ART FOR ARTS SAKE!



Today as I was having my favorite chipo mix bhajia at Kripies the Rongai  version of Kenchic  inn or Mac fries, some random guy showed up and asked if he could join me. Since the fast food joint is not mine I told him it’s okay , OMG!! , remind me never to sit at a table with a stranger.
Allow me to describe him for you so that we are on the same page. He had permed his hair such that it was even oilier than the fries we were eating. He had worn red pants and a bright yellow shirt in the name of color blocking, then he had two million silver rings on his hands and a bunch of necklaces or chains I don’t even know what they are called.
Feeling so confident he goes on to tell me how he is a msanii and he has a couple of bongo and R&B songs he has recorded. They say don’t judge a book by its cover so I asked him to sample for me one of his songs , he pulls out his earphones and a phone and I listen…….

Shocked is what I was , if judge Ian of TPF would have heard the first two line he would have fainted and banned men in yellow from singing.That song is a total disaster , I just quickly called the waiter and told them to pack my food for me  and off i  was. The guy is such a dreamer he has the audacity to ask me if I can dance in his video for that particular song ….comments withheld!!!!!
It has been an observation of mine that nowadays everyone is a msanii. Sometimes when am watching kiss TV total request hour I am just shocked by the content produced by some local artists. Anyway I cannot qualify to be signed in to any record except shower record because I know for a fact I sound bad that’s why I stick to writing.


I think the youth need to re-evaluate themselves and stop trying to be like lil-wayne or diamond platinumz.Enough of the fake Jamaican and Nigerian accents and start representing the 254 for what it really is. A good friend of mine Godfrey Kimotho won an award in the last year Kalasha awards for best movie in the language category. The movie was in Kikuyu , I don’t understand the language but I am happy that someone went out of the norm looked at the surrounding and did an amazing production.
Although he did not make as much a Lupita did when she won an Oscar, he got a permanent job in some local media house and is earning enough money to replace the car he sold to shoot his movie.
Art can be expressed in many ways but the inspiration comes from one place, within. Producers should be real enough to tell someone hey! this is not good rather than producing low quality songs in the name of art for the sake of art. One of Nigeria’s leading sources of revenue is their film industry, Nollywood , instead of imitating their accents we can imitate their strategies and have proper wasanii’s.

Signing out , yours realest 

Elsie Onyango

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