Latest / The Breakfast Club / INTERVIEW: Bien On Growing Up In Kenya, Breaking East African Stereotypes, Marrying His Manager, New Album + More

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INTERVIEW: Bien On Growing Up In Kenya, Breaking East African Stereotypes, Marrying His Manager, New Album + More · The Breakfast Club

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Wake that answer up in the morning.
• 0:02
  Speaker 2: The Breakfast Club Morning, Everybody's j n V Jess hilarious,
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: Charlamagne and the guy.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: We are the Breakfast Club.
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: We got a special guest in the building. Yes, indeed,
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: the welcome prepared.
• 0:14
  Speaker 3: Thank you so much for having me, guys.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: How you doing, thank you.
• 0:17
  Speaker 3: I'm doing great. I'm having an amazing time in New York.
• 0:21
  Speaker 3: Just sold out the SLBs the other night, and so
• 0:24
  Speaker 3: now I'm in the best of the Breakfast Club. So
• 0:26
  Speaker 3: this is a big deal for you, guys. You just
• 0:28
  Speaker 3: lost the tour, right, Yes, that's currently I'm doing ten
• 0:31
  Speaker 3: states and I just played New York two nights ago,
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: bling Atlanta tomorrow and we sold out everywhere. That's the congratulations,
• 0:38
  Speaker 3: super classed, thank you, thank you.
• 0:40
  Speaker 4: And the album is called let me see for noting
• 0:42
  Speaker 4: this right Losa?
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: Yes, I Losa is my name has known in my village,
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: so a Lusa. Why are you topless?
• 0:48
  Speaker 5: So you had no shirt on most of the time?
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: Yeah, showing usually but I had to. Yes, I'm showing
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: titt I'm showing some stomach, you know, some back. It.
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: Being topless is freedom. Being topless is audacity, and in
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: this phase of my career and where I'm at right now,
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: I need that audacity to be with me every day.
• 1:11
  Speaker 4: Is that really audacity to be topless? If you are
• 1:13
  Speaker 4: around with no pants on, Dick's winging?
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: You know, when you get home, Like if you're a girl,
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: when you get home, the first thing you do is
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: you and hook your bra. Yeah, And that's part of
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: the freedom I'm talking about being topless.
• 1:25
  Speaker 4: Is what do you identify.
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: A black man an analogy?
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: Maybe?
• 1:37
  Speaker 4: Yes, exactly, you know, But that's a different because when
• 1:41
  Speaker 4: I get it, when women get home and they take
• 1:42
  Speaker 4: that bro off the what about you?
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: Like when you get home and if you're in a
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: sunny place and a humid place and you take off
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: your shirt, that's freedom.
• 1:52
  Speaker 4: Yes, and basketball drawers.
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: Not so much.
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: You're pushing this draws agenda. Yes, shut out my neighbors.
• 2:11
  Speaker 3: You ganda for that, my next door neighbor.
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: You did rap I was gonna say you did rap
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: raidar the other day.
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: Yes, I did.
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: And you came with something different that I don't think
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: any rap raid guest has ever done.
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: Yes, you came with a chicken.
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: Yeah, came the chicken. I would have come with the
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: chicken here, But there's too many rules, and you guys
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: are really on the top floor, so I wasn't able
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: to smuggle my mascot into the building.
• 2:41
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: Yeah, but you know what chicken, A chicken is my
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: cultural total. Like the animal that represents my culture is
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: a rooster. And it's because luster is a timekeeper, rusa
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: is a care giver. A rooster is a security for
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: your homes. Is many things, including a good meal. So
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: that's why I walk around with it. That's why I
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: woke around with where did.
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: You get this chicken from? Where did you get the
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: chicken from?
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: I know, didn't I didn't know the animal laws in
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: New York. I had to drive all the way to Pennsylvania.
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: Like the Queens, they wouldn't sell it to me.
• 3:15
  Speaker 4: In Queens.
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: Nobody would give me a live chicken in New York
• 3:18
  Speaker 3: because it's against the law. So I had to go
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: all the way to Pennsylvania, cross state lines to look
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: for the chicken.
• 3:25
  Speaker 4: But yeah, what I think it's about the wording, because
• 3:27
  Speaker 4: you know, in America, I don't know. You don't know
• 3:28
  Speaker 4: if you'll say is king in America, say cock, so
• 3:31
  Speaker 4: you have to say I want to bring my car.
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it was just me and my me and my cock.
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: I was stroking my cock like.
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: You said, you're eating your cot.
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: Give the chicken, I give, I give. I give my
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: cock to my driver and he took it to an
• 3:50
  Speaker 3: animal like home, animal shelter. So he's alive. My cock's alive.
• 3:56
  Speaker 4: Man.
• 3:56
  Speaker 5: I don't know why you want to come here in
• 3:59
  Speaker 5: the morning.
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: I needed to be here.
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: I needed to be here today.
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: Thank you. I'm trying to be professional, but you guys
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: are crazy.
• 4:05
  Speaker 5: So this is a freedom album basically, yeah, because it
• 4:07
  Speaker 5: is a looser.
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: Why are you so Previously in my other life, I
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: was in a band. I was in a boy band
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: and the band was called Sauti. So Sauti soul means
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: and so he voices of the sun.
