Month: September 2012

Octopizzo, Jua Cali, DJ Creme, they have all done. They have all attempted to make money from their names, music and fame by printing them out on T-Shirts and other merchandise.

Milking every cent out of their sweat, that’s the real hustle right there. We get to look good in these guys’ clothing lines and it’s a good thing that their productions actually have swag.

Rabbit aka Kaka Sungura is the latest artiste to join this business that’s making every other artist create labels and titles for their own. Rabbit’s clothing is now known as ‘Kaka Klothing’ and the T-shirts are already available in the streets of Nairobi for only Sh. 700.

Guess what? You can even get free deliver in Nairobi CBD through this line 0722946330.

Get your Kaka Klothing right now. Check this out.

Matasia Star’s Jackiwa is back again and this time, it crazier than the last. She first blew up in the music industry with her song, ‘Life History’ which went viral some few days after release on YouTube.

It seems this lady knows her way around viral content as she has clearly shown with all her tracks and videos. I was walking to the office the other day and was surprised to hear Jackiwa’s ‘Life History’ playing so loudly from a cab. I thought her music was only viral on YouTube, but it turns out that it is actually very popular even in the streets.

Though she leaves in Britain, Jackiwa was in the country some few days back and we even managed to get an interview with her. Get the interview here.

This was after she released her latest track, ‘Wacha stress’ which is currently also going viral. The music and video both lie under the same category, PROBOX. ‘Wacha Stress’ contains the very interesting dances and lyrics that are always abundant in Jackiwa’s songs. The song is currently the most viewed video on YouTube with 12, 111 hits and counting.

Whatever the reasons of her music going viral are, fact is, she has her game on lock. I have to say though, the lyrics to this track are even much more hilarious than her previous track.

Check it out below.

Looks like Uneek is boxing himself in as a weed rapper. If you have listened to Camp Mulla’s S.O.S, he’s the guy with the memorable, “f*****g like I’m trying to have babies” line.

His debut in the local hip hop scene was his appearance on the 254low Cypher with ‘Mulla and Octopizzo among others. He was born in the U.S. but he has decided to pursue a music career in his native country, Kenya.

Stay tuned for more from the rapper. He is already working on his mixtape, Coming To The Muthaland, which is set out to come out real soon. From the title, it sounds like it’s going to be about the rapper’s new experience in the country, but going on what I’ve heard from him so far, I won’t be shocked if it’s all about grass.

Have a listen to Uneek’s Smokin’ Like A Rasta below.

Jemedari is taking the new suit thing seriously. He has appeared in Suits & Mics, poetry and hip hop showcase at Club Soundd. We also saw him in a suit at the Martha Karua secretariat launch where he was reading poetry.

Looks like the look has rubbed off on him. In his new video for his latest track, Uliza Uambiwe, he wears one through the entire length of the clip. It is a hard-hitting bragaddocio track where Jemedari talks up his rap skills.

This might just be Jemedari’s best track. He goes hard, and his rhymes are solid. “Uliza uambiwe nani king, nani anafanyanga big thing, nani anaipeleka more higher?/Uliza uambiwe nani noma, nani better, wala si the former, nakuja na more fire,” goes the chorus.

Uliza Uambiwe was produced by Reign Muziq while the video was done by Mavecta Films, who has worked with Jemedari before on his video for the Drake sampled, I’m On One. Check out Uliza Uambiwe below.
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Yesterday, we learnt that Nonini cleared Conjestina Achieng’s rent arrears. But he wanted to do more. He had said he is working on a paybill account for a fund to be put up to aid the boxer.

At the end of the day, we still couldn’t get the paybill number. The rapper couldn’t secure the number yesterday, and he explained why:

“I have been chasing a paybill number from Safaricom the whole day, but I need Conje’s father to be a signatory to the account to which the funds will be channeled for accountability purposes! He [The father] is mashinani so we have to wait for him to check in kesho. As soon as this is out, the country will have it…PAMOJACONJE2012“

So, one Huddah Monroe decided to voice her opinion on Ogopa Deejays’ Marya’s talent a few days ago. The singer who burst into the scene when she featured in Colonel Mustapha’s Hey Baby and hit her peak when she did Chokoza with Avril.

