyege Nyege 2018 Artist line up".
- ^ "new female rap sensation Monski. Uganda".
- ^ "Monski on Youtube". youtube.
- ^ "The #EMPAWA100 Finalists From Kenya You Might Have Missed". Tangaza Magazine. Tangaza Magazine. 29 August 2019.
- ^ Mwendera, Karen (21 August 2019). "Mr Eazi On A Global Campaign To Mentor And Fund African Artists". Forbes Africa. Retrieved 21 August 2019.
- ^ "Monski Moving official video". Youtube. Retrieved 21 August 2019.
- ^ "Top young artistes Kenyans should pay more attention to". standardmedia. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