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: Yeah, So I was in a boy band and this
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: is my second lease of life. So now I'm a
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: solo artist. I've been a solo artist for two years
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: now and everything's looking up. I'm at the breakfast club, Mama,
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: I made it nice.
• 4:30
  Speaker 6: Why did Saudis Soul takes such a long hiatus for
• 4:33
  Speaker 6: music your last.
• 4:36
  Speaker 4: Twenty years?
• 4:36
  Speaker 3: Yeah, we were like new additions from Kenya. Yeah, boys
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: to me. We met in high school. So we've been
• 4:42
  Speaker 3: together twenty years, twenty beautiful years, the best years of
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: my life.
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: What made you just want to go solo?
• 4:47
  Speaker 4: Now?
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: Just trying something new, you know, after doing something for
• 4:49
  Speaker 3: a long time. I think it was time for us
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: to try and see what the other side looks like.
• 4:54
  Speaker 3: And it's been beautiful so far. I think we needed
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: this break so that our next season will be just
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: as glorious, even better.
• 5:01
  Speaker 5: And what has the other Saudi soulars done.
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: They're making music, They're doing interesting things. My brother Pulicup
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: just launched his guitar Jauia, which is an amazing guitar.
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: Gimano is on tour, Savara is putting out music as well.
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: So we're all busy and we're all working together, like
• 5:15
  Speaker 3: we're all writing for one another, we're all producing for
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: one another or great friends, great friends, amazing.
• 5:20
  Speaker 4: Yeah, what do you think East African music hasn't seen
• 5:24
  Speaker 4: a surge? And I guess mainstream the way artists from
• 5:27
  Speaker 4: the Western.
• 5:28
  Speaker 3: Yeah, well, there's many aspects to it, including the fact
• 5:32
  Speaker 3: that it's just never been funded. Any music that you
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: hear in the West is marketing dollar spent to get
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: that music there. So for a long time is Taflica
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: hasn't had that limelight. Also, our numbers in the daspora
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: don't come anywhere close to Nigeria. So the dominant culture
• 5:47
  Speaker 3: in the dashpert is going to be Nigeria. But the
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: next logical sound to listen to after you've gone northeast,
• 5:53
  Speaker 3: west and the northwest and south, it's east and so
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: here we are. You know, we're taking the stairs. We're
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: getting here anyway? No, was it?
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: I noticed with international artists they always want to win
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: in the US. Why is that so important?
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: Because when you win in the US, the reward is
• 6:11
  Speaker 3: too high. Being the biggest artist in Kenya is No,
• 6:14
  Speaker 3: we're closed being the biggest artist in the US. When
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: you win in the US, you winning the world. So
• 6:18
  Speaker 3: for a long time, this market has dominated the world
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: like that. Also, you guys have the structures, you have
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: the venues, the ticket masters and all these you know,
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: all of these infrastructure mixed music what it is in
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: the world. Yeah, so your thought leaders, your global leaders.
• 6:32
  Speaker 4: Why not remember when your love for music for US hitue?
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: Yes, I was like maybe five or six. I was
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: watching Bob Marley song Ion Lion Zion, and that's the
• 6:46
  Speaker 3: first time, I was like, whoa, what is this? Like,
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: I feel like doing this thing. And I've been doing
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: it since I'm thirty seven now, guys, I've been singing
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: thirty one.
• 6:54
  Speaker 4: Years yeah, wow, since six years old.
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: Since I was six yeah. And I joined the choir
• 6:58
  Speaker 3: in church. And I always say the church is the
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: best artist development program in the world because that's where
• 7:05
  Speaker 3: all the great musicians, especially for black music, come from.
• 7:08
  Speaker 4: How was it in Kenya? Because you know, you know,
• 7:10
  Speaker 4: you hear stories people from Nigeria. Their parents are like, no,
• 7:12
  Speaker 4: you're not gonna go into music. You're not going entertainment.
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: You're gonna be a doctor.
• 7:15
  Speaker 4: You know, Like like in Kenya, when you said you
• 7:17
  Speaker 4: want to do music.
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: I was it. My mom said, as long as you
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: finish school, as long as you finish college, you can
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: do whatever you want. And music has been a kind
• 7:24
  Speaker 3: master to me. Music paid me through college. Like I
• 7:27
  Speaker 3: put it my first thing, gole with Southeast Old, my
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: band when I was a freshman, and just like that
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: my life changed. I had to finish school, but I
• 7:36
  Speaker 3: started to be a journalist, so i'd probably be working here.
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: I did communications and.
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: Did you know that moment where you knew you were
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: going to make it like, oh, this is this is
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: what I was here to do.
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: I told also my cousin when I was six that
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: I'm going to be a superstar, and she left it off,
• 7:51
  Speaker 3: but I remind her to this day that this is
• 7:53
  Speaker 3: written like I always knew that this is what I'm
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: going to do. Yeah, even though sometimes life pushed me
• 7:58
  Speaker 3: in directions where I wasn't in my direct journey, Like
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: for example, like when I studied communications, it wasn't me
• 8:06
  Speaker 3: studying music. But it came back now to make sense,
• 8:09
  Speaker 3: you know, like my auditory skills are different. I understand
• 8:13
  Speaker 3: how to interview, how to There's just things I learned
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: in UNI that are very vital for me right now.
• 8:17
  Speaker 4: And back then you was just like I think I'm
• 8:19
  Speaker 4: training to be on the other side of the microphone.
