4.5/5★
Georgian hip hop finds its voice in KayaKata’s Sadaa — a surreal, experimental album rooted in Tbilisi, but reaching worldwide.
When people abroad picture Georgia’s music, they’ll most likely imagine the Soviet-era musical landscape, with singers like Nani Bregvadze or Vakho Chachanidze — voices that embody timeless Georgian nostalgia. But if that’s all you know, you might miss how very much ‘happening’ things are when you dip into the country’s modern music.
Hip hop isn’t new to Georgia. In the 2000s, the genre started blowing up, along with its subculture of breakdance, freestyle, and baggy pants — among other fashion statements. One of the pioneers in the 2000s Georgian hip hop scene was Lexseni, whose boom-bap hip hop style became a big deal.
For reference, boom-bap hip hop took off along the US East Coast — mainly New York City — in the 1990s, popularised by artists like Nas, Wu-Tang Clan, and Mobb Deep. Lexseni’s most popular song, ‘Gesmodes’, gives as true a vibe as any of what the mid-2000s hip hop scene in Georgia sounded like.
But boom-bap is no longer what hip hop is in the modern day. Today’s hip hop needs its deep sub-bass, melodic rapping, experimental samples, club-type bounce, and heavy production. There are several honourable mentions for Georgian artists that pull off these elements at a high level (namely, Mamaflex), but in my opinion, KayaKata has done it the best.
KayaKata is a three-headed dragon: Maxime Machaidze (Luna997) and Zurab Jishkariani (Dilla), both vocalists/lyricists, as well as Nikoloz Sabanadze, a producer/composer. What began as beatmaker collabs (all three put out their own individual projects) eventually morphed into a tight-knit trio.
KayaKata’s 2019 album Sadaa feels complete on a lot of levels. Neither too long nor too short at 11 tracks (around 38 minutes), there is a lot to leave hip hop fans delighted. The album features six guest artists in total, including four other Georgian rap artists (Cutkill, Mamaflex, TurboHikari, and Dro), a Japanese electronic musician (Coppé), and a Guinean rapper (HAWA).
As a hip hop album, Sadaa is experimental in sounds and themes — the songs are mostly in Georgian, though there is a lot of English as well. ‘A washing machine mantra’ is mentioned in the intro track, which nicely foreshadows the very diverse styles of music that follow. KayaKata uses a mix of object-based sound design — where everyday items (e.g., coins clinking, a door shutting, a telephone ringing) are used — plus psychedelic synth sounds driven forward by catchy sub bass.
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The album is roughly divided into three acts, each with its own atmosphere: three KayaKata openers that really pull you in, followed by mostly feature tracks that explode outward, and then a set of closers that pull the curtain shut. Each song has its own direction.
The word ‘collage’ works well to describe KayaKata’s final product. On YouTube, in fact, the album’s videos stitch together horses, wolves, foxes, and other animals sprinting past, coloured with rapidly alternating food and drink labels from Soviet supermarkets. All the while, a person stands front and centre, swaying slightly, with their face covered — a unique outfit for each song that looks like it was picked from different decades and stitched into one frame. It’s surreal but perfectly Tbilisi: always between sweet nostalgia and absurd futurism.
My personal favorite tracks are numbers two and three on the album — both pure KayaKata without any feature artists. I came into the album with no expectations, and after a short abstract monologue (track one), was blown away by what followed. Track two, ‘Massaia’, has a lot of dancehall music elements, and the listener gets to experience the wonderful juxtaposition of Machaidze’s higher, playful voice and Jishkariani’s deep, soothing voice. This vocal yin and yang is also part of track three, ‘Kaya Mango’, which features a lullaby-like melody matching the notes of an entrancing, repetitive, and melodic sub-bass.
A third favorite on the album is ‘Hood Tennis’, featuring HAWA. This song is calmer than others on the album, and is mostly in English. Machaidze opens with a verse in English that, in my opinion, is impressive. His Georgian accent definitely shines through, on some words more than others, but this gives character and authenticity to his rap style. Verse two ushers in HAWA, a Berlin-born, Guinea-raised female rapper whose voice matches the song’s motif and complements KayaKata nicely.
The lyrical content of KayaKata’s verses in ‘Hood Tennis’ centres around themes like chaos and survival, altered states and escapism, as well as existential questions (‘Where’s god? Is it in the barrel of the gun?’). HAWA’s verse, in contrast, is more about power and self-assertion, addressing money, loyalty, betrayal, and dominance in relationships and rivalries.
The balance created through many forms of contrast is what makes Sadaa special. Whether it’s lyrical content, the duality in voices, aggression versus reflection, or simply the artwork, the album feels like a treasure chest. Therefore, it’s not surprising Sadaa earned recognition in Europe’s independent music scene — not only being nominated but also making it to the shortlist of the European Independent Album of the Year Award. That’s very rare for a Georgian album, and it was a milestone moment for Georgia’s indie and hip hop scene on the European stage.
For all intents and purposes, Sadaa is the best Georgian hip hop album out right now. It’s psychedelic yet grounded, rooted in Tbilisi but global in scope. If Georgia’s old soundtrack was choirs echoing in stone churches and vinyl voices drifting from Soviet radios, then KayaKata’s Sadaa would be a rooftop party where someone is rewiring the speakers mid-song. And for once, the sound of Georgia feels not just romanticised — but alive.
Album details: Sadaa by KayaKata. Released on 18 August 2019. Listen to the album on Spotify.
