And, you know, the things we're saying are, are not easy to do though, you know, like was right now we're on the podcast saying as though making a hit is an easy thing to do. It's not. Oh, yeah. But we're just kind of telling. You I'm which? What's the? Because no one knows what that is. Yeah, yeah, that's, that's, that's correct. That's correct. Assistance. What is it? Yeah, oh, back seat, back seat drivers, Yeah. Oh, we're being back benched. Back back bench drivers man.
Than your podcast. Big bumper. Yeah, yeah. What's up guys? And welcome to episode 142 of the 30% podcast. I go by Alpha. My Co host goes by Sam, Ari, Jedediah and Sam. Thank goodness we're still around. You know, I thought the world was going to end on Saturday, but you know, here we are, man, you know, delivering another podcast for you guys, certain people. Yo, you didn't. You didn't see prophet awards his his his church. Oh man, listen to Stop with the Prophet.
Literally no. But he literally the church said that the, that, that the, the world was ending on August 2nd. So me, I was ready, man. I was like, yo, Saturday, it's it's up, it's up. You know, we only got to 141 episodes of the podcast, but thankfully nobody. Knows the. Day or the hour? No one knows the day or the hour except Propheto Roy. Propheto Roy and his boys and girls. We're back. We're back, back. We're back. So now what happens?
What happens to a church? What what happens to people where you prophecy that the world is going to end and then the next day you wake up like what? What do you do? What's protocol in that situation? The congregation. The congregation will still go, and still. All right, there's a bit of saucing. Let's not get to do that because there's a bit of saucing I get to get to need your but. Anyway I. Know you're ready for that, right? Sam, we we are thankfully still here to deliver an amazing
podcast for you guys. I hope you guys have been good. I hope your weeks. Have been progressed. Until the next process, Sam, How are you doing, man? I'm. Cool, I'm all right. I'm cold. The temperature just for some reason, the temperature just the day has been cold. Sun was out. It was great. And then all of a sudden the temperatures dropped, which is absolutely terrible. It's cold, but I will not complain as I complain. But yeah, that's cool.
I'm I'm I'm all right. This week feels weird because I think the past like month I've been going out every single week like twice, maybe for like music shows. This past week, I didn't go out for nothing. And I feel so bad, partly because there's things I wanted to go out for, but then I couldn't. Yeah. I just, I don't know, I feel, I feel like I feel like a part of my life is. Missing wow it. Just feels weird.
Wow look at the growth man. Some has been wearing less and going out more, but like now he feels restricted. Did you say? Wearing. Wearing less? Don't. Look at me like. Did you say wearing less and going out more? Well, you could have just said someone's been going out more. What's the wearing less? It's the Drake line. It's a Drake. Line. You don't. All right, all right. OK, This is good. This is a building moment. This is a building moment. In, in, in, in this dynamic that we have.
Good on here. Don't you ever use any Drake lines to refer to me, because the life Drake lives and the life I live are literally different. There will be nothing that applies to me that will apply to him, apart from music itself. Really. And Dennis, wasn't he talking about of of was that meant to be? It's just. Talking about a human being, it's about a human being. You see now you're, you're you're some weird time. But no, I've not been wearing less than going out more.
I've actually been wearing more and going out more because it's cold. Yeah, layer up, layer up, guys, it's cold. It's cold out there. Please layer up, layer up. I've yeah, I've I didn't do anything this week musical in terms of like shows and whatnot. I missed it. But anyway, next week and there's some good shows coming out too, some stuff I really want to attend. There's something coming up with Mass House with Matata in them that they've been promoting.
And it looks, it looks like it looks like it could be, it looks like it could be, it could be, it could be some, it could be some. So I want to go something. Who am I? It could be something so really. Yeah, it could be some. Yeah, it could be some for real
life. You have to check, you have to correct yourself because hip hop lingo sneaks into it and and we usually hit on hip hop lingo because like, no, you're bro, you're from Nairobi. There's there's nothing anyway, Yeah, so that's that's been that it's just been chill week honestly working. How is the New York's the Big Apple? Bro, New York is good, man. The Big Apple is good. Just been working. Yeah, and also watching a lot of media Man 1. I started watching, I started rewatching.
I don't know if you ever watched this show. It used to be, it was called be Batman Beyond. You know, the the concept, the one where like Bruce Wayne is old. Yeah, Bruce, Bruce Wayne is old. It's like set in the future. And and then there's a kid who's like the new Batman. It's actually so dope, man. I really, I really respect like the retrofuturism wave, like of, you know, like how people always used to like the Jetsons, like the whole old idea of what the future.
The future is like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Flying cars. There's always flying cars in. There somewhere so yeah, yeah, we're. Just working on drones. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Even even Batman Beyond, this is so retro futuristic. I just like that aesthetic so much. So just been watching that. And then also listen, if you, if, if you are listening to this and you're a fan of Love Island, Oh my God, listen, Meg and Dejon are finally out of the villa.
Like listen, actually, by the time you guys are listening to this, the final has already happened. But who cares? Because every, every, every couple that's left is a good couple. And so I'm actually OK with whoever wins, although I secretly really want Harry and Shakira to win. Listen, the real ones know the real ones who are listening to this podcast, who watch the island, they know. They know only the real ones and all. And only the real ones know how much we have suffered watching
Meg and Dejon week in, week out. Talk about oh, but we're boyfriend and girlfriend. Shut up, you're out, you're gone, you are done, you are finished. Anyway, that's how my week ends. All right, well. Sam, why do you look exasperated? I'm very passionate about Love Island. It's, it's television, bro. It's, it's, it's peak TV. It's peak TV. Not just just, not just, it's
not just drama. It's like, listen, everything we've done as humankind, creating the television, discovering electricity, you know, technology, everything that I'll keep to. Myself. Oh, it shakes. Cancelled so quickly anyway. Like even Shakes, Shakespeare, Shakespeare perfecting his craft, you know, creating the genre of drama and all that stuff. All of it culminated into Love Island. And I thank everybody for working. So where do we go from here? Amazing. Where do we go like.