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: But then.
• 8:24
  Speaker 3: I was actually just finishing school to clock out something
• 8:26
  Speaker 3: in life. Say that I have a degree, but I
• 8:29
  Speaker 3: wasn't very passionate about it. Communications.
• 8:34
  Speaker 5: Okay, that communicated that I communicated journey, not as effect.
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: I just wanted to be clear.
• 8:41
  Speaker 5: Have you ever had any big dreams of working with
• 8:44
  Speaker 5: any American artists?
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: Yes, in terms of them, I'm a big fan of
• 8:48
  Speaker 3: of course, Beyonce. I think her excellence is everything. I
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: love Coca Jones.
• 8:55
  Speaker 4: Oh nice.
• 8:55
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think she's beautiful as a singer. To change,
• 9:02
  Speaker 3: like to change, like the new album he has with Larry.
• 9:06
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm sure you've already done something together.
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: We're about to. Yeah, we're about to and many other artists, like, honestly,
• 9:14
  Speaker 3: anybody who's willing to work I'm willing to work with
• 9:17
  Speaker 3: as well.
• 9:17
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 9:17
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I realize this music is better when you make
• 9:19
  Speaker 3: it with friends.
• 9:20
  Speaker 4: What was life like growing up for you in Kenya
• 9:22
  Speaker 4: and how did your Kenyan culture influence the way you
• 9:26
  Speaker 4: see the world today.
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: Yeah, growing up in Kenya is beautiful because we are
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: situated on a part of Africa that is very cosmopolitan,
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: So we get American influence, we also get Arabian influence.
• 9:38
  Speaker 3: We get all these influences, and I think that's what
• 9:41
  Speaker 3: has shaped me into the musician and today, like I'm
• 9:43
  Speaker 3: the most Kenyan man you're ever going to meet in
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: your life. My isms, my accent, my music, my sound
• 9:51
  Speaker 3: is deliberately from that.
• 9:54
  Speaker 5: Did anybody ever try to conform like you have to
• 9:56
  Speaker 5: conform to go mainstream?
• 9:57
  Speaker 3: Yeah, every time I try conforming I feel miserably, so
• 9:59
  Speaker 3: I don't try anymore. Yeah, And also like I've been
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: in the game for so long right now, and I
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: don't have the pressure to please anybody. I'm just doing me,
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: and so far it's walking out.
• 10:10
  Speaker 4: I don't you think it's disrespectful to the African culture
• 10:13
  Speaker 4: to try to conform to be mainstream anywhere else?
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: Yes, but sometimes you know, you have to play the
• 10:18
  Speaker 3: game if you want to win. Otherwise, to a certain degree,
• 10:24
  Speaker 3: I think, And it's not bad to conform. We know,
• 10:26
  Speaker 3: we really talk about conforming like it's a bad thing.
• 10:29
  Speaker 3: Conforming just means there's a way people do things in
• 10:31
  Speaker 3: a certain way that has been prooved to work. So
• 10:34
  Speaker 3: if you want those results, you can try, or you
• 10:36
  Speaker 3: can take the long route, you can take whatever route
• 10:38
  Speaker 3: you want.
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: You start changing yourself.
• 10:39
  Speaker 3: A little bit of conforming without losing yourself in the
• 10:42
  Speaker 3: process and selling out isn't bad that more.
• 10:44
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I think in American people don't really know what
• 10:47
  Speaker 4: they want until you know what I'm saying, Like, nobody
• 10:49
  Speaker 4: ever knows what the next big thing really is. They
• 10:52
  Speaker 4: follow everybody, That's what I'm saying. It's just like, you know,
• 10:55
  Speaker 4: y'all just do y'all like, oh we with that? Like
• 10:57
  Speaker 4: I love afrobeat.
• 10:59
  Speaker 3: I know you love Offer Bachellman. You've been pushing us
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: for a minute, all of you by there, like.
• 11:03
  Speaker 4: All the different sounds, piano, a piano, piano, like I like,
• 11:07
  Speaker 4: I like, I just like it. It's just a dope
• 11:09
  Speaker 4: sound and then when you visited the continent you really
• 11:11
  Speaker 4: really feel it. So it's just like I'd rather y'all do,
• 11:14
  Speaker 4: y'all instead of trying to be what we got going
• 11:16
  Speaker 4: on over here.
• 11:17
  Speaker 3: I agree, I agree, like, And I also think whether
• 11:21
  Speaker 3: world is that right now people are really having proximity
• 11:24
  Speaker 3: to their content, like people are consuming their content with proximity.
• 11:28
  Speaker 3: So I haven't seen an American artist below in Kenya
• 11:32
  Speaker 3: like in my village. The same way fifty cent d
• 11:35
  Speaker 3: eons ago right to mean that the people that have
• 11:37
  Speaker 3: now chosen other sounds to be their thought leaders. So
• 11:41
  Speaker 3: I think it's important for you guys to, you know,
• 11:43
  Speaker 3: come to the continent and fuck with other sounds and
• 11:46
  Speaker 3: listen to what the continent has to offer. We are
• 11:48
  Speaker 3: so eclectic. There's tons of sounds in Africa, some that
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: are untapped, some that are new. But you're going to
• 11:54
  Speaker 3: come out there with gems so.
