Thank you guys for this discussion. It is controversial but worth speaking about.
Newfan, I heard the exact thing. Some people (well many) say to me that East African Swahili is better Swahili version than Congo Swahili. But there are those who said to me that Congo Swahili is pure Swahili not some bs Swahili.
In addition, Papa Wemba is a tetela person and knows the tetela dialect as well as Tshiluba. I think Wemba knows English, French, Lingala, Swahili, Tshiluba, and Tetela dialect. About Six Languages. That is very impressive.
I think the difference the Tanzanian Swahili and Kenyan Swahili is that Tanzanian Swahili is more Arabic than Kenyan Swahili. Tanzania Swahili has more Arabic sounding words as opposed to Tanzania Swahili.
It is true that Tanzanian Swahili, Kenyan Swahili, and Congo Swahili are very different. I just don't like when people that British English, American English, and Canadian English are so different. That is further from the truth. I went to Canada once, dude it was so easy for me to speak English with that person. Although they are different but most words are the same. I mean come on, especially swear words are the same and many phrases are the same (I mean almost every known phrases). If I moved to Great Britian or Canada, I would be fine. However it is different with Swahili language. It would be tough for a Kenyan to live in Tanzania or East Congo because the Swahili is very different from where they were from in a given area of Swahili speaking area.