Nowhere, honestly, I don't I don't think I don't think human beings can progress actually talking about hope for humanity. Another thing I've been thinking about a lot is nostalgia. And this also goes into the music industry and we've talked about this before, but it's really worrying, bro. I feel like there's this whole sentiment that, that the past was so lit and was so good that there's nothing that can top that. Because I keep seeing edits on TikTok of like music from 2004 or 2000.
And then they show clips of like, yeah, they'll show clips of like, of like pop culture moments in, in that era. And I'm like, bro, it, it feels like, wow, I wish I could go back. But like, do do you think so how do you feel about that? Like it feels a bit like pessimistic kind of to have that feeling like there's no, there's nothing to look forward to anymore. I don't know. Do you get what I'm trying to say? Yeah, I do. It's, I think it's just a result of how time moves.
I think because like us, we grew by us. I mean like menu like millennials, we grew up at a specific time. And so that is going to be the most important thing to us because growing up, I mean there's a whole psychology with it. We're growing up. Everything is tied, tied to each other in terms of the things that are happening around you
are tied to your emotions. And so they're almost always going to trigger some sort of emotion in terms of how you felt it. And but the thing about that is the kids who are growing up today, 30 years from now, 15 years from now, are going to be feeling the way we feel about that time, about this time, because it means much to the. I mean, it means it means a lot to them in that way. It's just, it's a cycle that keeps happening.
It's not good stuff, but. Not necessarily though the Stone Age, but not necessarily so. So I want to just give like some push back because like the kids who didn't even grow up in like that era between 2000 and 2004, they like even the the kids who are 2021 now, who are born in 2004, Some of them, their whole aesthetic is from the 2000s, a time that they didn't even exist in. Yeah, but that's a trend that they're functioning off trend. There's not necessarily an
attachment to to that era. It's just a trend. It looks cool and it looks like what people are really gravitating to. For someone who was actually growing up during that period, it's more than a trend to them. It's more of it's it's life. It's lifestyle, yeah, it's their lifestyle. It's their emotions. It's, it has more of, more of a meaning to it. But kids are just following trends.
That's all it is. Which which that's a interesting question because the question I, I would like to ask, I was thinking about it over the weekend, is do you think as an artist and as someone who is in art, fashion? I'm talking fashion, I'm talking dance, I'm talking music, film. Do you think as it's do you think better is the time I'm going to use? I think it's better now to experience art with the age of technology and social media and having access to artists and all of the things.
Or do you think it would have been better back then, when you really didn't have access to the art as much, you only had access to the mediums that show it to you? I think access to technology has ruined everything. It has ruined everything. So my answer is, I think in the onset of technology, like when technology was really becoming like. And when I say technology, I also mean like the Internet, when the Internet really started like becoming a part of our lives.
Yeah. That period was perfect because there was a, there was a nice balance between, um, and I'm talking about this period between like, let's say the year 2000 and the year 2008. It where it was just like the Internet is still bubbling up. So we're still coming from, oh, this is how we listen to music on like we watch music videos on MTV or we go out and and listen to music or you go to you go to a shop and you buy CDs and vinyls and also you're also like
consuming content via the Internet, but not as much as you are now. It's not it's not easily accessible because not everyone has access to fast Internet. I think that period was just, it was phenomenal. And that was the peak. Right now, it's horrible. This like the access we have to music is so instantaneous. Like you get celebrities and to artists. Yeah. And exactly. And there's so much of it, you get option paralysis. You don't know what to listen to because there's just so much.
It's everywhere. Like you don't know what to decide to listen to at this point. You at, at some point you, you, you need people to tell you what to listen to because, because if they don't, then you'll just be lost in this cesspool of, of, of, of art. And, and, and, and we're, it's not going to get better. It's only going to get worse. So I think we just need to to to to actively try as hard as we can to revert to consuming media in more physical mode. So you think like like part of
the? Of the Internet and. Frank's Frank Sinatra and Frank Sinatra and Charlie Chaplin and you know those the the black and white age like you think they. Yeah. They think that they enjoyed art more than we would here because we just have so much access into how the art is created. And it just kind of takes away some of that, some of the novelty in art. But then, isn't art also on the other side of that thought? Isn't art just supposed to be a reflection of human beings?
Just human beings reflecting their thoughts and ideas back to themselves? It is. It is. Art is definitely a reflection of the times. But I think even if you compare analog and digital modes of listening to music, Sam, Right. Yeah, Everybody knows when you listen to music on a vinyl, it sounds so much. Better. That's propaganda. It's not, it's not that's that's that's big. It's not that's big, big vinyl.
Oh my God, Oh my God, it's it's so, so, so so do you know why you see the digital music is digital stuff is zeros and ones, right? The reason analogue music is analogue is because like it's, it's made manually. It's through the etching of like those grooves and the the way it's read by those magnet whatever's like on the vinyls and stuff like that. And so there's way more like information. How do I describe this?