• 11:56
  Speaker 4: Finfty came out two thousand and two. So you're telling
• 11:58
  Speaker 4: me in twenty three years, is nobody else is connected?
• 12:02
  Speaker 4: And can you?
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: So many people have connected. I'm just talking about that
• 12:04
  Speaker 3: golden era when you were big in America. You were
• 12:07
  Speaker 3: big in the village, like it went all the way. Artist.
• 12:10
  Speaker 3: I know this. Artists were big in America and they're
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: selling out, but the songs don't have the same because
• 12:16
  Speaker 3: in other.
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: Parts of the world mimicking fitting back then.
• 12:18
  Speaker 3: Bro, you're going to barbershops and you're seeing Ludacris on
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: the the Child the barbershop charts, and that's I think
• 12:26
  Speaker 3: a golden era and hip hop and not to say
• 12:29
  Speaker 3: never going to see again, but we will see maybe
• 12:32
  Speaker 3: in another lifetime.
• 12:33
  Speaker 4: What was it about fifty you think?
• 12:36
  Speaker 3: I think he just connected? He was authentic, Yeah, and
• 12:38
  Speaker 3: he's never He's always been his authentic self. Whether you
• 12:41
  Speaker 3: love him or you hate him, fifty is just that
• 12:42
  Speaker 3: he's fifty. Yeah.
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: I think it was the music back then.
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: The music, yeah, because even a DJ in Kenya several times,
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: but it was just it was just the feeling of
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: that effect, like I don't I don't see the artists
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: that have that effect where you wanted to dress like him,
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: where you wanted to be him. Where I mean fifty
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: made people want to be him.
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: I don't see that now.
• 13:01
  Speaker 3: Yeah, And.
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: But also I see that now maybe not maybe my
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: artists that people dressed like and wanted to be like
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: since fifty.
• 13:11
  Speaker 3: I think the kids just a lot of the kids.
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: And I said, but that was around the same time.
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: That was around the same time when they come out
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: about now.
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: I mean, now it's a bunch of with little Wayne
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: playboy like all the kids like fifty and Kanye.
• 13:28
  Speaker 3: Like not like I'm just thinking the music was so
• 13:33
  Speaker 3: impactful and then the zeit guys of all the time,
• 13:36
  Speaker 3: the rhythm of the time just favored that whole way I.
• 13:39
  Speaker 6: Think, which you say it wasn't really a lot of
• 13:42
  Speaker 6: other people that people wanted to be like in that
• 13:44
  Speaker 6: time because fifty had a whole era.
• 13:45
  Speaker 5: It was like the fifty cent era.
• 13:47
  Speaker 6: People was wearing, you know, the genus a bunch of things.
• 13:52
  Speaker 5: Yeah, it was.
• 13:53
  Speaker 3: I had all the bootleg g units because you know,
• 13:55
  Speaker 3: who's gonna how are you going to get original Kenya?
• 13:58
  Speaker 3: So another tank top you had.
• 14:00
  Speaker 4: That take all of these kids started mimicking Lil Wayne. Yeah,
• 14:03
  Speaker 4: after Little Wayne came out and the way I know
• 14:06
  Speaker 4: it wasn't it was after talking about with the Carter
• 14:09
  Speaker 4: towos and threes.
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: What are you talking about it?
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: That was all around the same time.
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: It wasn't fifty get rich to that trying. It was
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: old too.
• 14:14
  Speaker 4: When Little Wayne was selling a million in a week
• 14:17
  Speaker 4: for the car what was it Carter either two and
• 14:20
  Speaker 4: three or three and four? I was like six, yeah,
• 14:23
  Speaker 4: five or six, and then everybody started dressing like you.
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: Oh.
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: But but to my point is that was that era
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: we're talking. This is two twenties, this twenty twenty five,
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: twenty twenty five. So who had that effect? Where possible?
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: People with Trosy, playboy Kardi.
• 14:41
  Speaker 4: I don't see it, like I say, but I don't
• 14:43
  Speaker 4: see that impact like when you you're also thirty seven,
• 14:47
  Speaker 4: yeah he's forty seven. You go talk to them twenty
• 14:51
  Speaker 4: year old nineteen ten year olds. They got these guys
• 14:54
  Speaker 4: that they dressing like bro.
• 14:55
  Speaker 5: I also say that you are married to chiky Zaruka.
• 14:59
  Speaker 3: Saying right, yes, yes, she's also my manager.
• 15:01
  Speaker 5: She is your manager. You married your manager.
• 15:03
  Speaker 4: House that dynamic, it's beautiful.
• 15:05
  Speaker 3: It's been by far the most rewarding experience of my life. Yeah,
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: I didn't think i'd have I'd have it this easy
• 15:11
  Speaker 3: in my solo career if I didn't have someone who
• 15:13
  Speaker 3: centers me like her.
• 15:14
  Speaker 5: Yeah, well she was your manager.