Below are select tweets from the tweef, which has gone on over the past two days.

“@HUDDAHMONROE @maryaogopadjs truth is I didn’t abuse u. I just wondered aloud why you’d sit down and write a song like ‘Sishiki Simu.’ My thoughts.”

“@HUDDAHMONROE I didn’t actually beef with Marya, I say it again. I HATE, LOATHE, DESPISE that song #sishikisimu”

“@HUDDAHMONROE When I dissed Maryas song, I was all alone. Why is the whole of Ogopa Deejays on my d**k?”

“@HUDDAHMONROE I’m tired of shooting the s**t, my opinion still remains. Marya has no musical talent. #HakunaKituUtafanya”

“@HUDDAHMONROE If I dissed Wahu, STL, Amani and many others with talent, I’d be committing twitter suicide but a fat brown skin woman with no talent. C’MON!”

And some people agreed with Monroe:

“@Niakabelle I’m so tired of Kenyan artists bull***t! I support them so much and they don’t give out quality music. #nikona @huddahmonroe”

“@sickolia_ But Huddah said the Truth, Marya has no Talent. Kwani she can’t stand Criticism? “

Marya reacted.

“@maryaogopadjs @HUDDAHMONROE no beef. Yo at liberty to think aloud. Try to be an artist for a day.. You’ll learn It takes more than ink and paper to be ‘Marya'”

“@maryaogopadjs @BamzigiZigi some hudda chic woke up one morning n decided that I am not fit to be a musician. Which I totally disagree about.. Hope u good!”

“@maryaogopadjs @MinaaUnited true…I’ll let it go…Just needed to let it off my chest first.. I work too hard to have someone belittle my efforts.”

Some came in support of Marya:

“@shiladiva At least I know what @maryaogopadjs does and I respect that!!!….what does @huddahmonroe do? And why doesn’t she respect Marya’s art?”

“@allenochi @maryaogopadjs vs @HUDDAHMONROE Marya won my heart way before she won the tweef.”

“@WorldStarBosset @maryaogopadjs Hun, you have fans all the way in Australia so don’t let this chik who sucks d**k to get a meal bring you down”

Of course the label that nurtured Marya’s talent had to chime in:

“@ogopadeejays Keep working had developing your talent no matter what your up against….down for local”

And the label-mates:

“@RealJaguarKenya @HUDDAHMONROE You seem to know a lot about who’s got talent… This industry needs a break from people like you…”

The tweef regulator, Tweef 254 could not wait till the end of the tweef to reognize the “winner”:

“@Tweef254 Its Now Official, @maryaogopadjs has more support than @HUDDAHMONROE . Tweef254 is pleased to award a Certweeficate pic.twitter.com/9ynRWviG”

One interesting tweet in the middle of the tweef was a threat from Huddah:

“‏@HUDDAHMONROE If you were bright enough, you’d let go of this beef, I will unleash stuff you have never wanted anyone know about you… *Shiro Baby*”

And then later unleashed this:

“@HUDDAHMONROE @maryaogopadjs wewe go back to strippin & calling yourself Shiro baby, ukililia watu Buru with nowhere to sleep na kukula ugali with no stew.”

Habida was one of the many Kenyans who got a Channel O Music Video Awards nomination this year. Together with Cannibal who she features in her song, My Reason, she was one of the five finalists in the Most Gifted R&B Video category (learn how you can vote for her here). Below is an interview she did with Ghafla! after she found out about her nomination.

Habida: I was so grateful, and to be honest, it happened on a video that for the first time that I had put together myself. I organized everything. Came up with the concept, ran around organizing everything so for this video to be nominated is really amazing and close to my heart for me.

