Month: August 2012

Bamzigi just went through a very hilarious shocking incident some hours back. A Jamaican thief trolled Bamzigi after stealing his girlfriend’s phone (as if the theft itself is not enough torture).

Bamzigi’s girl has been in Jamaica for a while now and she has just realised that it is not so different from Kenya. What kind of thief would holla at you after taking off with your stuff? This Jamaican thief apparently!

The thief allegedly stole the girl’s phone and got away with it scot-free. Later that night, unaware of any incident, Bamzigi sends his girlfriend a text to check up on her. The reply he got is just unbelievable. 

This dude had the audacity to text back Bamzi and troll him. In the middle of the night. Man, and I thought we Kenyans were crazy. This Jamaican dude is the King of the dancehall Trolls.

Remember Toxic. That sexy dancer that performed in almost all hot events -and was pretty good at it- back in the day? Wondering why she hasn’t been spotted on the scene in a while? Find out after the jump.

Today, Toxic is a very happy lady. Oh, sorry, MOTHER. That’s right. MOTHER. She just gave birth to her first son, who she named Aiden, with her German boyfriend, Serj.

This interesting twist of events has finally come full circle! Earlier this year, Ghafla broke the story as to why she has been unable to do what she did best. The promiscuous scandalous dancer/choreographer had relocated to Germany, and made the drastic choice to settle down into family life.

Oh, what joy and pride having a child brings to a family. She expressed her excitement today on twitter.

 

Toxic also opened up exclusively to Ghafla and spoke of her feelings about her negative image. It will be refreshing to see what a transformation this former ‘bad girl’ of the industry has undergone in her journey to motherhood. Especially if she ever decides to return to the Kenyan entertainment scene. (I am sure a lot of her fans would be curious to see what way she would.)

 

We at Ghafla are indeed very happy for Toxic, Serj and their little bundle of joy Aiden. We wish the new mother all the best.

In an update to todays earlier article The Afrikan King in Nairobi shooting music video

 Kanja today flew his entire crew: models, directors, friends, et al to Diani to shoot day two of his anticipated music video to his song “Paradise”. Check out the pics after the jump:

Also with the crew today was acclaimed video director Andrew Macharia (famed for the BET-award-nominated Camp Mulla video Fresh All Day) who was in charge of the principal photography for the coastal shoot.

 

Here is the first look at what’s going on behind the scenes at the “Paradise” shoot.

 

The Afrikan King really doing things right! Ghafla really is on the look out for The Afrikan King. We truly believe he will be the Kenyan break out star of 2012!

Can’t wait to see the video.

We spotted Redsan at the Niko Na Safaricom Live Tour launch at the Carnivore Grounds last evening, which got me thinking about Redsan’s impact on the music industry. Today, we take a look back at the illustrious career of one of the pioneers of ragga music in Kenya.

Redsan is one of the artistes that burst out at the turn of the millenium. He stood out from the rest as he was one of the few that favoured ragga, successfully managing to infuse a local feel into the tracks.

His first album, Seasons of the San came out in 2002. Both singles off his debut were successful. Julie and Wanipa Raha both tore through regional charts, earning Redsan a fanbase of not only ragga fans but music enthusiasts in general. The album was recorded at the biggest recording label at the time, Ogopa DJs.

Two years after ‘San, he released his sophomore album, Red, which featured the now mildly hilarious, Chicken and Apakatwe. Both were huge successes. Less iconic than his previous singles but equally successful, Kenyan and Touch, were released off his third album, Pioneer. Both albums were recorded at Southwest Records. His last album, Versatility, came out in 2009 through his Dutty Sounds label.

After winning the Star Search at age 17, before East Africa Bashment Crew and the numerous tours that had him out of country more than in, we take a look at an artiste who has kept clubbers on their feet and durag makers in business. Here is where it all started. He had already done Bageya with Jose Chameleone, but this was his first solo. Check out Redsan’s Julie below.
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We can only hope the recent sighting means we should be expecting some brand new Redsan hits. #throwbackthursday

I pressed play on this new Chiwawa track and Oh My G*d! I was so relieved to hear Chiwawa’s original flow once again – that extremely fast, Twista-like, speed-rapping flow- He is finally back to his roots.