• 15:18
  Speaker 3: You married her or no, you grow together. We've been
• 15:21
  Speaker 3: together eleven years and she managed me for only the
• 15:24
  Speaker 3: last two years. So during that entire time it was
• 15:26
  Speaker 3: just husband and wife. And then when I went solo,
• 15:29
  Speaker 3: I was just like, yo, I think you need to
• 15:31
  Speaker 3: manage me, and she was like, okay, we're doing it
• 15:33
  Speaker 3: for the home and it's beautiful, Like it's by far
• 15:35
  Speaker 3: the most rewarding experience of my life. In other wise,
• 15:43
  Speaker 3: her like that, No, I mean, you know, I don't
• 15:45
  Speaker 3: know how you guys are on your households, and I
• 15:47
  Speaker 3: think America is a very different country from But in
• 15:51
  Speaker 3: my household, the money comes to the port. The money
• 15:54
  Speaker 3: belongs to the family, and she has access to all
• 15:56
  Speaker 3: of my money and I have access to all of hers.
• 15:58
  Speaker 3: So like, we work to build future for us and
• 16:01
  Speaker 3: our children. So I don't know the way I can
• 16:04
  Speaker 3: save money all of them money money, Yeah, just.
• 16:10
  Speaker 6: Like the save money money, But how how do y'all
• 16:15
  Speaker 6: separate the business mode from the bay mode, how is it?
• 16:19
  Speaker 3: We don't don't. Yeah, We've be in bed at midnight
• 16:23
  Speaker 3: and she'd be like, did you check the mix for
• 16:26
  Speaker 3: did you check the mix for the song that was saying,
• 16:28
  Speaker 3: you know, like we just don't have the we don't
• 16:29
  Speaker 3: have the lines. Further down the road, I know that
• 16:32
  Speaker 3: might be a problem, but so far, so good.
• 16:36
  Speaker 4: It's beautiful, it's beautiful, and.
• 16:38
  Speaker 3: And we're just really on great energy. Yeah, we've had
• 16:41
  Speaker 3: really dark times before she started managing me, and I
• 16:44
  Speaker 3: think when she managed me, that saved our marriage, Like
• 16:46
  Speaker 3: that saved the relationship.
• 16:48
  Speaker 4: What are some of the biggest challenges you face just
• 16:51
  Speaker 4: being a you know, creative trying to come out of Kenya.
• 16:54
  Speaker 3: I think coming from East Africa, no one's looking out
• 16:56
  Speaker 3: for a musician from East Africa. You guys are looking
• 16:58
  Speaker 3: at for athletes and distance runners and all and Safari
• 17:02
  Speaker 3: experiences and all these things. And my job now is
• 17:05
  Speaker 3: literally cut a road in the jungle for my kids
• 17:08
  Speaker 3: to come and show you what this Affrican music is about.
• 17:10
  Speaker 3: So it's a challenge, but it also comes with the
• 17:13
  Speaker 3: blessings because in many, in many, many opportunities, I'm going
• 17:16
  Speaker 3: to be the est African. They took anyest African to
• 17:18
  Speaker 3: show up at a breakfast club and you know, tell
• 17:20
  Speaker 3: you guys about where I'm coming from.
• 17:21
  Speaker 5: Yeah, any visuals we got coming.
• 17:25
  Speaker 3: Yeah, sure, man. I have a new album coming out
• 17:27
  Speaker 3: soon titled A Looser Continuer.
• 17:30
  Speaker 5: Do you shoot music videos? Yeah, so we got visuals
• 17:34
  Speaker 5: to look forward to.
• 17:35
  Speaker 3: Yeah, We've got amazing music videos to Yeah. I did
• 17:37
  Speaker 3: shoot a couple of music videos before I came to
• 17:39
  Speaker 3: the States.
• 17:40
  Speaker 5: Are you going to shoot any in the States?
• 17:43
  Speaker 3: No, I don't have time. Yeah, it was really after
• 17:45
  Speaker 3: after America. I'm going to Europe, so like I have
• 17:48
  Speaker 3: to just I'm going to run. Yeah, but I'd love
• 17:50
  Speaker 3: to shoot in the States. Man. You know, you guys
• 17:52
  Speaker 3: have all the culture here.
• 17:53
  Speaker 4: So yeah, I saw something. What it was saying you
• 17:57
  Speaker 4: the Grammys was donating some money.
• 17:59
  Speaker 3: That can you that was physical. So the Grammys are
• 18:05
  Speaker 3: doing an Africa Grammys, you know, like same way the
• 18:07
  Speaker 3: Latin Grammys. So there's been talk about Africa doing a
• 18:12
  Speaker 3: Grammys and Kenya had put in a bid to be
• 18:15
  Speaker 3: the host for the Grammys something like that, and the
• 18:19
  Speaker 3: bid the whole I think the news came out at
• 18:22
  Speaker 3: a very bad time because at that time economically and
• 18:26
  Speaker 3: even now we're not doing so well as a country.
• 18:30
  Speaker 3: So at people, an eight million dollars spent on the
• 18:32
  Speaker 3: Grammys feels like an impulse spent to.
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: The people face. Yeah, it's like that the Grammars will
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: bring in will be quadruple at.
• 18:40
  Speaker 3: I'm sure you know, a lot, not a lot of
• 18:42
  Speaker 3: people have the insights of the music business to understand
• 18:45
  Speaker 3: the value of the Grammy is coming to Kenya like that,
• 18:48
  Speaker 3: you know. But so the people were just up in
• 18:50
  Speaker 3: arms because they felt like there's many more ways to
• 18:52
  Speaker 3: spend the three point five million dollars.
• 18:55
  Speaker 4: Why did you agree with it?
• 18:57
  Speaker 3: Because I'm an artist and understand what it's going to
• 18:59
  Speaker 3: do for my constituency, for my people, Like this is
• 19:02
  Speaker 3: future future, you know, investments for the artists who are coming.
