Tuesday, January 5, 2010

ARTISTE SPOTLIGHT


She is one of the Kenyan top names in the music industry; she has pierced the hip-hop scene in Kenya and Norway like no other lady performer has done. STL has made heads turn and has continued to prove that her rapping skills are not a mistake but a good mix of talent and hard work.

Most music fans in Kenya relate to her song Taking it back released 2007 in which she featured song bird and rapper Michelle. This was her second release in East Africa after the song Happy in 2006.

STL born Stella Mwangi was born in Kenya but is based in Norway. Her family moved to Norway in 1991 where she started writing lyrics from the age of 8 and rapping when she was about 11years old. Towards the end of the 90’s STL in a group called Rise produced an album called Maroon and from there her journey to great heights started. With the group Rise, STL performed for Nelson Mandela when he toured Norway for an AIDS campaign.

The track Taking it back was a hit in East Africa that made her scoop the best promising artist of the year in the 2006 Kisima Awards .This was after missing five nominations in Chaguo La teeniz Awards .Since then she has managed to rake fans across East Africa where rap is not considered a ladies territory.

Stumping her "authority" further, STL was nominated for best new act in the MTV Mama Awards that were held in Kenya on October 2009.Although she did not walk home with the prize it sure was a good show for an artist who is fairly new to the music industry and in a genre that is not popular with the lady singers in East Africa .She was nominated alongside Nigerians M.I and Bigiano,Tanzanian Shaa and Rhythmic Element of south AfricaOn the African scene STL has managed to work with various artistes. The list includes Osman, Kubaff, Kantai,Wagable and Michelle. STL has shared stage with big names that tour Norway.

Her discography since the year 2004 includes songs like Happy(2006),Taking it Back(2007),Radio Tuning(2008),The dreamer(2008)She got it (2009) and Go Getta(2009).

Other songs include songs "Crazy", "Feeling Love" and "Swing", which she wrote with The DNC and were picked by the Position Music and Choice Tracks as a soundtrack for the films Save the last dance, American pie, Redline and the series; CSI (New York) , Las Vegas, Ghost whisperer, Scrubs, American Top Model and Army Wives.

To listen to an interview with STL, please visit

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