Brian Ouko Omollo, (born 12 June 1990)[1] popularly known by his stage name Khaligraph Jones, is a Kenyan rapper known for his hit singles "Mazishi" and "Yego".[2][3] He released his debut full-length studio album Testimony 1990 in June 2018.[4] Khaligraph Jones has achieved numerous awards during his career. He was nominated for 'Best Male Artist' at the 2018 Afrimma Awards, won 'Best Hip Hop Artist' at the 2020 Afrimma Awards, and was nominated for 'Best International Act' at the 2020 BET Awards.
His mother gave him the name Ouko Robert in honor of the late Kenyan politician Dr. Robert Ouko, who was assassinated on 13 February 1990.[7][8][9]
Career
Khaligraph started his musical career while still in elementary school. He officially began his career in 2008 at a function called "Words And Pictures."[10]
He won Channel O Music Video Awards Emcee Africa in 2009, a highly visible competition that catapulted him to international acclaim almost instantly.[11]
In June 2018, he released his debut full-length studio album dubbed "Testimony 1990".[12]
He was crowned "Best Rap Act of the Year" at the fifth Annual African Muzik Magazine Awards 2018 (Afrimma) held at House of Blues in Dallas, Texas in 2018.[13][14]
He was named the best Hip Hop act at the Soundcity MVP Awards in January 2020.[15][16] The ceremony took place at the Eko Convention Center in Lagos, Nigeria.[17][18]
In 2020 he was nominated for the BET Awards.[19][20] His nomination was for the Best International Flow category.[21] He was up against South Africa's Nasty C, Brazil's Djonga, Ivorian Kaaris and eventual winner, grime rapper Stormzy from the UK.[22][23] In May 2021 he was named the East African Rapper of the Year at MTN Uganda.
In 2021, Khaligraph partnered with Odibets, a sports betting company under their Odimtaani initiative to launch the ‘OdiNare’ rap challenge. This challenge led to a collaboration of Jones with Kenyan rapper Chepkosgei that was executive produced by Riverstarz Music Entertainment.[24]
Feuds
On November 10, 2015, musician Juliani posted a picture on his social media of fellow hip hop heavyweights Khaligraph, Octopizzo and King Kaka. He captioned the photo with "The only one with more bars than the three combined is me!!". What initially started as friendly banter triggered an online tweef between the musicians and it went on for hours before Khaligraph released a diss track that was meant to silence the rest. While Octopizzo chose to stay out of the beef both Juliani and King Kaka responded to the diss track with their own.[25] Over a year later, King Kaka revealed during an interview that the feud was indeed very serious and that were it not for some external mediative interventions, it could have resulted in bloodshed.[26]
In January 2020, a feud broke out between Khaligraph Jones and Nigerian rapper Blaqbonez. This was after Khaligraph won the "Best Hip Hop Act" ahead of him and others at the SoundCity MVP Awards 2020 held in Lagos, Nigeria.[27] Blaqbonez released a video and a diss track complaining about Soundcity's decision while disregarding Khaligraph. Hours later Khaligraph responded with a diss track titled "Best rapper in Nigeria".[28]
In August 2023, Khaligraph Jones sparked controversy after releasing a diss track targeting Tanzanian rappers. This led to backlash coming from Tanzanian rappers including Rosa Ree, Msodoki Young Killer, and Motra The Future.[29][30] Bongo musician Harmonize, with whom Khaligraph has collaborated previously also waded into the controversy to condemn the disrespect on Tanzanian artists.
Political views
In April 2021, Khaligraph Jones led a team of 30 artists from the Kenyan creative industry in meeting the then deputy president William Ruto.[31] This was during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and at a time when the working relationship between Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto had deteriorated severely. Although it was confirmed that the main agenda was to discuss the concerns of the artists and to receive their suggestions and proposals, a notion was created that the artists who attended the meeting did endorse Dr. Ruto's candidacy for the upcoming 2022 presidential elections in Kenya.[32][33] During the meeting, Khaligraph made a passionate appeal to Dr. Ruto for a solution to the plight that faces "hustlers" who were hurting in the background with some going to bed hungry while others had been locked out of their homes due to rent arrears. Khaligraph went ahead to promise that if their concerns were addressed, he would, in turn campaign pro-bono for Dr. Ruto all over the country.[31] Prior to the meeting, Khaligraph had initially reached out to both Dr. Ruto and Mr. Odinga via his Instagram handle and only the former who responded and later set up the meeting with the representatives from the creative industry.[34] Musicians, Octopizzo and King Kaka who were not part of the delegation that met Dr. Ruto took to their social media platforms to castigate Khaligraph and the other artists for being "opportunistic" in using COVID-19 as a guise for their political affiliations.
Just a few days before Dr. Ruto assumed office as president, Khaligraph released his song "Usiache Akemewe". In the song, he urged the President-elect to protect his competitor Raila Odinga who had been facing increasing ridicule after he lost during the elections.[35]
Discography
Albums
Testimony 1990
Testimony 1990, Khaligraph Jones' Debut Album
Khaligraph released his debut studio album Testimony 1990 in June 2018. Testimony 1990 is a testimony of his life, his troubles and those of his country Kenya.[36][37][38]
Khaligraph Jones released his second album was first released on 7 March 2022 exclusively on Boomplay streaming service. It accumulated a total of 1 million streams in six days on the streaming platform. He later released it on other streaming platforms on 13 March 2022.
