breaky na shukrani

blogging can be a very tempting thing. so i learnt after getting into the blogosphere in march this year. it's been a great 9 or so months.

who remembers breaktime in primo and seko? those were anticipated moments, many were times i daydreamed about how i'll devour that "maembe ya pilipili" during breaky instead of listening to some equation formula sh@#!

this is like that time, i wanna delve into other things, holiday, bikini-watching (oops!), checking out the oceanic scenery (some say sinnery) and chill out till whenever. a well deserved break if i must say so myself.

i just left my current job and it feels stupendous! the freedom is refreshing. i feel rejuved even before i start my holiday! talk about change of scenery.... so my advice to all y'all, when that work ain't doing it for you no more, step! visualize the doors opening up for you and not concentrate on the ones closing. there's a blessing in disguise in every twist. believe it!

shout out to all the peeps who've made my blogging this year a worthwhile xp. am going to violate your rights to get links but am doing this while sipping pinacolada and the breeze can't let me search each n every link so bear with m. for those i'd forget, it's the sinnery but you know i've still got mad lav for you!

nu mocha, ndesanjo, akiey, miriam, aco, muki, serina, little ash, mwangi, mloyi, Czar100, whoelse?, ma anon kibao!, tati, kasakwa, a., kipusa, nas, sasha, kenyanchick, shiro, makanga, vagabond, dobvious, mshairi, potash, genkigirl, bankelele, msanii_xl, kenyanpundit, alexcia, magaidi, maitha, scarla, poet mutiso, prousette, mental, ostalgia, egm, uaridi, ak, 69m, jadekitten, jp, supreme g.r.e.a.m, half and half, princess, bomseh, unyc, pesa tu, vee, afrom, proud nyeuthi, tezza and last but certainly not least bigwig.

super thenx for making Great things happen this year, my boy Jhabali always standing by my side, fady, ashi, timo, maj, British Council especially Eva and Buddha Blaze, saluoch, my bro HINT for the BC hookup and pentamony.

thanks for all your comments and flares that still burn me towards my supernova journey.

and to gbaby, regardless of the paths we take, i pray to God, yours glorious & easy to make, coz i try to shake off the thots but its nothing i can ever fake.

peace out, cheers and great hols!

Kwa Shina na Shida

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Sijui katika kiswahili tunamwitaje mama wa mama wa mama, au kwa vingine nyanya wa mama yangu. labda itakuwa bii mkubwa - lakini sioni. labda nyanya mkubwa? nitawachia wenzangu waliokita katika lugha kunifahamisha.

juzi basi, nyanya wa mama yangu alipatwa na jeraha kutokana na kuanguka toka juu kitandani mpaka sakafuni. akapelekwa hospitalini ili kuchunguzwa na kupata tiba. sote tukawa tunampitia kumjulia hali na ilipokuwa desturi yake, tukacheka na kutaniana kwenye wodi utadhani hakuwa mgonjwa!

nilipotoka huko, nilifikiria sana. fikira zenyewe ziligonga kuwa yeye ndiye shina la familia yetu na alivyotoka mbali, hatuna budi kumshukuru Mola kumfikisha mpaka alipo. Isitoshe, wengu wetu hatukupata fursa ya kuwaona wazee wa wazazi wetu, hivi mimi najihesabu kubarikiwa sana kumwona nyanya wa mama! isitoshe tena, tukaweza kukaa chini na kuwa na mazungumzo ya maana, akinipa ujasiri na ufahamu wa mambo.

kisha nikawaza sisi tulivyo na watoto wetu wanavyolelewa. Kama huku si shida, basi sijui nilitamkie neno gani. Watoto waliolelewa na runinga na "mobiles". Wasiojua tofauti katika umri na heshima. Naweza kuendelea lakini sote katika jamii tunajionea.

Nikafikia kuwaza, yaani sisi katika shida na balaa zote hizi tutaweza kukaribia au hata kufikia vyegezo waliofika wazazi wetu. Au babu zetu?

Is Wapi Going Anywhere? A Response

As I read Mbaratho’s version of what WAPI is, what the neo-poets and artists that flock it are or have become, the thin yet very loud trail of skepticism in this entire article just couldn’t escape me. Comparisons with greats Okot p’Bitek and Taban lo Liyong are splattered everywhere. My frail understanding begs the question why?

I ask why because it shakes the very cornerstone of my interpretation of what WAPI is. And most importantly where it’s going. Where its going in terms of the influence it will have on these “rebel-soldiers-look-alike-sweaty-gum-chewing-rough-rap-loving with dreadlocks Mau Mau wannabe’s”.

