commercially accepted model, and became accessible to working class youth as well. Early Tanzanian rap tended to be in English, but as the genre developed some rappers began writing raps in Swahili. The main venue for their music was live performance, particularly the Yo Rap Bonanza competition. The YRB competition was organized by Indian merchants; notably, it attracted rappers from outside of [Dar es Salaam]. Artists such as Saleh J and Eazy-B performed at the competition. African American music had always been influential in Tanzania, especially soul and R&B, but with the birth of a socialist government, foreign music was banned in Tanzania. For example a hip hop group from Tanzania, Berry White, exemplifies the influence of African American music solely in the name of the band. It seems as though they are imitating and/or mimicking the world renown Barry White. Moreover, before the socialist government in Tanzania banned foreign music, it was evident that Tanzanian hip hop was heavily influenced by western music, specifically African American music. This gave Tanzanian citizens limited access to hip-hop, and early artists either learned of it by hearing it in a foreign country through connections abroad. For young rappers like Dolasoul, or Balozi, (Ahmed Dola), "it was just for the fun, no money was involved." Rap music was merely a pastime for the upper and middle classes, in opposition to early hip-hop artists in the United States and South Africa. Education was seem as their way to gain financial and social success and early rappers mostly rapped in English using American lyrics and tracks. The scene began to change in the early 1990s with the breakdown of socialism, allowing hip-hop to become accessible to lower classes through the increase in circulation, and as it became acceptable for local artists and hip-hop fans began recording, copying and distributing hip-hop. Africa taking notice of this genre of music is another huge advance for Tanzanian hip hop. In the history of Music in Tanzania, there had never been a male bongo flava artist nominated for Kora African music Awards. Yesaya Ambwene aka AY was the first one to be nominated. Ay was nominated in the category of the best male artist from Eastern and Central Africa in 2005. Including this genre in the African music awards reveals a lot of how far this music has come in such a short time. Currently, hip-hop is not only