Kenyan rapper, singer and producer Nyathigi Gatere, known professionally as tg.blk, has been named Spotify’s EQUAL Africa artist for July. The Mombasa-born musician has built a reputation as one of Kenya’s most distinctive voices in alternative hip-hop, blending raw emotion with a fiercely independent creative process.
Her career began modestly, writing and producing beats alone in her bedroom using GarageBand. She sharpened her craft further while studying in the United States before returning home to Kenya, where she has since become a defining figure in the country’s growing alternative hip-hop scene.
tg.blk’s breakout moment came with the 2021 single “Love Being Used,” which drew millions of streams and introduced her sound to audiences across the region. She built on that momentum with her 2024 EP “ITS NOT THAT DEEP” and tracks such as “gin and wine,” continuing to fuse rap, lo-fi production, R&B and soul into a style she has made unmistakably her own. Her work explores identity, authenticity and self-expression, offering listeners an unfiltered window into contemporary youth experience.
Recognition Under Spotify’s EQUAL Programme
Spotify’s EQUAL Africa initiative spotlights women artists shaping the continent’s musical future, giving them wider visibility across Africa and beyond. Phiona Okumu, Spotify’s Head of Music for Sub-Saharan Africa, said tg.blk embodies the spirit driving the region’s alternative scene forward. “tg.blk represents the fresh, daring and authentic spirit that is propelling the East African alternative music scene forward,” Okumu said. “Through the EQUAL programme, we are proud to celebrate her unique artistic perspective, her technical independence as a producer and her inspiring commitment to vulnerability.”
For her part, tg.blk described the honour as deeply affirming for an artist who built her following largely online. “Now is the time for women musicians. The power is in your hands, and people want to hear from you,” she said. “Being part of the EQUAL programme means so much to me because I built so much of my journey online, and I often feel disconnected from opportunities like this. It’s incredibly affirming, and I can’t wait to see what’s next.”
She credits her confidence as a woman navigating a male-dominated industry to trusting her instincts and surrounding herself with collaborators she respects, a mindset she says translates directly into her music.
With her EQUAL Africa feature, tg.blk joins a growing list of women artists using the platform to expand their reach while staying rooted in the independent, self-produced sound that first defined her career.
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