Forgive me for (maybe) extrapolating the description of how these artists are viewed by Mbaratho, but the article has litters of extrapolated overtures of what they are, or aren’t and am left wondering, who is s(he) to judge? Can’t they be hip-hoping, Sean John clad sagging their extra baggy jeans and still contribute to a cultural reawakening? Can’t they because of their outer look and disposition have a say on the societal issues that affect them? Must they be “mainstream”, cultivated in the words of Soyinka, Okot or Shakespeare, refined with the strokes of Rembrandt, Pablo or Maasai paintings to be culturally relevant?

What WAPI is in my view is simple. It’s a forum for underground artists to express themselves. Artists of any persuasion. Artists who are NOT mainstream. And what is mainstream anyway – actually obliterate that word. Artists who are not mainstream or are mainstream, the whole bunch, mixed together into a cauldron of creative space. So in the midst of this “…splatter (of) unintelligible paint on the wall of a parking lot”, they might discover the next graf king. In this process of doing “…everything and anything with everything and anything to achieve nothing”, they might just discover themselves and maybe by a stroke of luck, achieve something!

Where is WAPI going? I’d rather look at it this way. What would the artists involved in WAPI get out of it? In my opinion an awful lot. They come from different walks of life, quite contrary to the generalization that Mbaratho paints in his/her article. They come with one vision in mind, to share their talent, their passion. To get inspired by interacting with like-minded and not-so-like-minded individuals. They come to watch others up their game and get motivated to reach that height too. They come to find a creative outlet that dissolves the troubles that confound them as youth, if only once a monthly Saturday. They come to be given that chance to pursue their dreams, whatever they may be. And ultimately they come to have an opportunity to discuss, express and voice their opinions on anything and everything they feel and experience.

So rewind, where is WAPI going? Only the artists who have found a voice through WAPI will answer that question. In a few days, weeks, years when those activities they were hauling right in the middle of the British Council parking lot come full circle and they touch their triple beam dreams, they will tell you where it all began.

Visual Poetic Weekend IV

slumvillage

I thought i'd compare slum life and basketball. Vile naishi maisha yangu kwa hizi slums, utadhani life ili slam dunk on my face. Dreaming of making out of these playoffs za mangeta na kangeta na kunyeta.....

This was one of my exhibitions at the 6th WAPI this weekend, the theme being "Slum Village". We were out there to take a critical look at the slum life (and one of my pieces was too radical to get any air play... and i shall refrain from displaying it here - case in point, the recent Mathare violence). Anywaaaaaaaaaaay, we were also there to celebrate the slums and people who against all odds came up from there! Diego Maradona, Mandela, Hip Hop Founding Fathers.

Uhuru killed it this time.... i think he's more creative with a furahi-day hangie! The graf officiel screaming "Slum Villa!"

Bankslave as usual made the compe seem faded. His wax here "Kibera" and crowning himself (which he deserves). Check out the dark terror gripping the slums.

And yes, this time, BC was a full hauz! It rained, then it shone. Yet, they came.

Aaaaaah, camera slipped. Oops!

My dude Pointblank had me envious. His piece "Revolution" just says it all and he says when he/she comes from the ghetto, that future leader, he/she has my vote. No Question. Am with that!

More graf wax. Feel the ease flow jo!

And more. Phiks fixed himself on the concrete! Hatucheki na wadiiiiiiii!

The other dude acheki na watu is Ill Art Squad, jamaa uses the wall like a canvas!

Our very mobile Choo. Ujipate ndani na imetoka!

Yes, going to whatever lengths to do it.

Simba wa Yuda fully represented.

Watu Kibao kila mtu na pose yake!

I'll let you decipher what that is. 1st to get it right gets a graf of her/his name done right here. Free.

The temperature rose, and rose and the umbrellas became shades.

Bila fashion show ingekuwaje? Though kuna vile i couldn't understand tangu lini gunia imekuwa fashion??? Ladies, help me out.... as to the point of wearing anything???? It was all good though, flowed vilivyo.

the end.

credit galore

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if people were just able to be content with what they have, without resorting to such crazy lengths to acquire what they don't, i think life would be a more beautiful experience. Of coz am not saying you can't have dreamz and aggressively pursue them, but wherever point you are in life, you can't be at any other point - it's a purposeful stage in your timeline and so instead of agonizing on where you should be, analyze where you are. Here's where you make lemonade coz life handed you lemons and so there's no point wishing they were mangoz!

but people would always be discontented. That's why they invented credit for such masses. And from the look of things, quite a multitude has fallen to its clutches. Someone i know learnt this lesson in a rather crude and rude way.

