Rider by Khaligraph Jones ft. Petra

There is a new song in town, Rider. Mats Rider? It brings together rappers Khaligraph Jones (who is 'everywhere' these days) and lovely Petra, who is emphatically back on the music video scene after an absence [Remember her recent super-performance in Tonight, with Band Beca?] 

Rider is explosive in its imagery and the funky musicality it brings. It'll send tongues wagging -- as Petra's, reptilian-like, momentarily does. And it'll get folks scratching their heads about its hidden import.


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The first 34 seconds of Rider are plainly grotesque, and will make this otherwise iconic production "an enigma within a riddle" -- nay, an outrage -- for many and perhaps most fans. Certainly for a while, and needlessly. Perhaps it has imagery worth sharing if you have seen and heard of recent upheavals, mostly political, if you live in 'extreme' parts of Nairobi such as Kayole, as KJ (as OG) proudly does. But not all of that which we see. There's no shock therapy here, just shock.

If those first 34 seconds were expunged, we would have 4:34 minutes of a great music video -- of pure rap, from the beginning to the end (and we'd still have a minute or so longer than most music videos go these days). More importantly, we would witness, without distraction, Khaligraph Jones' great artistry and growing power of influence. 

We would more unequivocally savor Petra's dramatic turns of body-textual phrase. She wows, you see, both with her amazing voice and theatrical steps upon that global, that YouTube, stage. She amazes with every line you hear, and with her every pose. Where u been, gal? Still, "Please welcome" -- Petra!






Note: Rider was published on February 12, 2018. It had 138,184 all-time views as at 9:54 AM (Nairobi time) on February 18, 2018.