I loved the ‘Abbachiwa Show’ but let’s face it, Chiwawa sounds way better when rapping at this tempo. This is the flow that we fell in love with from the first time we heard Chiwawa on our radio.

On his new track, ‘Jupiter’, he collaborated with Ill Wit. The record has a nostalgic (reminds me of Rambo) intro that has single sharp staccato hits after long intervals. This prepares you to get into the right space to really feel and enjoy this awesome ode to throwback Chiwawa flow. I’m quite thrilled to present this to you.

Check it out below.

 

Sound off in the comments. Hit or miss?

The Re-Launch and Second Anniversary of the SkyLuxx Lounge was one of the hottest events that happened this month. See or be seen! And of course Gabu aka Buganya of P Unit couldn’t miss out on making an appearance. Sidenote: P-Unit, they have been awfully quite lately (musically). I wonder what’s cutting. These are not the type of guys to go under the radar just like that.

The party was awesome, as is every other party at SkyLuxx Lounge, filled with all the names that you would expect to see at a high profile relaunch of what was is (debatable?) the hottest club on the Electric Avenue circuit. 

There was a snap shot that I came across though, that made me wonder what Gabu was thinking at that moment. This is just hilarious. Talk about being captured off guard. 

P-Unit fans, Ghafla readers, no holds barred: Caption this (see picture below)

Courtesy of Kenya Nights – Beautiful Faces Beautiful Places.

We wanna know ALL your hilarious captions that you can think of to explain this priceless picture.

The Afrikan King is in Nairobi!!!!!!!

Kanja is in town for a few days. He was spotted shooting some scenes for his new music video in Kenya. He flew in international directors,  his crew, his friends and equipment to shoot his soon to be released music video. Kenyan rapper Bamzigi and Rex Hagembe internationally acclaimed video and animations producer, who has also worked with Camp Mulla, were spotted at the video shoot. 

 

Here are some pictures from Day 1 of the video shoot that took place on Sunday.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Can’t wait to see the final product! 

 

I’m the first to advocate against blindly voting for “our own” but I will not only do it myself in this case, but also encourage the Ghafla readers and my fellow countrymen to do so. Xtatic was featured on MTV Iggy’s show last week. Together with four other artistes, she is competing to be named “MTVs Iggy’s Artiste of the Week”.

With just about a day and a half left, Xtatic is currently in second place behind rockabilly trio, Los Dorados. Xtatic currently has 38 percent of the vote to Los Dorados 54 percent (way ahead of the other artistes, but too far a gap from Los Dorados). The other bands in the contest include: beatmaker Sinjin Hawke, South African singer Yolanda Zama, and indie duo Me & My Drummer.

Back to Xtatic and how we can help her win: All you have to do to ensure the ROCKSTAR4000 and Sony Music Group recording artiste wins is go to the MTV Iggy Website here, and vote, vote, vote.

The eventual winner will appear on the site’s homepage and get an exclusive interview with MTV Iggy. Get voting! Voting closes at 0900hrs EST.

Jua Cali has been on the up and up. And of course this means we will watch him go through a lot of changes. We’ve seen a couple, most of them good; say his new Chrysler Crossfire that has made other Kenyan artistes feel his presence. Ndio, ni baba yao.

Some of the changes/phases that he’s been going through however, are just crazy (not in a bad way though). Like his new hair style.

I’m really glad that he’s finally moved on from rocking cornrows, but now here we go again. Coming at us like Snoop Dog -who is now Snoop Lion by the way-.

Actually, now that I’ve been staring at it for the past two minutes, for reasons which I don’t know, it actually looks kinda cool(disclaimer: for an artiste)!