the jama agrees to sign up as a guarantor for an acquaintance.... yea, it's that interesting. The acq was getting himself one of these damn good-looking suave LG fridges that come with preset temperatures for everything under the moon. And to add to it, since the Premier was just about to kick off, the guy thought for good measure (and viewing) he'd also get a new color tv. Flatron.

now that wasn't wrong at all, he was entitled to these finer things in life... as we are constantly told by the bikini-clad chics on ads. But the beef i have is when you go for such things and know dam well, you can't pay for them! Not to mention, you can't pay for them although you're paying in installments. They tell you it's easier, in your mind you think its easier and your salo can handle but little do you realize its much more costly at the end. Not to mention also, you abscond payments and so my friend (the guarantor) was the ultimate guy to pay up or get locked up!

i mean, its funny yet sad. Why would i get into such shitty situations for someone i hardly know, whilst maybe i don't even have that kinda fridge or tv myself? Guarantor indeed!

And why would anyone for that matter want to buy stuff on credit if they know it’s out of their purchasing power? Living beyond your means is like kushindana na ndovu kunya/competing shitting with an elephant! You're bound to lose and look stupid in the process.

Uncouth

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First all, it'll be uncouth of me not giving dedicated Bongoflava fans like myself this goldmine of a youtube link, it's all here!! - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjwV-cActa8

So the other day after vehemently and verbally protesting how some people lacked basic manners, my boss put up a sign on his office door thus "Please knock before entering and close the door behind you". This all in a spirit of "open door policy" that was his mantra. And then he tells me,"some people are just outrightly uncouth, walking into people's offices like it was a soko!" Now, the word uncouth caught my ears and took me back to high skul where one odijo used it like a vowel.

I pondered over his statement and couldn't help but partially (80%) agree with him.

The first of many uncouth things i come across happens almost like every morning on my way to jobo. On the way i have to pass this semi-dark kichochoro that cuts my trek there by like half. However, the things you sometimes witness in this short section can make a 12 year old go berserk. I mean, it's just plain uncouth to throw away trust kondomus right in front of the path people walk every morning. Jamaz don't even have the courtesy to wrap them in some very dark black paperbag before disposal!

Then there's the incident i found myself in some many many many years past. i fell for two sisters at the same time. not simultaneously, but you get my drift. now, i don't want to divulge further info detrimental to my life but i learnt it's quite uncouth to date two sisters concurrently.

I’ve seen several discourses on some blogs about the rude and abrasive airing we receive nowadays from these local radio joints. I mean, am in a ma3 sat next to a woman old enuff to be my mum’s elder brother's wife and the radio squeaks a discussion on “What’s the best position he ever did it? How many times do you have “ma rubbings” in a week?........” and so forth. Am so embarrassed, my sony ericcson phone is taking the full brunt of my awkwardness.

It’s uncouth to lead someone on. Really. And also to go clubbin’ without thinkin’ how you gonna buy your own drinks, let alone enter the club. And in the process, inconveniencing every other person you’re rollin’ with.

It’s uncouth to come from clubbin’ and knock at my door 3am in the dead of darkness asking if you can crush away the rest of the night. And you’re accompanied by a chic!

They say it’s global warming effects that chics nowadays dress lightly. But it’s outright uncouth to walk around the streets with more than a sliver of your g-string stickin’ out of there like it was suffocating!

It’s so uncouth to climb the cistern of a public toilet and leaving your safari boot prints on the once speckless white ceramic.

Business deals. My, my, my, here, you get the mothers of all uncouths! Where I come from, it’s uncouth and unbecoming to recruit some naïve jamaz into your get-rich-quick-or-die-trying certificate-selling-pyramidal schemes when you know damn well that s!#% don’t work.

Or hire jamaz when you know very well the company's winding up biz in a few short months.

Which also means it’s very uncouth selling a piece of super polished sprite bottle purporting it to be green granite!

Aaaaaaaaand, its uncouth to charge me 20 bob when I enter a ma3 and the next jama that gets in gets to pay 10! It won’t be considered uncouth if it was the other way round though.

It’s ill-mannered to try and bribe a police officer. In front of the other passengers. At least do it in the back of the Nissan where the purple tint of the windows covers the transaction.

It’s uncouth to hop around from one fad to another just coz everyone else is doing it. I mean, do you have to join the gym and do “step aerobics” coz the rest of your girl crew is rolling that way? Get a punching bag for your room!

Last but not the least of uncouth happenings out here, when someone opens up their heart to you, its uncouth not to respond. Even at least negatively!

