“Who’s afraid of the black woman?” Leila Akinyi presents the theme of black self-confidence unapologetically, confronts questions of race head-on, and polarizes. And it’s about time. After all, what has long been a central characteristic of the USA’s hip hop scene is still, here in Germany, in its infancy. With the single “Afro Spartana” and the EP of the same name, the Mombasa-born, Cologne-raised singer and rapper undeniably hits a nerve. It’s no accident—Akinyi knows exactly what she’s doing. She raps and sings in her soulful, Gospel-trained voice, in German and Swahili. Her songs combine her broad influences as seamlessly as they do her Kenyan & German heritages and the styles of her musical idols, who range from Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston to Michael Jackson to Wiley and Kendrick Lamar. All of this blends into a catchy amalgam of rap, soul, and afrobeat. It’ll get into your head and stay there.
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