There's way more information in that music than digital music, because digital music is kind of limited by the zeros and ones and stuff like that. And, and so you get way more detail with, with analog modes of, of listening to music. The reason I'm saying this is I think even the way music was created back in the day, it was just more wholesome they didn't have access to. You. See us, we have DWS. Yeah, we have DWS. We have bro 300 tracks to do whatever.
You could put one high. Hat they had 4 tracks they had they had two tracks, they had 4 tracks, they had 8 tracks. Making the music was, was, it was like so special. It was so special. Like people, people didn't have the luxury to just like sit around and just like mess around and on when no, when they were making music, they were making music because they had finite resources and, and, and, and they had to just work with what they had.
And so when they made music, they really put their heart and soul into that stuff, man. Because bro, you only have 4 tracks. You only have this amount of time to make it. You know what I mean? So I think, I think things were actually genuinely slightly better back in the day. Right now it's it's just kind of like anyone is doing music, like anybody in your mom can make music. Nowadays, yeah, there's a grandma following. There's a grandma following.
So who's DJ? She's a DJ and she puts like, I think she just, she's, she's a promoter, not really a DJ. But then yeah, everyone and the grandma literally can make music. Shout out to grandmas man. Shout out to Grandma. Shout out to grandmas. See, I don't I'm not the only one who does the random shoutouts so. Grandmas deserve shoutouts. Grandmas deserve shoutouts, man. No, they do, but like, I'm not the only one who does it. Anyway, music is, is is fun.
I guess it's whatever age you're in, you'll listen to music and the people who are in the future, who have their music implanted and streamed directly to their brains will think that us, we have it good with Spotify, just like we think that the other people had it good with just theatres and operas, whatever. Oh yeah, definitely. OK. Actually, you're right. Because people in the future would probably think we had it better. We just.
And that's what I was talking about when you were asking that question in terms of it's just generational, It's what means the most to us. It's just it goes by generations. I don't know if there's a golden age per SE. That would be weird. Speaking of generations, there's been a generational divide on the Internet. So Genghatone artist Parotti has been going at Toxic Ali for the past week also. I don't even know why he's doing this like so consistently.
I don't know what it is about toxic Ali that has just like rubbed bro the wrong way. But as you guys know, toxic Ali right now is on a run, you know, like he's he's actually, I think it's safe to say he's the artist in Kenya with the most hype around him. I think that's just like a sensible thing to say aside from BN, of course, but like in terms of just like the the upcoming, like new whatever, like toxic really Cali is the guy and parote last week. And this is this frustrates me so much.
I feel like things always happen after we do the podcast, after we do the podcast, news always happens and then now we have to wait a week to talk about it. It infuriates me. But anyway, so after we did last week's podcast, there was a whole thing about Toxic lyrically saying that. Your artist need to chill about asking for collabs. Like he's he's basically was just saying like, you know, if
it happens, it happens. But like, you know, that just can't be the whole conversation that we're having day in, day out, asking me for collabs, asking me for collabs. And then Parotti comes and says, bro, you're being prideful. Like you think you'll be hot forever but just me this shit. Comes and goes. Like, yeah, you just got here, like, honestly. And Parrotti has the experience. Parroti has been around for like 4 or five years, you know what I
mean? So Toxiclicali goes back on the Internet and says he's not being prideful. He's actually just, you know, he'd, he'd never like, he'd never, like, express himself that way anyway. But Parrotti is kind of like insistent that, you know, toxic lyrically is in the wrong here and he just needs to humble himself a little bit more. So I wanted to ask you some, do you think Toxic lyrically needs to humble himself a little bit more or is he right in in in what he was saying initially?
This is a conversation, I think about perception. Perception in perception in music is everything. Perception in music is everything because once speaking from like just music itself, once you get a hit and all eyes on you, you're perceived as the important one. You're you're perceived as what's important in the moment. The spotlight is on you and the industry's eyes and everything on you. So you're important.
That creates a weird, it just creates a weird thing where now all of a sudden you might be viewed higher and better and what do you call more, more successful than you are just because of that? That whole thing of the spotlight is on you. And so the different ideas and I don't even know the right term to it, but it just, it just makes everything weird because now people like, because there's people who have have they've just been chilling.
Then they get a hit and all of a sudden they're completely inaccessible. All of a sudden now is talk to my manager. All of a sudden is now I'm not doing any features. And I'm not saying this is toxic. I'm just going to, I'm not doing any features. I just really and, and people and people, people try and make it different things. I'm just trying to focus on me right now. I'm on a run and just I just want to and you know, he's
trying to sign you. Some the no, some the worst I've ever been told is I don't have the. Oh, Messi, that's that. That one is disrespectful, though. That one is just as what do you mean you don't have the mentor? What do you mean go get it? Go get where do you where do they go? Get that mentor? So the perception is everything.
So once you're hot now and the people with the best perceptions of the people with the power, so now him as an artist, it can be like can go. You know what, no, I'm not. I don't want to. I'm not going to do features and you can't say anything about it. You really can't say anything about it. It looks salty when you now come back, like priority goes back as I say, no farm or you think, you know, like you just got here that that whole discourse, it
looks it comes off as salty. But then on either side, I think they both probably have some sort of skin in the game, some sort of truth to to what they're saying, because toxic could be like, listen, man. And in his mind, he might be trying to play it off humble. We don't know, right? He might be trying to play it off humble And but in his mind, it's like, I probably have a goal and my goal is to do this,
do this, do this. Maybe he wants to do features and just genuinely can't do the features right now or whatever it is. But that's always going to be looked at. The moment you get that perception and all the eyes are on you, just by nature of how things function, that's going to be looked at as, yeah, you're just trying to send me like, you don't have the mental capacity now. You're just, you're just all right, cool. You know? Is there a right and a wrong in this situation?