So, tell me, what’s the most uncouth thing you ever came across?

Mo Fotoz

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Due to great public demand (chuckle...), makanga this one's for you. More evidence of my activities during the weekend. Ji enjoy!

some of the paintings i displayed at the Prince Edwards meet-up.

just love her tatoo...

the message is clear. now only to convince bush/joji kichaka

graf artist working his dalmatian magic

part of the above graf with a robo-matatu theme

the tools of the trade

more tools- this sprayer is old but it still performs

jamaz are doing their own tees nowadays. Hakuna kulala!

chilling out at the bc wall

some more graf for your visual eye

big mike rides like that!

serene and afro setting for the evening jig.

There's more but at the rate blogger is uploading these images, i'll be 75 by the time am done! So let's leave it for some that day kenya decides to re-enter the eassy project, we might have enuff bandwidth to do this thing. Adios!

Visual Poetic Weekend III

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this was one crazily visual, poetic and eventful weekend. there was enuff to see and hear and do. and i swam in mental highness from friday nite to sunday nite. I'll let the images best tell it.

one of my artworks celebrating the matatu/Ma3 culture - Mathree za Nai! Notice how the music is pumped into the ma3 and the phat rims.

doobeez working the crowd. Have to say a word or two on Doobeez. He must be the illest lyricist i've heard coming out of the kenyan hiphop woodwork and although i got mad love for some of the local mcs, he's one of those people you listen and can't help saying "Wo, wo, wo!!" at every punchline. What with gems like "....naleta lyrics mpaka natoboa tonsils" and "you can't walk in my shoes, look at the size of these feet"! His Angerbanger/Angabanga album drops mid-October and its one CD my collection can't miss! Also, he's covered in the SHIKA (Streets Happen In Kenya and Africa) DVD with other underground mcs.

tradition met contemporary with an 8-stringed obokano performance laced with DJ Zaks hiphop scratches.

the east africa theme wasn't faded at all from the event

bob was fully represented in full regalia colours

peace, love and crabs. it's basic. yap! maslow was wrong!

stanton, need i say mo??

wapi graf on this junkyard matatu, done in under 3 hours - my bro hint and phiks collabo

two elements of hiphop - mc and graf fused in the evening sunset. Graf by uhuru.

yours truly collection, i had to come with some of my never-seen-before paintings.... yes, yes, they got accolades but were not for sale. too much sentimental value in them...

setting up lights for the evening cocktail

now that's what i call grafiti - uhuru and phiks collabo!

pointblank fiercely doing his thing under the green lite with a sketch of a lion head!


boy's best friend catching some action - i think it was Snoop playing! Its a doggy dog's world!

dude busy working a matatu culture graf - rebel is the cause of course.

60+ Years of Degeneration

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sometimes you come across some things and think, damn, good old days those. i was at my mom's some weekend past and pitiad through some old photos that brought quite alot of memories streaming over each other. i laughed looking at my tiny self and although i'd forgotten most of things i did back then, looking at these images pulled me back into the cellulite of my then-so-innocent life.

then there were the photos of my aunts and uncles in their teens, afros, mini-floral skirts and bellybottoms galore.

there was even an image of them at uhuru park - don't laugh - those days, that used to be "the spot" to hang out. it was green, pristine and had (hear this) boats. that's not all, from the image below of Nairobi dam, guess what, people went yatching on what is now a hyacinth paradise! Yatching in 1960, hyacinth in 2006. Na hio ni maendeleo.

i went through Malcolm McCrow's photo gallery of what The City in the Sun used to be in its post-uhuru euphoric-cum-glory days and i only have one thing to reiterate. Najivumilia kuwa mkenya!

yes, the population was minimal those days - both human and vehicles, but logically or as i think progressions should occur, we should be having skyscrapers that put the Petronas Towers to shame and flyovers circumventing the KICC. but we are still struggling with siasa za peni mbili and repairing potholes right outside City Hall.

oh by the way, did you know the top section of the KICC used to be a rotating restaurant? Yes, rotate as in go round, have 360 degrees of magical Nairobi view from that height. i think they lost a bearing so the gears stopped working (pun intended).

somehow looking at the photos from McCrow's site brought me feelings of desperation, hopelessness and mental fatigue. truth be screamed, i get these daily from the kenyan political circus, but these particular feelings were different because they banged in me the truth that once we had hope; nay, beyond hope, we had real things working. Efficiently, diligently, proudly.

Notice how he says "The modern 20th Century Cinema - among the most modern anywhere in the world"....

images from http://www.mccrow.org.uk/EastAfrica/Kenya/Kenya.htm