Now, a costume to go with it… hmmmmm.

“Itabidi kujuana. We unajua nina shamba Turkana… huh?” These lyrics came shortly after the discovery of oil in Turkana. The artist does know how to ride on a trending topic, doesn’t he? That was pretty smart.

It would have been ridiculous if the song Omae did about Turkana turned out to be a flop. I mean, a song inspired by a trending topic has to be on point, and sure enough, it was. ‘Turkana pela’ got a lot of love while it was still just an audio track, on Omae’s Reverbnation page. The song has both humor and creativity in the lyrics, and the beats… man. The producer must have really understood Omae’s voice because he knew exactly what to do with the beats to make them blend this well. Oh wait, Omae is the producer.

As a matter of fact, Omae produced this song in his own studio, Basslyn Embakassi. This is the same recording house that brought us Labalaa and Wendi Kimani’s ‘Yuko Juu’ and ‘sura yangu’.

Well, the ‘Turkana pella’ video has been completed and released and it is nothing short of awesome. This is some pretty impressive stuff. Check out the video below and give your honest feedback.

It would seem that love is in the air as far as Holy Dave is concerned!

And love seems to be strong enough to cause the meeting of two worlds. Holy Dave a born-again Christian artist has been spotted by Team Ghafla twice looking cosy in One FM’s Tina Kagia.

They were first spotted out and about looking all cuddly and kissy-faced (immature i know) at Prezzo’s homecoming party at Carnivore while everyone was busy concentrating on the politicians on parade.

The icing on the cake came last night at the Safaricom Live relaunch where we believe we saw a sneaky exchange of saliva that in this writer’s mind cemented the fact that the two do indeed have something going on.

Then earlier this morning, the lovely Ms. Tina changed her facebook relationship status from “single” to “in a relationship”.

Hmmm… While the evidence presented is circumstantial at best, Uncle Chim Tuna knows people and one thing i can guarantee is that the two will eventually come out of their damp dunk closet a-canoodling and a-kissing very soon!

Mark my words!

1 FM presenter Adelle Onyango has indeed come a long way. Now a house hold name, she has been dishing out classy topless photos of herself. Interesting really.

But what’s more interesting is this photo, taken way back when she was still in primary school.

Check out the pic (click on it to maximize). Adelle is the one on the far right.

Things just got real. No one can put a finger on what exactly is the purpose for Prezzo’s journey across Africa. First he was headed for Rozay’s concert. Then he said that he went there to just apologise to Nigerians. Then he travelled to Abuja all weekend on a secret business trip. Come on Prezzo, why all the secrecy? The run around? 

 

The pressure mounted to a peak at the press conference he held in Lagos yesterday. After much questioning, he finally came clean. He stated clearly that he was there to get Goldie back and that his visit to Abuja was just a by-the-way. 

Can you believe that this guy is actually looking to marry Goldie! Yeah, he claims he is that serious. Big boss ain’t playing a game any more.

Yesterday, during his press conference in Lagos, one of the reporters asked,

 

“You said you came to Nigeria for Goldie, will you marry her?”

 

and this is what El Prezidente’s response was,

 

“Yes I will marry her. You will get the invitation soon.”

 

Goldie’s heart must have melted on hearing this statement. What surprised me the most about Prezzo in this Lagos press conference is the fact that he barely talked about himself. No, really! I know it’s extremely hard to believe this but it’s as clear as day. Asked whether he was also there to build his fan base, he said that that is not important for him at the moment as he is concentrating solely on Goldie. Music will be handled later.

Is this the same artiste who has lyrics like, “… kwa mfano me, let’s talk about me. Mimi sio hater, sina PHD. Kwa mfano me, let’s talk about me…”? Wow! I am baffled confused impressed.

 

“How far are you willing to go to get Goldie back?” he was asked, at the press conference.

