Month: May 2012

Welcome to the artist bootcamp.

So ladies and gentlemen, have you ever thought about what it takes to be a star? Have you ever thought about the hardwork, time and dedication, blood, sweat& tears it takes inspite of how talented you may be? Or let me try a different approach, do you know how many horrible songs i have to endure in the name of doing music reviews? Some of them are plain lazy& some of them are a production let down. Take the time to get everything right. Get a producer who shares your vision& passion and work ethic. Someone who isn’t looking for an easy formula for success because that’s how you end up as a one-hit-wonder.
What is it about the youth of today thinking that HipHop is an easy meal ticket? Come on people, put in an effort into the art form that is HipHop! It takes time but when you make it, your music; your soul’s rhythm will be appreciated. And that is when you begin to enjoy the reknown that the likes of Camp Mulla, Octopizzo et al are.
Again, not all the blame lies with upcoming investors, established artists need to mentor these fledgling talents. Octopizzo and Muthoni The Drummer Queen are doing their bit. I say this as i think of my favourite underground act Coola Gang who have largely been ignored yet the talent in the group& and their affiliates are large unappreciated. Here i am not doing marketing for the group but simply spitting HipHop gospel as a HipHop lover. All you established artists will not have done a single thing worth note if you haven’t brought up a new talent or mentored a struggling artist. Not a thing.
That is my humble opinion (i seem to have had an epiphany of opinions today don’t i?).

Welcome to the artist bootcamp.

So ladies and gentlemen, have you ever thought about what it takes to be a star? Have you ever thought about the hardwork, time and dedication, blood, sweat& tears it takes inspite of how talented you may be? Or let me try a different approach, do you know how many horrible songs i have to endure in the name of doing music reviews? Some of them are plain lazy& some of them are a production let down. Take the time to get everything right. Get a producer who shares your vision& passion and work ethic. Someone who isn’t looking for an easy formula for success because that’s how you end up as a one-hit-wonder.
What is it about the youth of today thinking that HipHop is an easy meal ticket? Come on people, put in an effort into the art form that is HipHop! It takes time but when you make it, your music; your soul’s rhythm will be appreciated. And that is when you begin to enjoy the reknown that the likes of Camp Mulla, Octopizzo et al are.
Again, not all the blame lies with upcoming investors, established artists need to mentor these fledgling talents. Octopizzo and Muthoni The Drummer Queen are doing their bit. I say this as i think of my favourite underground act Coola Gang who have largely been ignored yet the talent in the group& and their affiliates are large unappreciated. Here i am not doing marketing for the group but simply spitting HipHop gospel as a HipHop lover. All you established artists will not have done a single thing worth note if you haven’t brought up a new talent or mentored a struggling artist. Not a thing.
That is my humble opinion (i seem to have had an epiphany of opinions today don’t i?).

So I’m sure by now you probably know that Abbas and Chiwawa dropped their beef and decided to go back to what they do best… produce extra good music.

The two individually do good music but I think we can all agree when I say that the music is great when they collaborate.

Take their track ‘Abbachiwa’ for instance. The lyrics in the song are just off the hook and the energy that the two have when they are on mutual grounds is just crazy.

The video for the track ‘Abbachiwa’ has been done and all i can say about it is AWESOME. Well, I haven’t seen the whole video yet but the trailer says it all.

Have a look at it and stay tuned for the official video.

Octopizzo has done so many tracks in such a short time and it has reached a point that it is now hard to keep up with his consistency.

I love all his music but still non can compare to ‘mama’ which was one of his first tracks that he did. The track dedicated to his mother received airplay on Ghetto radio (where I heard it from) and since then I have been searching for it with no results. Contacting Octopizzo, he said that the time to officially release it had not yet arrived. Now is that time.

The official video for the track will be realsed this Sunday at the DJ Hassan show on KBC TV.

The video for his song with Muthoni the Drummer Queen is set to be released next too.

You have heard this first from Ghafla!Kenya. For real, nobody else has this information… up until now.

One of Kenya’s leading mobile firms yuMobile, have launched a facility similar to Safaricom’s Okoa Jahazi which will allow subscribers to make their downloads on credit of upto Kshs.20 which they will be able to pay later.