What do you think? Do you think there's a right and a wrong in this situation? I don't know if there is. What's the nature of how things are? Even before we get there, do you think, do you think Parote is cloud chasing a little bit because that's what people have been saying? Yo first can we? Can we just? Like why is parote so can we?
Retire cloud chasing because now whenever anyone does anything in the public eye and on social media that may not rob well with with you, all of a sudden it's cloud chasing. Cloud chasing is a specific town for a specific thing. It's going on the Internet with the intention of getting attention of seeking attention. I don't think priority would be in the term place where he'll be cloud chasing.
I just I've never seen it from him so I would I could maybe I could be wrong, but cloud chasing is really stop using cloud chasing for everything man. Just because you don't agree with someone on the Internet doesn't mean that cloud chasing. My favorite new term on the Internet is adding the word maxing or adding the word morguing to things. Which is farming over with because it used to be farming before it's farming over with. Oh, farming is old. Farming is.
Old, that was like. Adding mugging and maxing to things keep. Up man, I'm saying I can't kill. The yeah so so some people would say toxic critical is cloud maxing. Cloud maxing that actually has a ring to it. Cloud maxing is a fire word. Cloud maxing is it 2 XS. It's just the one. It's just the 1X. Yeah, 2X. Yeah, that makes it. Look so much harder. I knew it. Yeah, Cloud Maxim is fired. So who so who's in the wrong and who's on the right?
So I I, I kind of side with with toxic really Cali here because you have to think about it some He's in a position where like just think about how many people are asking for favours. Yeah, at this. Moment. This time, everyone wants to be attached to it. It's good. It's it's going to be so hectic in his camp. Everybody and their mom wants a
toxic lyricali. Wants a. Toxicali feature they were exactly they want a toxicali video, they want a toxicali endorsement, they want a toxicali this and that and the 3rd and I'm sure like it's it's stressful and whatever he does, he's not going to be able to like satisfy everybody. Everybody's going to like. Yeah. Feel that type of way no matter what he he decides to do. Yeah. And so in my opinion, I think he needs to be really picky but also really smart about how he moves.
I don't think he needs to be rude. He doesn't. I don't want him to start being like snobby or or or not. You know, there's this trend on TikTok about how like you're going to switch up on your day ones when you make money and everyone is like, yeah, we're just going to switch up. But no, I wouldn't want him to switch up on like his people or just switch up on on on what made him who he is today. But I do understand not being able to collaborate with everybody.
You know, some artists is like, you know, you like some you might have been in let's say, let's say you're you're in the come up, right, And and there might be some artists who you knew in in your hood and they were making music. But then you everything just started working out, right? And those artists kind of stayed at the same level, right? They didn't really. Yeah, they didn't. They didn't leave. The hood, their career, they
didn't even really. Yeah. And then or no, or they just didn't work on their craft as much, right. And so they kind of stagnated. And then now, just because you all knew each other, like this person is asking you to do a feature on a song. But bro, you're a different person at this point in time and you kind of stayed the same. Like it might not make the most sense for me right now and I know that sounds very mean. I mean, that does make sense. But yeah, you can't.
That does make sense. You can't just work with. It doesn't make sense. I'm. Saying it makes sense. It makes it makes sense. It's you've moved. Yeah, you can't just work with every. Yeah, you can't just work with everybody just because like you're. It feels very handouty. It feels like I'm giving you a handout. It feels like, like you just want to attach yourself to me now because I am who I am and, and, and the eyes are on me. And not necessarily because we
came from the same spot. But I also do understand that people who just like, they switch up, like the switch up is real. The switch up happens more often I think than the other thing. What do you understand? Wait, what do you mean? Do you understand? I no, I, I, I understand that the switch off happens. I understand that that people, people do a lot of just once I am him. I am, I'm him and I'm going to
say what's up to you? Like when I see you, but you still have to buy tickets to the show. That happens a lot. We just people just never talk about it. But again, this whole thing is about it's for me, it's about perception because then now as an artist, like just speaking about the industry, I feel like as an artist, the moment you get like a look like toxic lyric lyric Ali has did I did I say that already?
Lyric Ali? Like once you get that look, he you then have to manage your perception in in in the industry. You have to start. You can't just you can't just be going to everyone and anyone and then be operating and moving in the same way. Like you've gone up a level and with going up a level that brings a little bit more responsibilities and just different things you have to do to advance. Like for you to advance from the bottom up to to where he probably is, is just make a good song.
Make a song everyone can vibe to, but then now after that you have to make a good song and then you have to be seen in specific places and this is how the industry is. There's just levels that you have to progress with, and if you want to succeed, you have to really do a lot of managing of that. And it's such a balancing act. Like you said, there's a lot of management that needs to take place. Yeah, You know what I mean?
And, and I don't think I think tech toxic lyrically is still like connected to where he's from. Like I always when I'm, when I'm out on YouTube, just like looking for new talent and stuff or just like new songs. I, I sometimes I just be bumping into toxicly Ricali's comments and he's usually just like, yo, this shit is tough. You know what I mean? Like he's supportive of the upcoming acts. I've seen it.
I've seen it in my like this one artist I I've been listening to called Shaman. He's he's part of a group called Republic EMS. They're so small, like they're they're they're not popping or like they're not like mainstream, but yet toxic. Really. Cali is in the comments saying that this shit is hard. Even in the song with shy boy ghetto tycoon, right, He's in the comments. Stop laughing. He's in the comments saying that that song is hard.