 

“I traveled from East Africa to West Africa and that is just the beginning. The Big Brother House will bring out the worst of you and the best of you. For everyone who felt offended I am truly sorry, I am not that kind of person. It was just a game of strategy. The BBA House is nothing but a game.” Prezzo said.

 

It will be interesting to see how this plays out. This is definitely going to be on our radar, considering that he claims he has been unable to tell Goldie anything yet.

It is no longer a rumour. It is official. Prezzo is going to do whatever it takes to get his First Lady back. And that includes announcing it on national TV at a press conference in her own country.

The 34-year-old, held a press conference for Nigerian media today, Wednesday, August 22, 2012 at The Place, in Ikeja, Lagos.  He showed up looking dapper in head to toe off-white traditional Nigerian agbada dress for the appearance.

 

 

As the press conference got underway, it was evident that the Nigerian press were keen to know whether it was his duties as one ambassador that took him to their country or personal matters. Prezzo took off for Nigeria on Friday from Nairobi, but later reports discovered he was not headed to Lagos, but to Abuja (the executive/administrative capital of Nigeria) where he remained until last night, Tuesday, August 21, 2012.

 

Prezzo categorically expressed his ‘genuine’ interest in the Nigerian songstress. He asked for forgiveness from the general public for ‘mistreating’ her during their stay in the house. He went on to blame his hot-and-cold demeanour towards Goldie on the feeling of paranoia that haunted him while in the Big Brother house.

 

“I went into the house with the mind to make my country proud and make the money and along the line, I developed feelings for Goldie and I still do up till now as I speak.”

 

So what about his current status with the songstress?

 

“I haven’t spoken to Goldie yet and that’s why I am actually here.”

 

Good luck to Prezzo on his mission to get back his Girl. I mean, if Seydou took back Talia, who’s to say you can’t win your First Lady back?

After coming back for a series of performances in the U.S., singer Kidum got right to work and the results are now out for the world to see. And it is beautiful.

A few weeks ago, Kidum released the behind-the-scenes footage for his latest single, Kimbia (check it out here). The video looks like it was inspired by Safaricom’s epic ad for their Niko Na campaign, with vistas and aerial shots of scenic landscapes.

This is the first clip Kidum has released since his video with Juliana Kanymozi crossed the 1,000,000 views mark on YouTube. So, did this new video come with pressure to try and make it good enough to challenge Haturudi Nyuma‘s milestone?

Well, Haturudi Nyuma probably racked up those views mainly because of the song and less because of the video’s quality. The video for Kimbia is good enough, though. The song was produced by Chris Adwar and the video directed by J. Blessing with production by Link Video Global. Check out the video below.
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One word: Delight.

 

Kanja, the Afrikan King. Watch out Prezzo, these rappers are coming at you, and being truly honest, if they come at you like this, they are taking your spot from right under your nose.

 

I’m feeling myself. 

Kanja Muchoki, better known as the first Kenyan African to win the award in the category for international artistes from Africa, is back and he’s back with a bang!

 

For those of you wondering why he hasn’t been on your playlists at your favourite radio station, its because he’s been carving a niche for himself internationally. With a BA in Theatre Arts from Hamptons University, appearances on 106&Park, a charity under his name, aving shared the same stage as Fabulous, J.Holiday, Raheem DeVaughn, Beenie Man and Letoya Luckett, this man has cemented a sizeable fan base across the world.

 

And now he’s bringing it home.  

 

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This is definitely the song you and your friends are gonna be listening to as you take that trip to your destination for your December debauchery (Nakuru, Naivasha, Mombasa, Malindi, The Mara). This is definitely the song we’ve been waiting for to get us back into the party mood now that the cold season is over. And with a video like this, and a beat like this, I think Kenya is gonna be feeling Kanja for a long time!

 

Sound off in the comments: We wanna know! Are you feeling yourself?

Dance music seems to be taking over. A lot of new groups coming out now are doing the type of music which has been popular in clubs over the years but the genre is only becoming mainstream. Not only in the Western world but in Kenya.