This service is available though only to customers who have been on the network for upto 3 months and the advance credit may be used on all other yuMobile services including yu to yu calls and SMS. The service is dubbed ‘Credo4yu’.

If you attended last Tuesday’s Kwani Open Mic event at Club Sounds then you’d know the sweetness that comes with poetry/spoken word performances. The hype and comedy in it just keeps you coming back, not to mention the poems rich in words and rhythm.

A Rastaman by the stage name ‘Kennet B’, real name Kennedy Odongo gave us a piece of what he has in the world of poetry and when he left the stage, we just kept hoping that there was another round from him coming up.

Dressed cultural, in a Kanzu and neat dreadlocks, Kennet B delivers his poems in a manner that makes it impossible for you to turn away. Strong and positive words, delivered in a comic way just makes it fun to listen to this guy.

He has also done numerous videos for his poems, one of them being ‘The Green Talk’ that is aimed at raising awareness about the importance of conserving the environment. Check it out.

I know by now you have probably heard about the allegations about Octopizzo being one of the illuminatty members. All these, as we thought, came from the fact that he has risen so fast, from hustling for shows, to having more than three interviews and two video shoots a day. It turns out that these were just half of the reasons that fueled these claims.

Apparently, if you are extremely successful in whatever you do, just like Octopizzo is in his music and side businesses, you are part of the illuminati crew. Rubbish.

Octopizzo has been working on the launch and release of his own clothing wear, specifically, Snap-backs that are already on sell. Now, these snap-backs, written ‘Octopizzo’ at the front and ‘Number Nane’ at the back also have a triangle inscribed inside a circle. As they say, this is an illuminati sign.

I just contacted Octopizzo an hour ago and this is what he had to say, “That sign simply represents strength. That illuminati story is just nonsense but I guess they’ll just keep on coming because I will keep on rising. I am actually just getting started and by the end of this month they will all be calling me The Mason.”

Well, there you have it.

Just thought we would take you down memory lane with a vintage photo of the Redykulass team outside Kenyatta University as they kicked off there career that made them a force to reckon with in the country’s entertainment circles albeit for a period of time.

Walter Mongare, Tony Njuguna and John Kiarie make up the Redykulass group that defied the norm to emerge regular features on Kenyan television and at a variety of events. Have a look at the photo:

Now, have a look at a highlight feature that international news network Al Jazeera did on the daring trio:

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It is really sad that we keep missing out on all these massively celebrated international artistes’ visit as they fly right passed us, over to our neighbouring countries.

It happened with rick Ross, Jay Z and now it is happening again with the lady with multiple personalities, Nicki Minaj. The ‘Your love’ singer who has touched huge success in the music business and is also an extremely good performer, will be heading over to Tanzania next month according to the Fiesta concert organiser.

Nicki Minaj, real name Onika Tanya Maraj is set to perform as the lead artiste at the annual Fiesta Concert that will be held in Tanzania next month.

When will we have a piece of these celebrated international artistes for ourselves? It is actually really sad to miss out on yet another great performance to be.

On her latest column post in Zuqka, Ciku’s Beefs, the celebrated Kenyan radio personality made a startling revelation that would come as much of a surprise to all her ‘Busted’ fans.

Miss Muiruri outrightly admitted that she has for the most part of her life had a ‘fear of technology’. Ciku admitted that she does not download music, use the internet on her phone, record shows on her decoder or fully understand the concept of Twitter.
The latter however is what is steadily changing this perception for her as she gradually falls in love with the social media scape especially on Twitter. She cited information from a trending topic we featured on the social media site last week, with the hashtag #ContestantsBetterthanPrezzoForBBA
Click here to read more on the trend
Ciku urges Kenyans to support their own and even goes ahead to give her prediction of who she thinks will take home the Big Brother Stargame title, and you guessed it, a Kenyan! Seems the witty characters and trends on Twitter have clearly captured her affections. Who do you think will win the BBA Stargame?
Click here to checkout who else is representing Kenya at the BBA: stargame

On the long trip to your destination, on that late night bus ride home, at that boring lecture when you’re at the back of the class and when you’re taking an evening walk around the corner, your best friend would more often than not be your headphones or your earphones.

