As a child born in the 90s (and very late 80s) there are things that absolutely define us. And while it’s not all we’re made of, there are things only we would understand.

These memories are some of the best anecdotes memoriam our childhood or adolescence.

Baby boomers have their “back in our day” stories when they’re complaining about Justin Bieber and praising Franco or Michael Jackson in the same breath. Often they forget, we aren’t the ones who are growing up with Bieber. Our time was a bit more- diverse. And to be honest, we miss it. Because back in our day, life was plenty awesome.

Cassettes

Whether they were video or audio, they weren’t as “responsive” as DVDs or streamed content. If you wanted to get to the start you had to rewind it. But with audio cassettes, you could get creative. You only needed a finger, a pen or any long skinny cylindrical inflexible object to put through the tape reels until one side was complete.

Brick game

They were the consoles for the 90s kids. They were fun, easily replaceable, universal and most importantly- cheap. They only cost Sh50.

TV Aerials

These are the days before boosters, before decoders were in every household. We would use old fashioned aerials to get good TV signals. When moving, you had to hire someone to make sure the aerial was strategically placed or you would spend the rest of your days readjusting it daily to catch all the channels.

Kapuka and Genge

This genre of local music is what made Kenyan music popular in the clubs again. The likes of E-Sir (May he rest in peace), Nameless, Nonini and Juacali caused a revolution in the local music scene. Some say it's the greatest time of Kenya music.

The Cuando seas Mia v Secreto de Amor battle

There was always a rivalry based on KTN or NTV soaps. The one that was most involving was Cuando and Secreto with both having near die-hard fans always arguing about which soap was better.

Other soaps that captured our 90s hearts were The Bold and The Beautiful (Were you Team Brooke or Team Taylor?), La Uspadora, The Promise, Maria de los Angeles, El Cuerpo Del Deseo etc.

Saturday morning cartoons

Only 90s kids will remember how much they lived for morning cartoons. Nowadays with decoders, we get to see them all day any time we want. But back then you had to be tuned in to watch your favoured cartoon. There was the likes of Johnny Bravo, Powerpuff Girls (the 1998 series), Spaced Out, and Kids Next Door.

You would wake up early enough to watch Club Kiboko.

There were also the after school cartoons like All Dogs Go to Heaven, Braceface, 6Teen, Kim Possible and Hey Arnold etc.

Brands

There were brands that popped up and were very prominent through our childhoods. For instance sodas like Softa and Babito. The most popular juice was called Treetops and the concentrate was so thick a capful needed to be diluted with a bucket of water. Blue Band had a chocolate flavour. Big G chewing gum had a cola flavour. There was a lovely juice that came in tetra-packs called Bibo.

Magazines

If you were a girl you probably had a box full of Shout magazine and Cool magazine. You would buy them because of the goodies inside such as the free lipstick or free eyeliner.

In high school, you probably lived for Insyder magazine.

The “iPhone” of the day

Back then texting was done by writing down notes and passing them through the class.

The cool kids used to use an Oxford Mathematical Set and had these special pencils that didn’t even have wood.

Favourite movies

If you were born in the 90s, your favourite comedy film back then was probably the Gods Must Be Crazy 1 or 2.

Jean Claude Van Damme or Arnold Schwarzenegger was your action hero. Sylvester Stallone too. Everyone wanted to be Sharon Stone or marry her.

Favourite TV shows

If you weren’t a wrestling fanatic then you probably didn’t have a TV or came from a very conservative family.

You couldn’t wait to watch The Sentinel or Rex or Martial Arts.

Your favourite music show was Channel O.

Matatus

Back then, public transport was a bit more- intimate. The matatus were like pickup trucks with a boxed cover. Or a Peugeot 404 station wagon. The pickup-like ones earned the nickname Face-Me-Face-You.

As a 90s kid:

You had a favourite Redykulass sketch.

You used to pretend to understand the satirical nuances of Whispers.

Kati, bano, rounders, chobo ua, police and robber were the coolest games.

Your worst nightmare in school was that maths teacher who always insisted “Show your working”.