• 19:06
  Speaker 3: You know, they're going to thank us one day for
• 19:08
  Speaker 3: hosting the Grammys in Kenya. So I think it's not
• 19:10
  Speaker 3: a bad thing. Maybe the communication behind it should have
• 19:12
  Speaker 3: been better. Maybe they should have been told about the
• 19:14
  Speaker 3: financial degree in communications. Yes, I agree, I agree, Yes,
• 19:20
  Speaker 3: I agree, I agree. Maybe just the communication only should
• 19:22
  Speaker 3: have been better. Yeah, they should have said what NVA
• 19:25
  Speaker 3: said about the profit and what we stand to gain
• 19:27
  Speaker 3: as a country and this and this and this, and
• 19:29
  Speaker 3: many people would have been like, Okay, we see it.
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: I mean world the visitation, yeah, hotels, restaurants, foods, tourism.
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean there's just so much.
• 19:37
  Speaker 3: That you get the development programs for the different facets
• 19:39
  Speaker 3: of the music industry that that the Grammy comes with
• 19:41
  Speaker 3: as well. Right, Yeah, you know, the Grammy is like
• 19:44
  Speaker 3: a good artist development program as well, second to the charge.
• 19:47
  Speaker 3: So yeah, it'll be nice if they came through. Yeah,
• 19:49
  Speaker 3: I'm still hoping they do.
• 19:51
  Speaker 4: That put a lot of pressure on you, knowing that
• 19:52
  Speaker 4: Kenya is a country that isn't doing that well financially,
• 19:56
  Speaker 4: but you may be doing better than most.
• 19:58
  Speaker 3: Yes, it puts pressure on me to make art that
• 20:01
  Speaker 3: speaks to those people and tells their story to the world.
• 20:06
  Speaker 3: Like I want people to see the pain and the
• 20:08
  Speaker 3: struggle in my art. I want them to listen to
• 20:11
  Speaker 3: the lyrics and I want them to I want the
• 20:12
  Speaker 3: lyrics to take them to places in Kenya that they've
• 20:15
  Speaker 3: never been to, and I want the human experience to connect.
• 20:18
  Speaker 3: So right now, we're not going to a very easy time.
• 20:24
  Speaker 3: Our government has no position. The opposition is the youth.
• 20:28
  Speaker 3: And for the last year so, there have been so
• 20:30
  Speaker 3: many abductions. There's been so many There's been freedom of expression,
• 20:36
  Speaker 3: but not freedom after expression. And I just think it's
• 20:41
  Speaker 3: important for us to know that, the leaders to know
• 20:43
  Speaker 3: that I have more faith in the children who are
• 20:47
  Speaker 3: coming than their leadership in terms of the power they
• 20:51
  Speaker 3: used to oppress. Yeah. I don't have any fear to
• 20:54
  Speaker 3: the current regime. I have more faith in the kids,
• 21:00
  Speaker 3: and I think the kids are going to save us.
• 21:02
  Speaker 3: You feel comfortable living I feel comfortable living in Kenya. Yeah,
• 21:06
  Speaker 3: I would say to a large extent, Kenya is a
• 21:09
  Speaker 3: beautiful country. Yeah, there's many experiences you can get and
• 21:14
  Speaker 3: if and and we're generally very peaceful people. But the
• 21:17
  Speaker 3: recent times have been very tough economically. Yeah, but we're
• 21:22
  Speaker 3: not a basket case. Yeah, we're proper people. Kenyans are fighters,
• 21:28
  Speaker 3: Africans are fighters, and the people of Africa will keep
• 21:31
  Speaker 3: the lights on. The piple of can you keep the
• 21:32
  Speaker 3: lights on?
• 21:33
  Speaker 5: Absolutely? What is one of your favorite songs from the
• 21:35
  Speaker 5: album Macheri.
• 21:37
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a tribute to you, Jess. I really to you. Married,
• 21:43
  Speaker 3: so it's okay, I'm also married.
• 21:45
  Speaker 4: But he's also African, so we can have more than
• 21:46
  Speaker 4: one wife.
• 21:47
  Speaker 5: No, he can't, can't.
• 21:50
  Speaker 3: Constitutional every Africa.
• 21:52
  Speaker 5: I thought that was a certain villages. Why are you
• 21:55
  Speaker 5: doing it?
• 21:56
  Speaker 3: Uh? You know, some things just I found in this world,
• 21:59
  Speaker 3: and there's such complex issues that I can't really address
• 22:02
  Speaker 3: right now in the press first club. But I'm not
• 22:04
  Speaker 3: doing it, okay, Yeah, because Cheeky deserves all of you
• 22:08
  Speaker 3: and all of me only me. Yeah.
• 22:11
  Speaker 4: Yes, so you wouldn't want another wife. I mean, I'm
• 22:13
  Speaker 4: just saying that. Let me rephrase you try to get you,
• 22:15
  Speaker 4: let me rephrase that. I know you are happily married.
• 22:18
  Speaker 4: I'm just saying, yeah, African tradition, in a lot of countries,
• 22:23
  Speaker 4: you are allowed to have another wife.
• 22:25
  Speaker 3: Constitution, you're allowed. Do I want another wife? No? I don't. Yeah,
• 22:30
  Speaker 3: not now, No, I.