We all love listening to music, podcasts or our favourite broadcasts when we’re off the clock, but scientists have discovered that this could be a potential injury or death sentence for the unsuspecting listener.
“Everybody is aware of the risk of cell phones and texting in automobiles, but I see more and more teens distracted with the latest devices and headphones in their ears,” Dr. Richard Lichenstein, an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, said in a statement to Live Science. “Unfortunately as we make more and more enticing devices, the risk of injury from distraction and blocking out other sounds increases.”
The professor, together with a team of colleagues had been conducting a series of studies on past reports and databases published between 2004 and 2011 of pedestrian injuries or fatalities on the road, with specificity to those that included the use of headphones. It’s amazing then that a whopping 70 percent of those accident cases were fatal.
Does it need much convincing then to make us realize that using headphones (or texting at that) could make you lose your life? Just last year a Kenyan minister lost his son to a terrible accident on a European street, where he was listening (rather loudly) to music on his headphones that he could not hear a descending plane, which subsequently swept him away as the aircraft made a crash landing.
Using earphones has a distractive quality in that the listener’s senses are ‘deprived’ as you become less aware of your environment. It’s therefore important that you try to stay as alert as possible and aware of your surroundings especially as you walk.

After all, who would want to lose their life over using earphones?

They are the guys that brought you the hot tune with Wyre the Love Child, ‘Feels Good’ that was a one of a kind club banger. They later came back to the music scene with the song’House Party’ that got a good reception through out the social media.

They are back, and this time they brought sexy back. This type of sexy is however entirely in the swagger category with his latest track ‘Sexy Swagger’ from Soulitary Entertainment.

They just uploaded their music ‘Sexy Swagger’ just today and we are glad to be able to share with you guys.

Have a listen to the song and give us your feedback.

He is the guy behind most of the best dancehall tunes in Kenya, very influential when it comes to music talks and yet, with all the praises that goes around for him, he is also one of the most humble celebrities you can find in kenya.

Having collaborated with huge names in the music industry, and I mean international music industry, like The Morgan Heritage and Cecile, Wyre is still just warming up. His latest single, ‘Dancehall Party’ is rising fast in most charts and has proven to be a club banger as all his songs are.

Well, there are a few things that we all didn’t know about this amazing artiste. For example, did you know that he was an amazing long tennis player back in his younger days? So he says in his recent interview with the Pulse Magazine.

Check this out, Wyre does not drink, smoke or do any kind of drug. You’d think that since he does reggae music, he would also be hooked on weed (stereotype), but no! Even with all his electrifying night performances, he doesn’t even take a sip of alcohol. That’s just awesome.

Some of you may already know that he went to Dagoretti High School and that’s where he explored his talent in music.

One other thing that I am glad to know about The King of The Dancehall is that
he would never wear skinny jeans. That’s a relief!

Bizzarre claims from shortsighted fans about Octopizzo’s rise to stardom

 As I was reading through the pulse today morning, i came across an interesting piece that claimed that some fans had questioned Octopizzo’s meteoric rise to fame &superstardom. What caught my attention is the ignorance of some of these so called fans. Thing is, Octopizzo’s rise to stardom can steadily be traced through time as he gave us hit after hit after hit after hit. With a slew of hits that boast lyrical content that tip the scale on the heavier side coupled with superb production work, a star was born.

Why are some amongst us so eager to classify the fruits of his labour as ill-gotten gains? Why is it that when we see an MC enjoying the fruits of their blood, sweat& tears we are quick to belittle their hassle? Come off the roooobbbish accusations and appreciate the lads hard work!
From “Vowels” to the recently released “Bila Mic”, lad has been consistent with the lyrical wordplay& hard hitting punchlines but now that the mainstream media has finally sat up to take notice of the talent that is Octopizzo some of us want to hate? And just what aren’t you telling us? If you know that he is in illuminati (whatever this non-existent rubbish is), just how do you know that he is a member? Are you also a member?! HMMMMMMM?! And i doubt the talented and lyrically endowed MC would sell his soul for a tv interview and 2 radio shows.
Ocopizzo, keep lifting “Numba Nane” and keep up the good work! Hope you supernova! Blow up so big that we have Kenyan born, thoroughbred grammy nominees and indeed winners!
This is just my humble opinion.