Ghafla!: How did you find learn about the nomination?
H: I learnt about it on Twitter.
G!: How did you react?
H: In shock! I really was not sure what was going on as I saw it in a tweet. I confirmed it with someone at Channel O then it sunk in and it put a big smile on my face.
G!: What do you think your chances are of winning?
H: Well, I am going to say that I am going to win. And even if I don’t, I am still a winner for being nominated. I believe God is in charge of my success and I am praying and claiming that it is my time.
G!: Have you checked out your competition? (Hero – Lloyd Cele, Leva Boy – Lizha James featuring Perola, Oyi – Flavour featuring Tiwa Savage, Be There – 2Face)
H: Yes, I have and they all have amazing videos, but all I can say is let the best man win.
G!: Will you be attending the ceremony?
H: Yes, I will.

Below are the people who worked on My Reason.

Song credits
Producer – Rkay
Writer – Habida/Cannibal
Performers – Habida and Cannibal

Video Credits
Producer – Habida
Director – Emmanuel Jambo
Set Dressers – Lisa Kibutu and Habida
Art Director – Emmanuel Jambo
Editor – Aleks Kamau

Oh my God! The photos that we come across on social media these days concerning our celebrities, just hilarious.

This photo of Jua Cali and Nonini was taken way before Calif Records was a house hold name. Way before they were actually famous and obviously, much more way before they adapted to fashion.

Take a look at where these guys came from (click on the photo to maximize).

RIP BestNgoma?

CORRECTION: Bernard Kioko has contacted us and confirmed that BestNgoma’s content has simply been shifted to the bernsoft.com website. The domain for BestNgoma.com has expired and they will not be using it any more.

Bestngoma.com, the website created by Bernsoft for the purpose of selling Kenyan music, is no more. When you go to BestNgoma.com now, all you get is a placeholder page with some generic ads. That is what happens for after a website has expired. The demise of BestNgoma comes despite a huge effort by its rich parent company Bernsoft in collaboration with Safaricom to sell Kenyan music for the low, low price of 5 bob.

Safaricom helped out shortly after website launched by sending a lot of SMS advertisements to their subscribers with the link to Bestngoma.com. They also made it such that you could see an ad for Bestngoma.com whenever you topped up your credit. BestNgoma was also one of the first links on Safaricom’s highly trafficked “Safaricom Live” portal. Despite all this, they died. I had once talked with the owner of the website, Bernard Kioko, during an event. He confessed to me that the 50% cut that Safaricom would take for providing the payment service was something that made BestNgoma hard to run as a business.

It seems that the business of selling Kenyan music is an extremely tough one that nobody seems to have cracked in the online market. I tend to agree with DJ Pinye, who was once quoted as saying that it is very hard to sell music to the young generation, who are aware of all sorts of ways to get the downloads for free via internet or file exchanging. PewaHewa.com is another online music retailer that seems to be struggling. Looking at their homepage, the songs have not been updated in ages.

This guy knows money, and not just the definition of it. If it were possible for him to create his own currency, own money, he would be all over that right now. Octopizzo doesn’t waste any time when it comes to pointing out opportunities of making money, and huge mulla at that.

While other artistes are waiting for revenues from their music and shows, Octopizzo is getting all that and more. From his music, concerts and side hustles. Now, that’s a business man right there. Suits are indeed overrated.

From his latest song, ‘Ivo ivo ivo’ from which he created an awesome video, he has developed a small T-Shirt clothing line with the same title. Way to completely take advantage of your song’s popularity Octo. Really smart guy, this one. Check out the Ts below.

Nonini is one celebrity who is truly trying to make a difference in people’s lives. Not only through music, as he did for albinism, but through his privileges, like trying to help artistes realize their dreams.

He highlighted the issue about boxer Conjestina’s health, and now wants to go even further. The rapper is currently working on ways to better the situation by setting up help channels, and even had Conjestina’s sister and a mental health expert in studio this morning.