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: Don't because just trouble.
• 22:34
  Speaker 6: Just because that's you know, culturally like y'all can do,
• 22:38
  Speaker 6: that doesn't mean you always want that, right.
• 22:41
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 22:43
  Speaker 3: So I come from a poligamous family. My dad has
• 22:46
  Speaker 3: ten kids from six different women. I am the last
• 22:49
  Speaker 3: of ten.
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: I am the last gentleman. You've been in trouble, I know,
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: but he's married to him just.
• 22:58
  Speaker 3: Informally. You one with you that. Yeah, so formally he's
• 23:01
  Speaker 3: been married to Yeah, my mother is the last of
• 23:05
  Speaker 3: the ten day know about each other. They all know
• 23:08
  Speaker 3: about each other. When he bought a spoon for our house,
• 23:10
  Speaker 3: he bought a spoon for the other house. Well, you know, like,
• 23:14
  Speaker 3: if you guys really understand how polygamy works, maybe it's
• 23:17
  Speaker 3: not going to be a very touchy subject. I think
• 23:20
  Speaker 3: just when you listen from the West and how people
• 23:22
  Speaker 3: speak about it, it's just really given the vibe that
• 23:28
  Speaker 3: it's unfair, but it's everything has everything to do with
• 23:31
  Speaker 3: society and how society was set up back then. It
• 23:34
  Speaker 3: may not work now, I agree, but back then it
• 23:37
  Speaker 3: had everything to do with community and looking out for
• 23:40
  Speaker 3: one another. You know. In some cases a guy was
• 23:43
  Speaker 3: polygamous because maybe his first wife couldn't get kids, you see,
• 23:48
  Speaker 3: and she'd be like, let me bring a helper to
• 23:50
  Speaker 3: see how we can do this. Also, the more kids
• 23:53
  Speaker 3: you had, the more labor you had, because we were
• 23:57
  Speaker 3: farmers were we were hads then, and so the more
• 24:01
  Speaker 3: children you had, the more people you had to make
• 24:03
  Speaker 3: create wealth with. So that was the structure then.
• 24:06
  Speaker 6: See, polygamy is one side, because what if Chiky was
• 24:10
  Speaker 6: like I want like three or four husbands?
• 24:12
  Speaker 3: What you want to There are some African cultures that
• 24:14
  Speaker 3: have been matriarch really is okay? Yeah, So polygamy has
• 24:19
  Speaker 3: also gone both ways. I think, I don't. It's called
• 24:20
  Speaker 3: polyandry on the other side. So not all polygamy has
• 24:24
  Speaker 3: been men doing that to women's women doing that to men.
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: Okay, what you want?
• 24:30
  Speaker 3: Would you would you get? No?
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: No, no no no no no, I don't. I don't.
• 24:38
  Speaker 5: I don't have time, have time.
• 24:41
  Speaker 4: So, man, you look like Mike cars and John Sally,
• 24:45
  Speaker 4: you know the people.
• 24:45
  Speaker 3: I know's move a lot. People took me look like
• 24:48
  Speaker 3: I'm related the best.
• 24:55
  Speaker 4: But they always say, if you go to some place
• 24:57
  Speaker 4: on the continent, you'll see somebody look like you.
• 25:00
  Speaker 3: Yes, Charlaman, I see you in I see you every
• 25:04
  Speaker 3: morning in my village.
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: A taller version.
• 25:06
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that looks like me.
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: Yes, you get John Sally got somenon.
• 25:12
  Speaker 3: She's a cuty though he looks nice.
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: Okay, I know that's right.
• 25:16
  Speaker 3: I mean I see, I see why you would say that.
• 25:18
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: Let me show you Mike k.
• 25:22
  Speaker 5: Africa.
• 25:24
  Speaker 3: I went to Turkey the other day and the was
• 25:26
  Speaker 3: like good tupa yes, let me say, yeah, who is that.
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: You do look like carving John called acute though you no, no,
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: that look.
• 25:39
  Speaker 4: Like rast baraka Jesus.
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: Yeah, but.
• 25:44
  Speaker 5: Damn I forgot what I was very well, get into
• 25:45
  Speaker 5: a joint. Yeah that's what I was. Yes, I wanted
• 25:48
  Speaker 5: to get into what You want to.
• 25:49
  Speaker 3: Hear one of your songs, of my songs my shady?
• 25:52
  Speaker 6: Yeah you said inspired? Was that inspired by Stevie? Want
• 25:56
  Speaker 6: just a little bit, because you know we got a song.
• 25:59
  Speaker 3: My sad Okay, yeah, I know, I know the song
• 26:08
  Speaker 3: love TV, but is just inspired by the chillions of
• 26:12
  Speaker 3: Africans who use the word machay for their lovers. It's
• 26:15
  Speaker 3: a way of life.
• 26:16
  Speaker 4: Ask one more random question. Yeah, what would what would
• 26:19
  Speaker 4: Africa look like if all the countries were unified?
