TAIO: Man-Made Machine Review

Released on June 6th 2014, Taio , popularly known as Camp Mulla’s Taio Tripper launched his first solo E.P entitled Man-Made Machine. Slowly but surely building his hip hop collection, Thee MC Africa announced that his E.P was up for download on waabeh.com on June 6th, same day as his birthday. From my personal relationship with Thee MC Africa, I can strongly admit that he did much justice to the singles off his debut six track tape.

Produced and mixed by Jaaz Odongo, the EP is an array of well-placed and balanced sounds. From a smooth upbeat lead that transcends to a more mechanical effect that accumulates into a transformation of musical sophistication capped with the producer’s attention to detail and Taio’s lyrical originality.

The first track, “Man Made Machine” introduces us to the “Da Vinci” pieced collection, with an upbeat yet urban hip hop style that fuses a Kenyan feel with other globally influenced rhythms.

“Bonehead” takes the diversity of this mixtape up a notch, something interesting is the blend of Lisa Oduor-Noah’s amazing vocals with Taio’s impressive lyrics and vocals as well.

“Next Level” reminds me of the single done by an American artiste known as Vic Mensa, the same beat but with a more impressive laid back rap that sets the tone for a more intimate interaction with the fans and his journey through music. The focus shifts to the Taio’s lyrics that give limelight to the struggle of other artists pushing to make a name for themselves.

“Taste These Sounds” is by far the my most favorite of the tracks on the EP, celebrating the truly East African accent, intonation, style and use of metaphors, with Taio’s rap style fused with the western (Luhya) style of annotation is truly genius. This makes the track very catchy, comical and all natural, from his experiences as “mwananchi” of Kenya.

“Moves” is definitely a club banger! The upbeat tempo and variation in new style by Taio eliminates the boundaries of his genre to sound more electro and dance with auto-tuned sounds that serve up a dish of classy hip hop. A little bird tells me this might be one of the tracks he would shoot a music video for. Get on your marks.. Go!

“A Real Song” is incredibly intriguing at the start but the single goes through such a variety of changes which exiles into oblivion all doubts of Taio singing with the tagline of the chorus, “When they hear a rapper sing, they don’t believe this is a real song, and I’m still strong, I’m still strong”. This is the phrase that will have fans humming even in the shower. When creative and beautiful work such as this is unveiled, the whole world can be convinced that the original 254low General is still strong and motivated to bring change to the music industry.

Thank you Brown Child for a bringing the people what they needed!

Don’t slow down anytime soon.

By Michael Nzambu