Listen to Coco Em’s powerful new single, ‘Land (Black)’

Kenyan DJ and producer Coco Em has released her new single, ‘Land (Black)’. It’s the first from her upcoming EP, ‘Kilumi’, which will be available on April 21.

Originally named ‘Land First’, the name was changed after Sisian Kasiva - who features - misheard the lyrics.

“This was initially titled ‘Land First’ but after playing it to Kasiva, she kept hearing the words ‘Black first, black first’ and thus the name changed,” Coco Em explains. “It’s a powerful statement I made to a beat I had initially pitched to Sho Madjozi in 2018 for her Sena Ala music challenge. I didn’t make it, but I developed the track to what it is now.”

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‘Land (Black)’ is a lyrical statement of protest against power structures and supremacy, which combines spoken words, bass and driving percussion.

The tune is taken from her upcoming EP, ‘Kilumi’, which Em began writing at the height of the pandemic in 2020. “It explores elements of different sounds that kept me going in a very difficult year. It takes on different paths each time a song starts.

“From the amapiano inspired elements of the single ‘Winyo Nungo’, the energetic combination of bass and hi-hats on tracks like ‘Kilumi’, the moody trap style of ‘Keep The Pace’ and more are the building blocks of the overall EP piece.”

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In the creation of her debut EP, Coco Em challenged herself to write and produce a fresh beat every day. Her exploration resulted in collecting 70 ideas, with each one reflecting various elements within her musical palette. Soon enough, these beats were refined into the upcoming seven-track EP.

It reflects her artistic elements, inspirations and the rich creative energy happening in studios and dance-floors across the Kenyan diaspora right now.

The final processing of the ‘Kilumi’ was done within Santuri East Africa studios, a Nairobi-based non-profit organisation with the purpose of empowering East African artists.

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Aside from her DJing and production, Coco Em is also founder of Nairobi-based womxn collective Sim Sima - which shares the name with her new imprint, too.

Tracklist:

Pace

Yi Ingi

Winyo Nungo feat MC Sharon & Wuod Baba

Kilumi feat Ndunge wa Kalele

Land (Black) First feat Sisian & Kasiva

Mbeni feat Janice Iche

Pesa feat Labdi Ommes

‘Land (Black)’ from Coco Em is available now, and you can preorder the EP, ‘Kilumi’, due for release on April 21. Listen to the single and pre-order the EP here.

Niamh Ingram is Mixmag’s Weekend Editor, follow her on Twitter