Kenyan Showbiz: A Steakless Bone

In my time, I have said my fair share of negative things about the Kenyan Entertainment Industry. I am neither proud nor sorry, a dilemma that has led me to add yet another. "I guess I am just a bitter old man" is what I'll probably be saying in my 70's if all this shit doesn't work out."Maybe if I was a little bit positive at least by lying a bit, maybe I'd be in a better position while nursing my arthritis"

But before then, I am going to tell you one thing for damn sure, we do not have an industry here.

Sauti Sol

Sauti Sol

I blame the cold war in the 60's where the world was polarized to either communism or capitalism. Kenyan capitalists led by Mzee Jomo won against Communists like Oginga Odinga setting the country to a path of treachery , deceit , corruption and industrial conmanship that have plagued the Kenya in all sectors as everyone wants to be the best.The entertainment Industry is no exception , the lies are deeply rooted and allegedly the reigns of power are not in the artists hands. Utensils of the press whisper that there exists a Cabal of powerful, bald and very well connected individuals that have held creatives by the balls for years. The narrative of a single path to creative success has been we'll propagated to limit artists vision .Most of our artists don't dream past Namanga, maybe a case of small town dreams with small town success.This has resulted to a boring industry where only a few bootlickers do the least , get awarded success for a few years, get phased out and replaced by new Industry babies.For us to be world beaters, we need to revisit our strategies and definitely copy from our betters ,things that make them so.

This rigid way of success has rendered our industry bland, for lack of a worse word. Save for Bien, there is no wow factor , oomph, pizazz, no IT factor , nothing special happening anywhere except for celebrities breaking up. For the second article running, I am going to allude to Kai Havertz, our artists (like Havertz) are doing the most basic shit in the most basic way. It's like watching air, unless someone farts , it's just the same shit (no pun intended). 

Kai Harvetz

Kai Harvetz

Do not get me wrong, our artists in their artistry are doing splendidly, great music is coming out every other day, Albums , Eps are being released daily. Quality music. I can boldly say that we are at the peak of music production right now, the volume and style coming from the Kenyan Industry is revolutionary. From RnB, HipHop, Arbantone , folk genres and genres such as oontz, the Kenyan Artists are releasing projects daily.

The less convincing side of our industry is the Marketing part, there is not enough of it. There have been more than 30 new major Albums by Kenyan artists in the last 365 but 90% of the audience is oblivious of these gems. There are not enough media tours, listen-ins and promo shows for these projects. How rare is it that a Kenyan artist does a tour, bar shin City by his excellency Nyamari Ongegu, umeskia nani mwingine? You may differ with me but,I'll make my case and you be the judge of that.

In my proposal for marketing (stunts) I don't mean the clout chasing kind in the gospel industry. Willy Paul claiming to have slept with Bahati's wife to prolong a 10 yr old vegan beef is one of the most nonsensical things I have ever seen.

Willy Paul

Willy Paul

Bahati dancing in his wife’s clothes is a mental illness.Kabi wa Jesus leaking info that he impregnated his cousin is nothing but diabolical. Ringtone Apoko pretending he can't speak English just for a few IG likes and hahas from his fans who genuinely don't know English is outright nursery school gimmicks. These kinds of nonsensical jokes can not propagate our creative scene to new levels, if anything. Unless I've missed it, they are taking us back to Misri.

Take me back to that Era where Khaligraph and Octopizzo had "beef" that brought sauce to the Kenyan Music Industry. Competitiveness via release of back to back tracks while watering a beef that most probably did not exist.Yes for sure they all succeeded and there is no longer need for it, but it worked once.

Octopizzo | Khaligraph

Octopizzo | Khaligraph

When you talk about Naija Music you definitely think about "WizKid vs Davido" or "BurnaBoy vs Wizkid and Davido combined". They are conversations that will forever drive the Nigerian music industry. While most likely there exists no beef between the two or among the three, they aim not to refute the claims because it gets the audience exactly where they want them, talking about them 24/7.