Not only that, but Nonini also cleared Conjestina’s four-month rent arrears and even paid for an extra month. That’s not enough for the rapper and radio presenter, though. He still wants to do more, “But Conje still needs your help sabu she needs medical treatment and also support for months to come. I wanna see her back in the ring doing her thing? PamojaConje2012 Be your brothers keeper!”

Nonini will avail the paybill number for the fund he is setting up by the end of the day. You can also text Nonini on the 1FM SMS line, 4971 and he will get back to you with the paybill number once it’s up.

UPDATE: Read Churchill Commits To Pay Conje’s Rent For A Whole Year

Mbuvi’s last release, Wewe Mkuu, was a 180 from his last hit, Kwata Kawaya. From the video from his latest teaser for Nue Nendete, he goes back to the uppity style of Kwata Kawaya that amde him so popular.

He started singing in the late ’90s as a praise and worship leader in church. He went on to rework the famous Luo gospel song, Taya. He made his first mark in the industry in 2001 when he did Ukilya Moko jointly with Shammah. More than a decade later, he is still going strong in the gospel music industry.

The video is directed by Dr. Eddie. In the song, Mbuvi features ragga artiste, Kevo Yout. The setup on the video was done by Riqrig. The production was done by Dreamland Films. Check out the Nue Nendete trailer below.
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Camp Mulla, Collo, Sauti Sol, Madtraxx, Wyre, Habida and Cannibal have made Kenya proud by getting nominations at the Channel O Music Video Award nominations. Well, the producers and directors who directors who made their video haves. We can make sure they win, or at least get close by voting for them. Here are the codes:

Most Gifted Female Video
Make You Dance (Keko featuring Madtraxx) 2E

Most Gifted Newcomer Video
Party Don’t Stop (Camp Mulla featuring Collo) 3D

Most Gifted Duo/Group/Featuring Video
Fresh All Day (Camp Mulla) 4E

Most Gifted Ragga Dancehall Video
Dancehall Party (Wyre) 6E

Most Gifted R&B Video
My Reason (Habida featuring Cannibal) 9E

This category probably doesn’t matter much since Kenyans feature in three of the five slots, but anyway…
Most Gifted African East Video
Make You Dance (Keko featuring Madtraxx) 13A
Party Don’t Stop (Camp Mulla featuring Collo) 13B
I Don’t Want To Be Alone (AY featuring Sauti Sol) 13C

Most Gifted Video of the Year
Fresh All Day (Camp Mulla) 14I

Send the corresponding codes to +27 83 920 8406. Standard SMS rates apply inside South Africa. Outside South Africa, international SMS rates apply.

If you want to vote online, you can do it here.

Check out other African artistes Kenyan ones are going up against here.

I have no idea what 1FM mid morning presenter, Tina Kaggia, was thinking or was trying to do at this moment, but one thing is for sure. Next time she will be walking into the Ghafla offices, the troll hammer shall be struck.

Click on the photo to maximize.

Bamboo was on Mambo Mseto with Mzazi Willy M. Tuva, where he was talking about his return to the country after years in the U.S. He spoke on a wide range of subjects concerning the industry including his beef with Klepto.

Bamboo clarified that the beef was not really his, but Chiwawa’s. It didn’t stop him from talking about the three-member group though.

“Hii style ya hip hop, kuna watu tumewafundisha ku-rap. Mi nikaa baba yao, nafaa kuwapatia jina yangu ya mwisho. Walikuwa wanafaa kuitwa Nyash-boo (This hip hop style, we taught them how to do it. I’m like their father, they need to use my name as a surname, like Nyash-boo).”

He added, “Kwa ma-interview walikuwa wanasema eti wali-learn from Jay-Z. Kwani akina Jay-Z walikuwa wana-rap Kiswahili? Before sisi, najua hata hawakuwa wanajua unaeza-rhyme swa. (In interviews, they said they learnt from Jay-Z. Did Jay-Z rap in Swahili? Before us, they didn’t know they could rap in Swahili).”

