American streamer iShowSpeed made his mark in Kenya after his visit turned into one of the most chaotic and successful stops of his African tour, with the 20-year-old content creator causing gridlock in Nairobi and hitting a major milestone on YouTube in the process.
Darren Watkins Junior, known online as iShowSpeed, arrived in Kenya earlier today from Rwanda as part of his “Speed Does Africa” tour spanning roughly 20 countries.
Thousands of fans mobbed his convoy, creating traffic jams so severe that police couldn’t effectively clear the roads. People surrounded his vehicles, filming and livestreaming, forcing Speed to abandon plans to move to his next location.
His livestream was so popular that it pulled over 200,000 concurrent viewers at peak moments, possibly one of the largest live audiences for any stream originating from Kenya.
Speed’s itinerary mixed tourist activities with local culture as he toured Uhuru Park, visited Kenyatta Market, and stopped at the Mukuru Affordable Housing Project, where he played basketball with residents.
At an animal orphanage, he fed a baby rhinoceros and paid $10,000 for the privilege of naming it “Rhinaldo” after footballer Cristiano Ronaldo, a name his chat audience helped choose.
iShowSpeed also met Bradley Marongo, the 23-year-old Kenyan known online as ‘Gen Z Goliath,’ who stands at 8’2 tall.
The greatest highlight of Speed’s tour in Kenya was gaining 360,000 new YouTube subscribers, which he claimed was more than he’d gained during any single stream in another African country.
He hit the 48 million mark before ending the broadcast and credited Kenyan fans directly for pushing him over the threshold.
“Kenya is number one. I can’t believe we did it. Kenya, I love you so much. You showed out. We hit 48 million. Kenya, I will never forget you.”
He did mention that he’d want to return, but we’ll just have to wait and see.
