ONE ON ONE: SharamaONE ON ONE: Sharama

BUZZ: You stepped back from the music industry for a while, what kept you away?

I had gone to take care of some family matters. I travelled to Germany for seven months and the rest of the time I was dealing with family; I got married and had three children.

So you specifically k time out to find a wife?

Not really, we were already together trying to settle down. But her family wasn’t so receptive of me, but our relationship was solid. She’s from Tanzania.

You didn’t find anyone suitable from Kenya?

Kenyans are very tricky.

But ladies are the same anywhere you go, right?

I didn’t want to get my heart broken at home. But those are the things that kept me away. We stayed in Dar es Salaam for a bit from 2002 to 2004.

That’s a long time to be away from home

Yeah, my son is grown now. We had him even before we got married and that’s one of the things that complicated our relationship, it made things harder. But everything is alright now.

Did her family finally accept you?

Yes they did. Getting married to someone like me, an artiste, is usually tricky because parents don’t think I look like a serious person who is focused and will secure their daughter’s future.

They don’t believe music is a career. One day they see you with one girl in a video, the next it’s a different one. So they don’t see how their daughter can settle down with someone like that.

And it doesn’t make sense to them when you explain that it’s just a video.

Also, my tattoos and dreadlocks cause a lot of anxiety to the conservative people among us. They would rather have someone with a nine-to-five job marry their daughter. That’s why so many artistes are not married.

Are you happy now?

There’s nothing I pride myself in more than my family besides music.

You keep a low profile, not many people knew you had children

Most of my friends knew because I like taking one of my sons to places with me especially to family event shows during the day. One is not a big fan of music, he loves football, so most of the time I take him to football games. The youngest is the family entertainer.

You even have a tattoo of one of your boys

I have so many tattoos, I also have one of my late mum.

What were you doing in Germany?

I did a project with Goethe Institute in Nairobi, they wanted us to do a collaborative album on a project called BRNB (Berlin/Nairobi). They brought in four artistes and producers from Germany, we recorded half of the album in Kenya and the other in Frankfurt. I was representing Ukoo Flani. Nazizi and Abbas were also part of it. We were fusing House music with our own styles. It’s a 20-track album.

How was it doing House music as a rapper?

It was hard for me, I think that’s why it took a bit of time as well. It was easy for some because they flowed really well. I know the genre but never tackled it.

We travelled to Berlin twice, the first time was to record and the second one to launch the album but it was also lunched at Goethe in Nairobi.

How were you received in Frankfurt?

I was surprised to see so many Kenyans there. We started speaking Swahili from the airport (laughs).

A lot of Kenyans go there to perform like Tony Nyadundo, Achieng Abura, and I once saw Churchill there too. Since then we’ve gone for private shows especially during Kenyan public holidays.

You also did a song with Bamboo last year

Bamboo is a good friend of mine, it’s just that we never got to work together before. So we decided to do something and see how it turns out, we met at Phoenix Records and producer K Da Great gave us a track and we did the song Like it or Not.

After being away from the industry for that long, did you feel like things had changed when you came back, like you had been left behind?

Things change every time you leave and new stuff comes in and that’s a good thing. But it’s not been that big of a change on the artistes’ part, maybe the media because news has so many avenues to travel now and people are making money from music. Becoming an artiste now makes sense, especially to parents.

That’s why I’m so grateful for artistes like Gidi Gidi Maji Maji for paving the way for us and the new artistes for treating music like a business.

Do you think you’ll sell more now than when you were teaming up with Cannibal?

That was then, and as a solo artiste looking towards the future I foresee great results. Back then we used to get fame without paper (Money). But now I’m expecting more business than just the hype we used to get.

Does that mean you are making more now than you used to?

There’s a very big difference compared to the shows that I used to do then and those that I do now. We used to get like Sh20,000 or Sh25,000 per show then.

But now I’ll bargain really well and get at least Sh100,000 per gig, that’s about five times what I used to get back then in a year.

Are you satisfied with the amount you get paid per show?

I wouldn’t say it’s enough yet but things have definitely changed. Not all artistes get paid the same amount but it’s better now. Artistes keep getting better with time and they add value to the industry, someone like Jua Cali elevated the industry and the cost per show went from around Sh30,000 to Sh50,000. Wyre put more effort in the game and artistes started getting around Sh80,000 per show.

Jaguar has also taken it to another level so things have changed. It’s not like back in the day when getting called for a show abroad was monumentally exciting, it’s business now. You have to ask what the terms and conditions are and what you will gain.

So is the focus more on the money than the music?

There are artistes who have funny material but still stick around and make it, others pass by like waves and are forgotten while some like Redsan are still standing tall like mountains, we started around the same time and he’s still here. Talent is not only about singing or rapping, it’s about production as well. We are delivering high quality audios and videos.

People making videos are doing a good job and our videos are being played on Channel O and MTV.

Who do you think is competition enough for you in the industry?

Kristoff. But the artistes that I’ll also be in competition with are the new age artistes. I don’t know about the female rappers but those are the guys that I’ll be going head to head with.

Do you have bigger things planned or will you go under again?

I’m just getting started. I’m working on my second solo album that has a few collaborations in it. The first one was called Breaking the Boundaries. I started doing my research and found out I haven’t been working with female artistes.

Your new song ‘Tuko fresh’, is this your first time working with a female artiste?

Yes. I’ve previously been working with male artistes.

Any reason for that?

Because it’s hard working with ladies and the industry doesn’t have so many female rappers.

And you think working with male rappers is easier?

Of course, and rumours get started so easily when you work with different female artistes all the time. Established female rappers in Kenya are so few. I chose Sugar because she is an upcoming artiste, her style is amazing and she looks good in pictures, that’s a bonus.

How did you meet with Sugar?

She’s under Phoenix Records, that’s where we met and worked together with the producer K Da Great. We sat down and decided to come up with a video and also looked for someone who does really good animation. My friend Albert Nyakundi from 3D Africa came through. I hope my fans are loving the video.