Rich Mavoko

With his mixture of sunny Afro-pop and bongo flava, Tanzanian singer, songwriter, and musician Rich Mavoko became popular in the mid-2010s thanks to early hits like "Roho Yangu" and "Kokoro," the latter of which was a collaboration with Diamond Platnumz, whose label helped Mavoko find even greater success near the end of the decade. Following a messy and somewhat controversial exit from Platnumz's WSB imprint in 2019, Mavoko eventually resurfaced with 2020's self-released MiniTape. Mavoko, whose real name is Richard Martin, initially came up with the Kaka Empire label, run by Kenyan rapper King Kaka. After scoring a handful of mid-2010s hits in the bongo flava style (a mix of hip-hop, R&B, Afrobeat, and the Tanzanian traditions of taarab and dansi), most notably "Roho Yangu," he was asked by fellow Tanzanian Diamond Platnumz to join his upstart WSB Wasafi. Beginning in 2017, he notched a number of prominent hits for the label including "Rudi" featuring Patoranking, "Sheri" featuring Fid Q, and "Kokoro" featuring Platnumz himself. Although still on the rise in 2019, Mavoko left WSB amid some controversy and a series of bitter legal battles ensued, resulting in the involvement of Tanzania's arts regulatory body, BASATA. When the dust finally settled in 2020, Mavoko made his comeback with the EP-length mixtape MiniTape. ~ Timothy Monger