Refigah Mtoto wa Kibera

Written by Daniel Saenyi Yusuf Noah, famously known as Refigah is a 30 year old musician cum manager. The Artiste grew up in Kibera or as he puts it, he is a B.B.K (Born and Bred in Kibera). He has been in the music industry for 14 years and is even organizing an anniversary Party in Nairobi on 16th July. This Kibera based rap artist has been on the Kenyan hip-hop scene since 1997 and his music is well known for social, cultural and moral restraint while still entertaining in lyrics and beats even when he decided to venture into production and artist management.  The former musician crossed the border to the production side and runs an event Management Company dubbed First Class Entertainment and also started Grandpa Record’s label which has signed artists like Wyre, Kenrazy, Nazizi , Mr. Blue and J.I. He is currently focusing on bringing up new artists like Tierra Gee and Chupee who performed during Wyre’s tour of Bungoma over the weekend at various venues. When he started out Refigah’s family was against him being in the music industry but became supportive when his carrier picked up. His music productions are based on what’s in style currently to get a wide variety of customers and exploring new styles. As to why he decided to abandon singing, Refigah claims that he wants to revolutionize the music industry and drive out brief case producers who are out to exploit the talents of young musicians then finally dump them. He is trying out new styles in music like the afro-fusion for Wyre and J.B Mania which was a worthwhile risk as the style has picked up to cater for young and the old generation as he puts it himself. “In the music industry, one can do two things; they can focus on what’s in style now or secondly take a risk and introduce a new style. Either way you still get a 50-50 chance at staying on top in both options, but its better to invent your own style and let others follow you.” According to him it’s harder being a Manager than a musician because of too much pressure from the artists who expect the best from you. “As musician, you only have to worry about yourself but being a manager you carry the whole load of over 25 musicians on your shoulders who expect you to make sure they are on television, get advertisement deals, get shows all over and make sure their albums sell,” Said Refigah. Piracy is what is killing the music industry in Kenya today. Many upcoming artistes don’t make it because their albums are pirated and sold cheaply to the customers. As he puts it, the only way to handle piracy is to come up with good strategies that will bring down the trend. Upcoming artistes should not just sign with anyone because we now have very many briefcase producers, advised Refigah. Before one signs with any manager, they should do a background check on the person and have enough information before signing any contracts. He goes on to tell upcoming artistes not to copy the styles of other musicians because it won’t be competitive in the market. They should have their own talent and be flexible. They should be able to do any type of music be it Reggae, RnB, Dancehall or Hip-hop like Wyre. Refigah will be in Bungoma on Friday 24th June on a tour with Kenrazy on his way to perform in Kitale on Saturday. He says Bungoma has a nice a crowd that listens to almost all his artists’ songs and promises to come back with many other artists on Tours.