So it's not to say like that Toxicly Ricali is completely switching up on people. He's still there like supporting people in the best way that he can, you know what I mean? And so bro, I don't fault him. So for me personally, now, if this is me, if I'm toxicly Ricali, what I would do is like you said, there's there's there's expectations on him just now. Start moving like an artist who
is established. So yeah, Boutros wants to do, Boutros wants to do a collab, Brooklyn Boys wants to do a collab. Do the collabs with them. I still would do collabs with people who are less known or people who are still kind of like not mainstream names. I would still do that, but they would have to be really good for sure. But like I would still do those.
I, I, I wouldn't, I wouldn't completely just now start working with mainstream acts and then and then yeah, like I would, I would do that, but not, I wouldn't like over saturate myself essentially. You know what?
I mean you do and, and unfortunately just the way Kenya's, Kenya's industry is a very hit driven industry because we don't do a lot of we, we haven't placed, I do feel like it's changing, but then we haven't placed a little focus on the album and the art of an album and how the album sustains, sustains an artist's career, not necessarily in terms of monetary, but then sustains an artist's career in terms of just what it does. So it's a very, that's my opinion. I could be wrong.
It's a very hit driven industry and for you to stay relevant you do need to be in front of people's faces with hits for the most part. That might be changing a bit though, but it's cool. So like for him, I do think that if you had one, we've had so many situations of where I just have caught one and then they have almost coasted off the one that they've caught. And that's song and it's hype.
And then you come back after 7-8 months dropping a song and no one is rocking to it. And it's it's. No one cares. It's. Brutal. It's absolutely brutal. So it kind of needs, I get it. He kind of does needs to to focus and and like now. So now he's at the point where he probably could him and his team could probably like try and engineer something, you know, make it look like go hit up specific people. Our industry is still small.
So that can happen easier than it probably could in like the West. But he needs hits. I think that's what. You call it right now is yeah, you need a couple. He's he's he's in a very, very critical point in his career. And and Sam and I were talking about this like you look at Wadagly is right. I mean, when Uncle Kanayo came out, there's just this feeling you get like, oh, these guys are bigger than than life like or larger than life like. And. The moment it feels like it's. Yeah.
Yeah, in the moment it feels like it'll never end, but it does, and it happens so quickly. And and so for toxic really Cali right now, like if I'm him, you forget about Chinji, you forget about backbencher, bro, I need the next thing. You know what I mean? What's the next thing I need to
get another one. So, and it's such a balancing act because you also don't want to like, like I said earlier, you don't want to over saturate yourself, but you, you do need those hits to keep rolling because like Sam said, our industry unfortunately is a very heat driven industry as opposed to like a project driven industry. People won't be like, oh, you created this amazing body of work. Yeah, or even just. The mainstream isn't going to recognize that as much.
Or even just the like artist development and all that. Like we, we don't have labels like focus on that and, and, and having different layers to an artist rather than just the songs. We unfortunately are just focusing on the songs. And so then by virtue of that, it's, we're going to focus on what you do. What have you done for me lately? What do I like the most about you currently? And that's it, That's it. It's not going to be the places
you appear. It's not going to be, it's not going to be so much your brand, the brands you affiliate with, because we're also trying to figure that out. So that's something I think we could we could use is a lot of a lot more teams figuring out how to go about just engineering a perception for artists. That sounds terrible, honestly, for especially for appearance like me. But then it's definitely it's a nature. But you have to do it. You have to do that you.
Have to do it. So, so, so if we even have like, case studies, like you look at drama, he had to maybe pop off, right? Yeah. And, and that was a great song. But a lot of people could argue that was also a very, very critical period in his life. Because if he didn't deliver anything after that, then bro is gonna struggle. You know what I mean? Yeah, we'll get to go. Code for. Him but that's that's not what that's not what happened they.
Locked in and went on one of the runs that we have seen in African music of the recent past. He has gone on what what a run right and it's all about that it's all about even Iris star like just the decisions that you start making once you have a hit definitely helps. But I do think that once you have a hit, you do need to
create a couple of more. You can't just immediately jump into the perception game because you don't have enough to drag with you and the one that you have would probably wear out fast. And then now you're scrambling between and then now you're caught up between doing managing perceptions and trying to create a hit as well. So like we like you said, he definitely needs to lock in whoever he locks in with. The music just has to be
amazing. And then you become a staple, and then now you have enough to start just trying to make yourself look a lot bigger than you are. It has to be and and and so like back to the Rhema example, like I said, you know, he releases that EP that had do maybe, which is just the self-titled and then he had a bunch of like remixes to the do maybe song and stuff. And I feel like that period 20/20, he was really he was really coasting a little bit. He didn't really know exactly what to do.
But then bro locked in, they created sound Gasm and I think that came out 2021. That shit was another hit all together And and and from there bro, just like bro 2022, calm down. And from there, like now that's like, bro, we are, we are now cooking. Like whatever we do now, it's going to be crazy. So for me, I look at I look at you're looking at it from do maybe do maybe it's cool, but it was like a pre hit. I look at I look at Rama's the what what I'm talking about.
I look at it from calm down and what happened from calm down. The moment he got to that and just how they started, really just trying to make him look like the biggest artist in the world. But you could also do it from 2. Maybe the thing about it is after two, maybe he kind of still was trying to figure figure things out because he was still very. Young yeah yeah, bro, bro was bro was a bit lost. That's what I'm trying to say like but but they they they did it.