Stars In The Zoo is the newest signing on Creme De La Creme’s Epic Nation label. The group is made up of producer Barnabas Yuka, vocalist Muthoni, songwriter and producer Lenny and producer/DJ Vuvu.

The group which does pop, house and dance music is looking to collaborate with other artistes. They have just released their first single, Breathe, and the second is already on its way, coming out soon. The group have chosen the house genre in an attempt to break the monotony in the Kenyan music industry. Check out Stars In The Zoo debut single, Breathe, below.

Why are Kenyan artists and celebs captives of the crab-in-a-bucket mentality?

 Recently, Kriss Darling spoke about how Kenya has no real reggae artistes and this drew the ire of Man Wazimu and alot of underground artists have lent their voices to condemn such attitudes.
Rather than eat alone and fighting an idea whose time has come, why not work as team? Admittedly, Kriss Darling hasn’t been given a chance to defend himself against the accusations but thing is, he was on Straight Up so there is very little he can say to defend himself except that he is sorry.
Now that brings us to what Uncle Chim Tuna has to say about all this mess: why would anyone say such rooooobbish on National TV rather than build up Kenyans? And especially since the Tarrus Riley concert would have been just the platform to raise Kenyans.
You came up knee-deep in the struggle and fought tooth and nail to get reggae recognized as more than just hooligan music yet you refuse to empathise with the up and coming artists struggling to have their voices heard?
Why did you bring out Madtraxx -who though is a gifted artist and an energetic stage performer- has nothing to do musically to the genre? How do you even begin to rationalise that?
Bring up folk like Man Wazimu and The Sojourners to perform instead. If you look hard enough, you will find them! And that’s your responsibility as an established celebrity: to uplift.
Sadly alot of Kenyan celebrities abdicate this role yet this is the key to getting Kenyan music respected regionally let alone on the continent. Nigerian music grew thus and we are miles ahead of our closest rivals South Africa.
It’s all about growing as a unit, not tearing down. Build up! Keep the positivity flowing otherwise when the tide breaks it’s banks, you will be forgotten rather than celebrated.
And that is my humble opinion.

Octopizzo has been one of the busiest stage performers we have in the country right now. He has been taking those performances seriously, even taking classes with more experienced artistes like Ohanglaman Makadem.

From the Sawa Sawa Festival, the Kenya National Music Festivals to the numerous university tours, he is definitely one of the hardest working artistes around. All this in between managing his various businesses and recording.

The rapper has been taking part in Nokia’s Don’t Break the Beat Freestyle competition. In one of his appearances, he takes time off from the freestyle to perform one of his most popular tracks, Mama, a song he dedicates to his mother. Check out the performance by the Namba Nane ambassador below.
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It is evident that we are not the only ones noticing all the unfortunate stuff that’s been happening to our beautiful country lately, be it political or social. Things are getting pretty messed up. Even the one thing that we held and still hold dear (Athletes), are not quite as we expected them to be this year.

Not to worry. We are strong people and that too, is quite evident. There is nothing that we can’t get passed. NOTHING. Even the Kenyans abroad are watching and are confident that we can turn things around only if we want to, as this Kenyan artiste based in Houston tells us in her patriotic music.

You never forget where you are from, and if you do, then you are a helpless lost soul. Caroline Waweru has not forgotten her roots at all. This explains the passion that is expressed through her lyrics and voice as she sings this patriotic song, Kenya Africa, urging the entire Kenyan community to come together and save our country, make it a better place. This is the same song that our fore father have been singing even before we gained independence. Beautiful indeed it is, but it is about time that we actually do these stuff that we need to do and change the lyrics of this song to, “Kenya is now a better place.” We would now be coming together to celebrate and not try and ‘make things better’. Fairy tale, huh?

Any way, this beautiful song has a video that is even more patriotic than the lyrics. It Kenyan journey has been a great one with huddles of-course just like any other life journey, and we are just getting started.

Check out the beautiful song full of the Kenyan pride below.