Kenyan rapper Henry Ohanga, popularly known as Octopizzo, has released a stirring new track titled June 25, a tribute to the young lives lost during the 2024 anti–Finance Bill protests.
Shared on his Instagram, Octopizzo described the song as “a raw, urgent track” capturing grief and resistance through real audio from grieving mothers, journalists, and public figures. The protests reached a deadly climax on June 25, 2024, when police opened fire on demonstrators who had stormed Parliament, killing several.
“I was in the street and in Parliament, where I saw people being slaughtered,” Octopizzo wrote, adding that the track is “a time capsule” of Kenya’s Gen Z–led uprising.
He also spoke about the BBC documentary Blood Parliament, saying it “shattered” him and criticised the lack of accountability nearly a year on: “It makes you question whether the judiciary or the law itself was ever real.”
Octopizzo, who continues to use art for activism, recently launched YGB WEAR, a fashion brand rooted in Black empowerment, and leads Chocolate City Tours, a cultural initiative based in Kibera.