Man locking in with London making sound Gasm. I believe woman also came out in that time. Yeah, but but you know those those songs were they just kind of felt like intermissions. They didn't really feel like the thing. But he but but he figured out how to like, make these songs that really stuck. And then Calm Down came out. Fire and then charmed. Yeah, not from. Yeah, from CALM Down came out. He just just. Took off and and.
He took off. And then from there, like the perception is crazy because now you release charm, Everybody knows you're just like everything you do is just beautiful. It's just a hit. Everyone is asking for you to be on remixes. He goes on the Soweto remix in 2023. Blows he. Completely elevated that song And and and and we're like and we're like that song is already a hit. How can it get any better with Rama made made it better, you know what I mean?
And so now post 2023, Rama is at a point where he can do whatever he wants. And now we we have seen him do things like the Ravage EP things like he is like now he's just like branching out. So, so just looking at Rama as a case study, right? You'd, you'd consistently need that one song that's that's a hit in the beginning.
Like every year, every year you need to get that song that really drives the narrative and then put together those small projects like after like 3 years, you need to be relevant. You need to be relevant because of the hit. It's a relevance game. And then from yeah. And so, like, you see, if Toxic Ricali has a 2026 that's quiet, yeah, you know, then that's that's that, you know what I mean? But right now, he's on the good.
He's on a good trajectory. I mean, we've seen Conscience wants to hop on the on the remix for for backbencher. That's big. That's, that's cool. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, conscious is such a big study. Gala bubble conscience, man, Gala bubble conscience sound. That song. Bubble gal bro bro, I remember, I remember being in in in high school watching that video. Oh no, I can't. My eyes, My eyes are opening to all the possibilities of life. That was ratchet music.
Ratchet peak. That was Ratchet peak right there. That was crazy. But conscious, I mean, conscious seems to be doing that a lot now. Whenever Kenya song pops, he jumps on it. He did that with Angela. Now he's trying. To jump with Angela as well. Yeah, anyway, hey, we'll take it. So they'll take it. Maybe there's? No, we'll take it. We'll take it. So so another artist who is struggling is Dana Chords, because last year was her year together. It was Douglas. OK, I wouldn't say she's
struggling. It's not a hot hot she's. Not when she had that. She's. Yeah, the temperature has definitely cooled off on that. But. And, you know, the things we're saying are not easy to do though, you know, like was right now we're on the podcast saying as though making a hit is an easy thing to do. It's not. Oh, yeah. But we're just kind of. Telling you I'm which? What's the? Because no one. Yeah, that is. Yeah, yeah, that's, that's, that's correct.
That's correct. Assist us What is it? Yeah, or backsit, backsit drivers. Yeah, we're being back bench, back, back bench drivers, man. Than your podcast. Yeah. So I don't know, like you said, I, I guess Parotti has a has a point in that sense about how cold an artist can get. Especially bro, Kenyan music fans are so fickle. Oh my God, people will move on from you in a heartbeat unless you've attained a certain level. And this is something we're
talking about with some earlier. You see somebody like BN I think will always get like acclaim, even if he goes quiet for a while. People like Nikita caring. I think even Nikita caring, you know, she's quiet. But like, I think we personally, I think if she releases music, she'll still get a lot of like motion. But not everybody has those exceptions. I feel like those exceptions are only like such few. Artists who does that have to do with genre or is what does that
have to do with? It has to do with them not having as much competition as the rest of the field. Like there's nobody who I, I don't, in my opinion, I don't think there's anybody who can replace what BN is doing currently. You know what I mean, at the level that he's doing it. And so if BN leaves, as much as there will be a vacuum, there's not really anybody to feel that space, you know what I mean? So when so whenever he decides
to come back, that. Everyone, the people who are waiting for him, the people who were his fans either. Whereas in other industries, the moment you leave someone, someone steps in there and they they take a chunk of the people who are following. Immediately. Completely switch up that makes sense immediately. That makes. Sense immediately.
And So what Sam and I are saying is like, so so Kenya does have a lot of artists, but we're talking about like that cream at the top where like there's not as much competition for these sports. And down in the in the like the lower levels, Oh, there's hella competition. Like if, for example, if what under Willie start to slack, they can be replaced very easily. If Keithan and Quinotti start to slack, those guys can be replaced very easily. And I know that sounds like
brutal to say, but it's true. Like people want those sports and they're willing to work their way to get there. So, so for for for people who are like still in that like come up region, they still. Need to they still there's more people around yeah, there's more people around, but then once once you elevate and you go higher now the you you gain like God status and it's just like. I guess. Oh, that was the wrong term, small G. No, no, no, no. Yeah. Small G, small G, small GI should.
Have said that no, yeah, it definitely makes sense. That's actually pretty interesting. We don't have at the top. Maybe that's why we also struggling with some of the older acts because there's just still there has been no one to replace them in terms of doing what they have done. So we're still kind of stuck and Oh my God. So this, this, this brings me to this. This happened a while ago. Yo you guys need to leave nonini alone bro. I don't know if he saw he gets to leave nonini alone.
Bro was just like he's like it's like Will Smith recently. I didn't even saw the Will Smith freestyle like they're just trying bro bro. Bro bro those freestyle who was Will Smith saying what did he even take the? Cornea, I think I pulled the pin out of the grenade. And what did you say? I pulled the green, the pin out of the green, threw it a bit off, more than I could chew, and I chewed it OK. Oh brilliant. You sound so old. He did sound.