The rapper who has released a single with Lavosti and Isis since he came back then said, “Mi sifichangi kitu, mi hubonga ukweli (I don’t hide anything, I speak the truth.”

Away from beef, Bamboo had nice things to say about rappers he came back to find. “Octopizzo ana-hustle (Octopizzo is hustling). I know he had beef with Abbas, I don’t know what that’s about. Abbas is still my boy, K-South for life. I can’t hate a young guy coming up. He reminds me of me backin the day.” He also had nice words for Kaka Sungura, “Rabbit ako poa (Rabbit is good). He is very creative. Si ati anajaribu ku-copy msee (He is not trying to copy anyone).”

Read about Bamboo reiterating his dominance in the Kenyan rap game and his thoughts on Genge here.

On the road back to history lane, these two artistes are. And here I was, thinking that I was the only one reminiscing the good old days when we used to fool around with girls, playing parenting and what not.

Kapela and Vanika were thinking the same thing when they came up with this track, ‘cha mama cha baba’. The lyrics to the chorus are some what, ‘young’ and adventurous. Kapela brings in the hip hop bit with his verses and ‘gangster’ flow. Kind of builds an irony, but enjoyable though.

Have a listen at Kapela’s latest track featuring Vanika, ‘cha mama cha baba’ below. You might as well just call up ‘the one that escaped’ and see how it goes, if you know what I mean.

Bamboo was on Mambo Mseto with Mzazi Willy M. Tuva, where he was talking about his return to the country after years in the U.S. He spoke on a wide range of subjects concerning the industry including his dominance in the game.

According to the Bamboo, despite being abroad for years, no one has claimed his crown as the king of rap. “Hakuna mtu ametoa album kaa mbili. At least Nonini ametoa moja lakini alikuwa ashatokea nikiwa, so si ati ni kama amechukua crown yangu. Hakuna msee mpya ametokea aka-dominate (No one has released at least two albums. Nonini released one album but he was already around when I was there, so it’s not like he took my crown. No new rapper has come out and dominated.”

Bamboo also shared his thoughts on the Genge music style, “Genge is very close to kapuka. If you listen very closely, it still sounds like *singing* ‘kapuka this, kapuka that.’ At least Nonini tried being different. Si ati nasema ni mbaya, inaonekana wamekosa creativity fulani (I’m not saying it’s bad, but it lacks creativity).”

The interview was conducted in a light-hearted manner and it didn’t seem like Bamboo was trying to stir any beef, but still, it’s going to be hard for the artistes he mentioned to take it lying down.

Kenrazy is proving to be one of the most consistent artistes in the music industry right now. Every few weeks, he has a new track out. He has now featured in a song with Gin Ideal.

Looks like the rapper is keeping the YouTube servers busy again with the release of Wapewe. Gin Ideal’s East African style RnB sandwiches KenRazy’s Ghipuka rap at the beginning and the end of the track.

KenRazy, Kenya’s best lyricist, recently released a mixtape. Gin Ideal has done Wote Wote and featured in V6’s I Want You Now. Check out KenRazy’s and Gin Ideal’s Wapewe below.
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Calif Records are weathering the storm of the recent scandal and controversy that hit the stable over the last two months after some of their top artistes left the record label.

Calif Records has now announced the videos they are slated to release in the coming month. They will release Alpha Msanii and Sanaipei Tande’s new unnamed single.

Mejja’s video for the track which was touted as his first English song, Over My Ex, will also get a release in September. The song was released a couple of months ago and has been doing well on radio.

One of Jua Cali’s latest tracks, Kuna Sheng will also get a video out of Calif this September. The single was his first release from his upcoming album, Genge Yajayo. The video for his second single, which he did with Juliani, was released last month.