Hardstone (real name Harrison Ngunjiri, born August 17,1977) is a Kenyan musician. His music is a mixture of ragga, reggae and hiphop. He sings in English, Swahili and Kikuyu languages. He is a pioneer urban style artist in Kenya and topped the Kenyan music scene for a while in the late 90's.
He emerged in 1997 with popular hit "Uhiki" and an album named "Nuting but de Stone", produced by Tedd Josiah of Sync Sound Studios and released internationally by German-based Kelele Records. Guest artist on the album were Fiona Mungai (of Shadz O'blak) and Eric Wainaina. The album contained two versions of he Uhiki his, original and Pinye's remix. The latter version contains samples of Sexual Healing by Marvin Gaye. At the 1997 Kisima Music Awards, Hardstone won the "Best new artist of the year" category.
He recorded a second album known as "Ziwe Nkulu", but it was left unreleased while he moved to the United States in 1998. He left Kenya to enhance his career, but since then has been without much success. In 2003 he released another album "Hardstory". The song "Uhiki (Pinye's remix)" was also on "African Groove" compilation released by Putumayo World Music in 2003.
In 2008 he released Stone Republic 12 tracks on Vigintillion Records. Featuring the music of Hardstone Mbaruku Harrison Ngunjiri Maina, the Godfather of Kenyan Hip Hop, on his sixth album producers include Edward "Eddie Hands" Rollins, and Paul "Arkitekt" Himmel.
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