He did sound, but then he did sound like he was he was. It sounded that flow was a little bit aged. Listen Nanini if you need some beats bro. Like Afam. Afam is really ready to lock in with. A quick turn back. Well, I don't have the bandwidth, the mental bandwidth. No, man. So there's there's not a lot of people who can do what he's done. And then there's Kiroro, all of them. Like that's that that move has not been replaced or there's not
many people who can do that. So then you have artists who are just they've not, they don't have the incentive to be false. That's problematic. Yeah. We, we need to be developing artists to be, you know, initially I, I, I, I actually, what I want to say is we need to build artists in so that they're so good that they, they can or they have the potential to surpass the artists who came before them. We need, we need an industry that's actively doing that because I think that's going to
be very, very healthy. We don't want to get to a point where the, we build an artist to the top and then they stayed there for 30 years. We do not want that because that's going to limit the industry. That's why I'm really insistent. I, I, I really want Kenya to have an artist who's 20 between the ages of 2024.
Like let's say they they pop out now out of the woodwork and by the year 2029, their BN level almost even support surpassing BN and even BN is like, you know, this kid is like, you know, like Rama, like how Rama right now. I think you would arguably say Rama is way bigger than whiskey than. Oh yeah, now definitely more relevant, yeah. Yeah, now you could say that, you know what I mean? I think Banner boy is still like really, really doing those things.
But like whiskey than David have kind of like you know what I mean? But you see that industry have allowed for oh, they allow for a new new blood to get to those levels. Yeah, that's what we need. And what that's what, yeah. And what would be even better is if you have is if you have two 3/4 of those going at the same time, really trying to that just elevates the music. Oh, perfect, perfect. And then like like Nigeria, that's what they have with Ira Star and Thames and Rama, like
as like the new blood. And then there's people coming up with love with Kinashe vibes and all those guys. Hungry bro, ready to take those spots we don't be having no hungry food. Hungry food. Did you see? Did you see? That's that's cloud maxing. That was no, that was accent maxing is what he was doing. That was accent maxing. You grew up in you grew up in Benin. Like you don't granola, you know? Yeah, yeah, type, type because like, what do?
You think bro, the memes? No, the memes on TikTok were hilarious. Yeah, anyway, I well, that has been our conversation about toxic really Cali and them. So let's see, let's see how his his career plays out. Yeah, just just real quick, some more progress last Last week we're talking about charts, this week we're talking about charts a little bit, but then Shazam. So a whole bunch of African artists recently have been shining on the Shazam chart, which is cool, which means more Shazam.
I don't look at Shazam like like other charts because Shazam is not necessarily a music listening platform. It's more of like a music discovery platform. So it tells us something different. But yeah, more recently, more artists, African artists have been shining on the Shazam global Charts and I think recently 12 songs, African songs reached the top 10 on My Lady video on the faceless Serotonin Venus, which is really where's
Serotonin goes. Serotonin is doing that thing where he dropped a really fast song and then he's just disappeared. He feels like he's from Ocean. Show Me Love is the MC Shake It to the Max that I think that might have been the number one. I think it's actually, if I look at the charts, Shake It to the Max is number 3 still and all of the other songs have sort of dropped off. Shout out, shout out, shout out to Molly, but I, I will be okay in my life. If you never heard those, those
terms, those words. But I love, I love Molly in that sequence. Please. Yeah, even in different sequences. I don't want to hear Max to the Sheikh. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Reordered anything? But shout out to you Molly, I love your music. But yeah. So, yeah, I mean Laho is on there of course that it had a really big. They call me Charlie Popi. Sorry. Yeah. So it's, I mean, it's very small
news, but it's pretty cool. So it's, I mean, the fact that people, the songs that have been discovered, it's, it's almost like, it feels, it feels like there's been a really big push for African music. And then now you're starting to see like residual effects of this residual effects of, of what has been happening, which will be this way.
Now more people are trying to say some African songs like it's not going to come immediately, but then they want to hear that and, and their ears are packed up. So that's just really cool, man. And it's it's. It's not, it's not, it's not small news, it's actually big news. So like, like I said, like you said, sorry, the the residual effects are beginning to show. I think though, this is a very strategic thing for the industry to start doing or that's why they're doing it.
We also reported recently on them starting the Billboard Africa. There's like, like we said, there's no coincidence why these things are happening now. You know, we've always been talking about how streaming is dying and Africa is the new frontier and they're going to really start looking at Africa if they want to maintain the growth in within the industry. You know what I mean?
The the only reason why African songs are more findable on Shazam is because streaming is more accessible to Africans now. Yeah, OK. That's a good point. That is a good point. You know that is a good point. So there's, there's just the capacity and the availability and the ability to is just there now. Exactly. And they are making that ability and the capacity available to Africans because they need, they need the African continent to start really generating money
for them. Now, how do I feel about that? I have my qualms. But it's one of those things where like African, the African industry will benefit even if the intention is a little bit like, you know, I don't know, it's like, it's like when you, when you, when you left, Well, you know, back in the day when you, you guys used to pick kids to play, to be in your team, to play football. And then now it's the last kid who looks like really scrawny
and stuff. But then he ends up being like the top scorer in your team and you're like, Oh my God, like but nobody really wanted him like when they were picking. So next time, next time you, next time they pick him first. Yeah, Leave me off. That's how I don't pick me. I don't want to be on your team. Anyone who picks me first? No, I don't, so not playing, so that's.
