Created in the early nineties, the annual Yo Rap Bonanza was a rap talent show sponsored by local Indian merchants. The talent show attracted large crowd wanting to see unique delivery of rhymes. Indeed, an important way for a group or MC to win over the audience was to come up with a unique style of rapping, or "mtirirko". In fact, most Tanzanian rap fans could easily differentiate a new artist from a veteran rapper by the fluency of his rap.

The "Yo Rap Bonanza" competition marked a new era in the swahili

Swahili language

Swahili or Kiswahili is a Bantu language spoken by various ethnic groups that inhabit several large stretches of the Mozambique Channel coastline from northern Kenya to northern Mozambique, including the Comoro Islands. It is also spoken by ethnic minority groups in Somalia...

 rap scene because many rappers from regions outside Dar es Salaam took part, and thus contributing to spreading the genre to other places.

Many artists gained their popularity after participating in the YRB talent show. Saleh j

Saleh J

Saleh J, prominent Tanzanian hip hop pioneer, was born in Dar es Salaam as Saleh Jaber.Heavily influenced by the early 1980s rap artists such as LL Cool J and Big Daddy Kane, Jaber began to go by the name of Saleh J. He gained popularity after competing in the popular Tanzanian rap battle TV show,...

, one of Tanzania's hip hop leaders, won the competition and soon after became one of the most recognized Tanzanian hip-hop stars.