The much anticipated reggae concert that I spent most of my time hyping and advertising with anxiety has just been cancelled (read the Bushman article). I just can’t believe this, yet true.

Bushman was supposed to perform at the Sankara this Friday to raise funds for The March Forth Kenya Kids Foundation that teaches kids art, giving them confidence through the discovery of their various gifts and talents in the arts.

The March Forth Kids has not yet given us the reason behind the cancelation of the much anticipated charity concert.

We are looking forward to unveiling the reason considering that Bushman was more than eager to perform in Kenya. More details coming soon.

There’s a limited crop of top musicians around the world with their music featured on the seemingly exclusive VEVO channel, available on YouTube in Kenya and other African countries, and a fewer range of artistes on the continent that can boast a dedicated channel on the site.

If you don’t have any idea what VEVO is, Wikipedia adequately describes it as:

“….a music video website. It is a joint venture (between 3 out of 4 of the ‘Big Four’ music labels in the World) Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, and Abu Dhabi Media with EMI licensing its content to the group without taking an ownership stake.”

Well, a few African musicians can boast about having VEVO channels, with a majority of those few either South African or Nigerian. The latest addition to the VEVO stable was D’Banj who was confirmed at the end of March 2012.

VEVO.com is however only available in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, though it had planned to have a worldwide launch this year, but failed to roll out citing licensing issues.

Does this mean then that music has to be of some consistent quality to be featured on VEVO. There’s no secret that Nigerian superstars are doing collabos with American artistes such as Akon and Snoop Dogg and this could be a contributing factor to their music earning placements on VEVO. The channel has millions of subscribers and thus would be a gold field for artistes looking to build their brand.

Advantages of being on VEVO include reaping greater revenue from your music as the advertising rates on the channel are of a greater premium. All that VEVO may require then of you would be a strong fan base adn reputable industry contacts.

The most important thing to note though would be that the industry is increasingly being driven by digital sales in comparison to say vinyl and CDs as has been the case for quite awhile. 

The service was launched officially on December 8, 2009.The videos on Vevo are syndicated across the web,with Google and Vevo sharing the advertising revenue.

Do you think there’s any Kenyan musician who should be featured on VEVO?

Recently got my mitts on some hot track by an underground artist whom i have the pleasure of introducing…

 So Blunts is a young rapper on his come up who has teamed up with a wicked production team that has blessed him with some banging instrumentals that are heavy on the violins but *and now this is where the genius is* the beats are anything but fruity!
The lyrics are party lyrics which go well with the uptempo instrumentals with BRILLIANT violin bits involved! Whoever did the beats is a genius& the rapper is talent. my advice is that you download the track and play it while on the dunda or while headed to the rave.

all you DJs looking for Kenyan music to play had better sit up &take note of this kid! have a listen…

Time will come when almost all hoods will be having their own radio stations through which they will air the matters that concern them and the welfare of their neighbourhood. Kibera already has its own station and so does Korogocho (Koch FM).

Kawangware is just about to have its own radio station that will be available to its environs, titled Ungwaro FM. Issues concerning ‘Ungwaro’ and the best of music will be aired for listeners with attempt of raising solutions to them.

The station has not yet been launched but the frequency will lye somewhere around 97.0 to 97.9. More details to be revealed shortly.

LIVE performance may be an art that some of the artists in Kenya may have forgotten, but by international consensus, these performances have become a necessity for a broad range of artists looking to push their profit margins as well as get their music and brand firmly imprinted in new and old fans loyalties.