Davido | Wizkid

Davido | Wizkid

Kwa Jirani hapa tu Tanzania ,there has been cultivated beef between Diamond and everyone .It got to a point that he was so far ahead of his peers that he manufactured his clone artists, made him a superstar and then his biggest enemy. The daily rants and disses between Diamond and Harmonize have licensed the Bongo music industry for the last 4 years .

Harmonize & Diamond Platnumz

Harmonize & Diamond Platnumz

There has been a consistent release of music aimed at pitting one fanbase against the other while involuntarily supporting both of these artists.Popularly known as Kondeboy, Harmonize made enough money after the fallout to even establish his own label. In Mzansi SatAfrika, Cassper Nyovest has been at loggerheads with rappers like Nasty C and AKA (RiP) , a conversation that kept the SA Hip Hop scene very volatile for a while. As you can see , everyone in Africa has something manufactured to keep the lights on except we. 

Nasty C

Nasty C

I asked Twitter about existing Beefs in Kenya right now, many mentioned Buruklyn Boyz vs GTA, ADF vs TNT...and that's it. In 2018 Boutrouss and the Kile boys (Timmy blanco and Twenty8) had a tiff. I witnessed it spread SHRAP in Nairobi. 18/19 SHRAP was crazy, I remember SHRAPNITE 1 & 2 pulled mad crowds. My issue is ,three of these aforementioned groups are not fully commercial, so the beef will only raise stocks in BuruBuru and Nairobi West when the fans get drunk enough.The mainstream artists don't serve us anything. The most vocal beef in Kenya is Casypool vs KRG (a dude I loathe with every fiber in my being vs an artist I do not rate at all, but I respect his hustle) and it happens on Tiktok.

When we have Youtube Journalists interviewing a deluded fellow giving opinions about bogus topics everyday, it means we lack the range to keep the Kenyan showbiz awake when we sleep, we can't compete with the Mzansi and Tinubu boys. It pains to see the kind of clout manufactured by some of these content creators. Shooting a delivery room vlog is some of the most diabolical shit I have ever seen, surely there must be a problem.But what do you think is the reason we're feasting off

Imagine coming home from a long day of work and you can't wait to go to your favorite butcher to get some meat and when you get there, there's literally every other meat except the type you want.A similar situation exists in our Kenyan Entertainment scene, there is no beef. I imagine there are some but it's stale so you really can't consume it, so it is useless to you and to the butcher , who can't sell it. This is another problem with us, even with the existing "beefs' ' there has been no commercialization of it. Artists are mainly beefing on twitter and Instagram , maybe in lyrics but not putting themselves in positions where the beef can make them money. I am no "west coast east coast" specialist but I know the rifts between Tupac and Biggie Smalls in the 90's made them major bank.

This might raise the question, has the recent technological developments rendered beef useless? In the past beef sold you records , sold out shows, people got shot , you know? right now all songs are on the Internet with at least 80% less work to distribute your work in comparison with then. Maybe the world moved on , but I don't think I have , when I compare our position on the African Entertainment map I'd say it's not looking good captain. The entertainment space is anchored on creating non existing material. What if we created non existing tiffs and competition that will keep us competitive and always on International news?

We don't even have record label beefs, we don't even have record labels that are vocal.Is there a Kenyan entertainer that is always on the news bar Embarambamba? Who is very very embarambarassing btw with his stunts , but game is game.

Embarambamba

Embarambamba

What is showbiz without fair competition, as I stated earlier on, we are a capitalist nation, everyone is always inclined to do what's best for them in every situation so every artist has the right to do whatever the heck they want to do. Nyashinki and Khaligraph each proclaimed themselves King and just do their own things now.Mr Ohanga is in a plane going somewhere as we speak , King Kaka runs his Empire kwa back left he's relaxed. Nobody gives a hoot about showbiz anymore. The New kids on the block are lucky because you're one person away from meeting a fellow artist.

Dear Artists: We need Artists face offs musically, there is too much peace. Where did the anger against the government go? Release it in the studio.

Saint Bervon

Bervon Micheni is a creative artist,but here, I write. Welcome to my musings as I try to potray the way I see the world in my eyes in words. I major my Interests in Entertainment, in Art, the heartbeat of our very own existence.

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