• 26:23
  Speaker 3: I asked myself that question all the time. I ask
• 26:25
  Speaker 3: myself what Africa look like if you weren't colonized, because
• 26:29
  Speaker 3: you know, naturally we have never really been people who
• 26:32
  Speaker 3: go out to conquer and convert. We've always been and
• 26:35
  Speaker 3: that's why it was very easy to colonize us because
• 26:37
  Speaker 3: we were easy to you know, course, and we didn't
• 26:39
  Speaker 3: know the games that the other party was playing. So
• 26:43
  Speaker 3: I think I united Africa is an Africa that is
• 26:47
  Speaker 3: living to his full potential. It's peaceful. Is there's some
• 26:52
  Speaker 3: there's some leaders right now in the continent who are
• 26:54
  Speaker 3: showing what Africa could do united. I know if you
• 26:56
  Speaker 3: guys have had about trialry from bukin a fuss. Yeah,
• 27:00
  Speaker 3: And he's been able to unite the countries on his region.
• 27:03
  Speaker 3: They've been able to kick out France and he's taking
• 27:06
  Speaker 3: care of yeah, and he's taking care of people. And
• 27:08
  Speaker 3: I see that to be the future of the continent.
• 27:10
  Speaker 3: And when we unite, we will be unstoppable in all
• 27:14
  Speaker 3: the beautiful ways.
• 27:15
  Speaker 4: I love the continent.
• 27:17
  Speaker 3: To welcome you guys to ken But I came bearing gifts.
• 27:19
  Speaker 3: Can I give you gifts?
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: Okay, don't bring a cocks.
• 27:25
  Speaker 3: So in Kenya, I'm the chairman of the bold Man Association. Hey,
• 27:30
  Speaker 3: let's go and I see you charmn And this is
• 27:34
  Speaker 3: made by I love it. I love better, you know
• 27:38
  Speaker 3: it says bold Men love better.
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: I love it because we love so as I get
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: my first ball.
• 27:44
  Speaker 3: Yes, and just I got you this in think you
• 27:46
  Speaker 3: have the same point, you got the same boat. It
• 27:51
  Speaker 3: was this a theme for one of my albums and
• 27:53
  Speaker 3: I worked on this with a friend of Michael key
• 27:54
  Speaker 3: MATI shout out, that's my brother.
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: Woman love better to know old man, oh ship.
• 28:05
  Speaker 3: Man.
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: That was unnecessary and that was called for and envy.
• 28:12
  Speaker 3: Because I want you to look approachable. I got you
• 28:14
  Speaker 3: this in pink Okay, thank you? Yeah, because I know,
• 28:17
  Speaker 3: like I know, you're a gangster.
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: Envy. The y'all be believing that, dumb shit, be saying,
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: all right, give that, thank you? Where were me? And
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: you go all that's nope, period, what's the website? There's
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: no website.
• 28:33
  Speaker 3: You know what I'm saying. That was that was part
• 28:35
  Speaker 3: of something I was doing. But yeah, man, bold Man,
• 28:38
  Speaker 3: do love better so that as a bold Man, as
• 28:40
  Speaker 3: the chairman of the Boldman Association, when you start going
• 28:43
  Speaker 3: ball like you did it on purpose in the beginning,
• 28:46
  Speaker 3: and then he caught up with me.
• 28:47
  Speaker 4: The headline was getting pushed back.
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: Hairline, Yeah, it just left.
• 28:53
  Speaker 3: And I remember one time I was also washing my
• 28:55
  Speaker 3: face and I had a bigger face.
• 28:56
  Speaker 4: To wash me too.
• 29:00
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, I took it with stride. It's become
• 29:03
  Speaker 3: my thing now and quite frankly, the girls like it,
• 29:05
  Speaker 3: you know, like we're different. Bowling is actually a sign
• 29:09
  Speaker 3: of a lot of Testestone. So if you're a bold,
• 29:12
  Speaker 3: you're a man's man if it's anything to go by.
• 29:14
  Speaker 3: But whatever, good to see you brother. Their website for
• 29:21
  Speaker 3: the tour, I just go to oh yes man. You
• 29:22
  Speaker 3: can go on my Instagram B and a messul B
• 29:24
  Speaker 3: I E N A I M E s O L
• 29:27
  Speaker 3: being a missoul. You can go there. There's a link
• 29:30
  Speaker 3: for the tickets. I'm playing Ohio next, I'm playing at
• 29:33
  Speaker 3: Lantern next. I'm so loving pretty much every place. But
• 29:36
  Speaker 3: you can follow the boy. You can check out the
• 29:38
  Speaker 3: vibes and through my page you're going to discover what
• 29:40
  Speaker 3: the staffic is about. I also want to welcome all
• 29:42
  Speaker 3: of you guys to Kenya. I'd love you if you
• 29:44
  Speaker 3: guys ever land in Kenya NV. I know you come
• 29:47
  Speaker 3: there often, so turn them off.
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: I got to get back there.
• 29:49
  Speaker 3: Tell them about it the place, can your right boy?
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: Danza ball right? Yeah?
• 29:54
  Speaker 4: I want to lash it well. The year before last
• 29:56
  Speaker 4: I went to Tanzania Danza bar and they was like,
• 29:58
  Speaker 4: you got to go to Kenya's right there?
• 29:59
  Speaker 3: Yeah?
• 30:00
  Speaker 4: Nice.
• 30:00
  Speaker 3: So I'm welcome to you guys again. Thank you as
• 30:03
  Speaker 3: love to see you guys there.
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: Yes, sir, appreciate your brother it's the Breakfast Club. Good morning,
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: wake that ass up in the morning. Breakfast Club