In modern times, a majority of musicians have become ‘studio’ artists, with sounds that only turn out great when recorded and modified to give out a final product. What listeners appreciate though are versatile artists who can deliver both excellent vocal and visual quality in and out of the studio. Thus, this art is what differentiates the legendary from the average.
In Kenya, we have some great performers when it comes to concerts and events, and Ghafla! Would like to highlight some of the best performers we have in the country. These musicians rarely fail to disappoint when making appearances and are at the top of their game. They are:

10. Jua Cali

The rapper is smooth with his interactive sessions that rouse his fans to sing and dance along to his tunes that are arguably some of the best anthems.

9. Wahu

This Kenyan diva is the best at her game, from make up to warddrobe she keeps it fresh, clean and fun. The internationally recognized artiste loves to experiment on stage with different acts coupled with her powerful vocals.

8. Kanda King

Congolese style of dance necessitate a certain percentage of flexibility and agility to keep up with the kiuno demanding beats and choreographed moves, and this artist is not shy at all with the technique as he performs.

7. Daddy Owen

The King of Kapungala is a bundle of raw and uninhibited energy when it comes to making an appearance on stage. he owns the acreage and does not fail to get the crowd psyched up and on their feet.

6. Sauti Sol

Kenya’s boy band sensation is taking not just Kenya’s but the global entertainment industry by storm, with applaud of their performances at festivals such as the recent SXSW as well as at Blankets and Wine where they are a crowd favourite. Their fashion sense and vocal play add spice to their great performance.

5. Madtraxx

This club party anthem King is a hype master in the business, matching his beats word for word with move by move.

4. Kidum

With regular performances at nightclubs and restaurants across the country, this maestro is no stranger to performances tailored for a restless and eager audience. Backed by a LIVE band, he works up the crowd to his favourite hits and rarely fails to disappoint.

3. Emmy Kosgei

Backed by a dedicated and well groomed group of dancers, this Gospel Queen has delightful live performances when on stage. You can see the passion she has for her music as she takes over the stage and delivers to her fans. She loves starting with short interactive sessions with the crowd then abruptly breaks into her routine.

3. Size 8

This highly energetic and hardworking artist is a bundle of raw energy when she gets onto her stage. Owning the space is an understatement when Size 8 is on stage: her powerful vocals mixed with her sensual moves make the audience charge up.

2. Redsan

He is undoubtedly one of the leading performers in Kenya, with choreographed back up dancers, who are more often than not seductively swaying to his tunes and enticing the audience.

1. Juliani

With his signature head shaking and lyrics that dig in deep into ardent fans, this gospel king is unrivalled when it comes to charging up his audience. He feels

To day we work up to the good news that Genge Godfather is a daddy to a new bouncing baby boy.

Read more on this story here. This story made sensational dancer/singer Toxic who is due to deliver this coming September to be more eager of the sweet feeling of mother hood.

Toxic is currently in Germany where she lives with her fiance where she updated on her Facebook and twitter page that she can’t wait to hold her baby for the first time.

Check her FB update

I think this feeling can only be explained by a person who is pregnant or is a mother.

After word went round that Q FM presenter Kazungu Matano popularly known to many as Otoyo

Awinja was set to resign from Q FM has been confirmed to be just rumours.

The presenter himself termed this as rumours and that he is at Q FM to stay. Otoyo hosts the evening Q-drive alongside Massawa Jappani.

Talking to the Star newspaper Otoyo said,’’ those are rumours, I am at Q FM to stay and comfortable with my profession, they just want to tarnish my name. When people are in their element, it’s obvious that many will be jealous of you.’’

Rapper Nasty Thomas considers himself a very lucky man after Monday’s incident in Westlands. With the speed that all these buildings are being erected nowadays, it’s no wonder they keep coming down one after the other.

On Monday, 7^Th this month, a building on School Lane, Westlands collapsed abruptly, damaging the apartments next to it. Nasty Thomas is one of the residents in the apartments and was luckily uninjured. Everybody else in the apartments came out of the horrifying incident safe. Two people that were close to the building at that time were however not so lucky. They were immediately rushed to the hospital for treatment and managed to survive.

Nasty Thomas wrote on his Facebook profile, “Y’all Watch 7pm News, there was a building that collapsed into our apartment in Westlands around Lunch time. Thank God I’m alive and my neighbours too.”