What AILS Contemporary Kenyan Music?

Music Review

As a purveyor of local urban contemporary music, I am left dumbstruck by the inability of our Kenyan industry to grow by leaps and bounds vis-à-vis our East African counterparts let alone Nigerian's, Ghanaian's and South Africa's industry. So the question that begs an answer is; where did we go wrong? What could be the problem?

We are weak developers of talent in all fields. For instance, let us look at Kenyan football; how many fans go to watch Kenyan football matches? We all know the answer to that; very few. The primary reason why football fans do not go to the stadiums is that the quality of football displayed is deemed to be of a lower quality compared to the European Leagues. As we all know, this argument is substantive and factual. However, is it logical to compare our 20-year-old clubs to centenarians in Europe? Another issue is the fact that all our football clubs are formed by corporate entities meaning that if the plight of the clubs is interlinked with that of these firms. 

The issues in Kenyan music cannot be exhausted by a single post. As a matter of fact, not many people attend music shows for a myriad of reasons. One of the reasons is that our ‘celebrities’ are not 'celebrity' enough. Every person in the world expects to witness the growth of an artiste. In fact, for new artistes in the US, their Youtube comments are composed of many fans writing; “I was here before 10k views” or whatever number of views, meaning that they are proud of these artistes. On the other hand, Kenyan artistes barely even make 300k views as fans do not see the need to watch their videos branding them as poor quality lacking clarity, creativity, and concepts. These are, however, not baseless accusations, as they hold water in comparison to other African music industries. It is illogical to have 5000 Youtube views and expect to fill up a stadium in Nairobi. Similarly, it is also naïve to have expectations of having your 6000 views video on heavy rotation; not unless you are in bed with the media, a purported legend in the ‘music game’ clocking milestone mileage without anything to show for it or Akothee!

Wizkid's performance at The Royal Albert Hall, London.

I hold the belief that a music career should have a ubiquitous influence across the board over time regardless of how it begins. It is therefore sad to witness a Kenyan artiste that has been in the industry for almost two decades and cannot account for anything that they have done for the industry. It is selfish, egotistical and introverted not to have anything related to uplifting new artists, to say the least! You better come up with a podcast, if you are genuinely clueless about what to do to the industry. Look at Banky W, he signed Skales and Wizkid to EME in 2009 and probably without him, the latter’s ride to success would be a different story. Tell me about any noteworthy music label in the country-None Whatsoever!

Kenyan labels got you releasing a single song every year while you have signed a 5-year contract with a release clause of money you will never make in your life as an artiste. Let me ask you a simple question when was Dufla signed to Grandpa Records, Anyone? I know, it’s 2013 and how many songs d0es the A-List Kenyan artiste have on his YouTube Channel? Oops sorry! On Grandpa Government’s channel, he has four hit songs of which one is a remix of the other, so let’s just say 3. Three songs in 5 years and the nigg** is making ‘big bucks,' funny, right? I do not think so! It is only a few months ago that Ugandan Dancehall Maestro Bebe Cool lambasted Kenyan artistes as lazy a sentiment they did not take lightly vehemently defending themselves. Their defense story sounded much like clutter, a broken record or a perforated dustbin seeking to be filled with water. In fact, just like that perforated bin, their arguments and counter-accusations did not hold water!

I would also wish to absolve Kenyan fans of any blame since the Customer is King! Nope! I cannot exonerate the fans since the only reason they are referred to as customers is for their love of freebies. They want free music albums, free concert tickets, free uber rides, free beer in the event and a free girl to take home! Kenya isn't the kingdom of free; FreeDOM. I do not understand why one would in their free mind devoid of any drugs attend a show that charges $100 for an international celebrity but would not chuck $20 to fill up a gig in an arena where a Kenyan Artiste is playing/performing. Somebody correct me if I am wrong, but I believe that Steph Kapella can be our TyDollaSign, Naiboi can be our Davido, Brian Nadra can be our Wizkid. Kipsang can be our Maleek Berry, I can be your Ycee/Nasty C, Phy can be our Chidinma, Qwety can be our RunTown, ArrowBoy can be our Mr. Eazi, Boutross/Barak Jacuzzi can be our Migos! However, we are so absorbed towards Nameless, Wahu, Juacali, Nonini, Wyre, Rabbit/ Kaka Sungura, Harry Kimani and Avril. Not that they are not remarkable artists, but they should already have diversified their music ventures! It’s funny that Avril is signed to Kaka Empire while she blew up in late 2007 almost the same period King Kaka came up, really speaks much about work ethics of the former.

In regards to management, the industry is looking up as there are professional and ethically responsible people in the game such as Buddha Blaze- who is a veteran in the game and his portfolio precedes his name. New acts in the management scene are also doing good work such as Mitch Malako-a former schoolmate in the university- among others. Generally, the industry is looking up but we should understand that we are all stakeholders in this multi-billion dollar potential industry. If we make this work, we will all have jobs! Let event organizers maintain professionalism in their craft instead of manhandling artistes backstage, poor sound or even failure to pay artists their dues.

Let’s all work in unison so that ten years from now we can 
have a hub of talent where new artists are seamlessly incorporated into the industry without them having to hustle as we are doing! Meanwhile, corporates should also understand that majority of the CSR they do could be done by Entertainers if they supported them better. It would not hurt anyone to see current new artistes driving Bentleys, offsetting medical bills to Kenyans of poor-backgrounds and filling up stadiums in their events. THAT IS THE MUSIC INDUSTRY I WANT!