Privately-owned commuter mini-buses known as Daladalas are the primary and most popular means of public transportation in Tanzania, especially in urban centres such as Dar es Salaam. Daladala operators inscribe slogans on the rear bumpers of their vehicles. These slogans draw on other popular cultural forms including music, popular literature, folkloric materials, politics, rumours and scandals. As a system of urban scripts that circulate throughout the city, the slogans have both artistic and cultural significance. This paper analyses the significance of the messages embedded in the slogans found on the Dar es Salaam daladalas and suggests ways in which we read these scripts. It argues that the slogans on the daladalas are an important element in a matrix of urban cultural texts and reading them offers important insights into the social imaginary of the city and urban life in general.