Fresh off his surprise appearance at Blankets & Wine on Joshua Baraka's set and his successful Nairobi pitstop of his tour, Bien has launched an open verse challenge of his hit song "All My Enemies Are Suffering," with an enviable prize for the winner.
The challenge is open to everyone worldwide and runs till November 7, with the winner set to bag $1000 (roughly KSh 130, 000).
The viral song's music video has garnered 5.8 million views in 2 months, easily making its mark as the biggest hit off his "Alusa Why Are You Topless" album. Bien released a remix featuring Nigeria's Phyno a fortnight ago, and he has hinted that Kenyan rapper Khaligraph Jones could be hopping on a second remix too.
An Open Verse Challenge is a social media event where an artist provides a track with a blank space (an open verse), and fans/participants are invited to record their own verse (singing or rapping) over that section and share it on platforms like TikTok or Instagram, typically using a dedicated hashtag.
A popular trend in popular music, open verse challenges are synonymous with increasing a song's visibility and reach across social media platforms as well as fostering engagement with fans and the music community.