How I feel, I feel like, I feel like y'all are now like picking us last because you thought that y'all stuff was way better, but now you're realizing Oh no, Africa is actually where it's at. So there's that pride and that stubbornness. But also you're like, oh man, it feels very. Lucky, but also, yeah. But also I feel like, OK, this is going to benefit the African continent anyway. So like I, I need to put that pride aside. Do you think so?
Do you think the rumours of that the music industry is largely moving away from the African sound are true? I've seen that a lot of places. I wish I could give you sources, but then I've seen that a whole bunch of people talking about that, that the industry started to move into something else or rather the gearing either gearing up or they've started put it in place. I.
Don't, I probably would say. It's just this is just a rumour and I guess I'm just trying to figure out how things feel like it could be true. So what I would what I would say is happening from my observation is we went through a period where artists were actively trying to replicate and use Afrobeats or African themes in their songs to kind of mix that in, you know, like Drake or Beyoncé.
Like they were really trying to use all those themes to kind of like, you know, elevate their music and make them seem like they're tapped into the African blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, all that stuff. And that has really stopped. That has really stopped. But I think right now we're in the era where, yes, the mainstream, the mainstream industry isn't trying to make like the Western artists hop on
this sound as much. What they're doing though, is trying to build up African artists to be more authentic. Because I think, because I think, I think, I think the general fanbase is over hearing all these artists try and sound African. I think right now more people are like, no, no, no, no, no, exactly.
Right now we we just want to see Ira Star do this because she's authentic at it. So I think the industry is shifting to, to, to, to upholding these artists, so raising these artists up as opposed to that. But I think the African sound is still, I think it's still, it's here to. Stay. I think it's still prominent for a little bit longer. I think so. I think so. You know the era that I miss kind of. I do miss the EDM. When all artists were hopping on EDM beats like Ke$ha Kim, Nicki Minaj.
I kind of miss that time. What is his name? Flo Rider. Like bro, it was a bit of a happy time. What were their names? Paddy Rockers. What are? Their names absolutely dissolved into obscurity. Obscurity man. But them like bro, I missed that period. It was such a happy period. I feel like all the songs are so happy. And like it was fun parties now things centered things feel very oh by LMFAO called LMFAO Oh my goodness.
Do you remember those guys Oh man yeah we do miss that but don't worry, don't worry give it a couple of years it's good to come come right back. Don't. It's just. It's good to circle right back. Don't worry. Just. It always does. It is alright, man. Do you want to talk about new music? Let's do it. Let me let. Me start let me start because I feel like you have low key listen to more music than be. So the long-awaited EP from Butchers finally came out. Vaite was it?
Long-awaited. OK, not long-awaited, but it was highly anticipated. Short, short awaited. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So he finally dropped that. He also dropped a video to the song with Lil Minor and bro. I was digging the I was digging the video, man, the video was really, really good. So shout out to them. They really put together a solid video. The project was interesting. I think like the song with Sarah was nice. I liked seeing Kay Green.
I liked seeing Kay Green in the intro because Kay Green has always been a big one of the biggest names in the Shrap game. And it's good to see Ultra still working with with the ones, yeah, just working with his day one. So it was really nice. I did feel a little bit of a disconnect in terms of how the the the project kind of went from from from that sound and then. To the to the yeah, especially the last, the last two joints,
they're very rage. Yeah, the last two joints just kind of felt like tacked onto the project. I don't know if they really like to me didn't feel like they really fit in that project. Yeah, that being said, I do like left right. I do like the song with little minor. The song with Saru was also was also doing so. I like I like Kyon just put for sorry, I sorry, sorry for interpreting. Yeah, that's what I like. I like what Lil minor is is
doing Lil minor is he? I don't know is it just me, but he's bringing back in terms of his hooks. He's just bringing back like a nostalgic feeling with how he writes, his hooks and his singing everything and his harmonies and melodies like it just it reminds me of the. 2000s, twenty 10s, I suppose, maybe probably more than 20 tens Kyon music. So I don't know whether he's doing that on purpose or he's he's just, but it just sounds good to me. Definitely.
It's definitely intentional. It's definitely intentional. Lil Minor is one of the biggest names in terms of the abundant scene, in terms of relying on nostalgia to kind of create this new feeling that they're trying to create. So yeah, shout out to to Lil Minor. They're they're they're doing a good job over there. So yeah, man. OK, so yeah, I listened to Vaite. I also listened to Creaky by X-ray Little minor again and Dovuku. They released a video to that, so shout out to them.
I also listened to ask those by Dovuku again. Furthermore, Fena Harry Crazen, I foolish my pensi Kama Visu by M Rumbi and Shaker that that was also really dope. I I believe. Oh yeah, I also listen to what else do I listen to? Oh yeah, Abadi by Papa and Andrew Ace shout out to Papa as always. How about you, Sam? Yeah, the colour projects breeder dropped in Dogolu and a a a quick 23 minute listen. Well, well 7 songs 23 minutes seems like really long these
days. 7 songs tend pretend to be under 20. But yeah, that was cool. He dropped the single with Bianna while back. OK, the Max is on there. What in the wheelie Dana chords? And yeah, that was, I mean, that was interesting. It's kind of kind of what you would expect. Fadili Itulia and Iborian released Killasiku. That was an interesting 1. Lucky the Great and for Mr. Frank White, who we obviously love on this podcast, released Airplane Mode.
So that was really cool as well. How do you start out on Dunda? Dunda is an EDM electronic producer. EDM. We need, we need a term. We need a term for EDM producers that originate from Africa. I mean, fine, we can call them EDM producers, but I just feel like there needs to be a new term for that. But. Yeah, here's an idea. We can just call them producers. You're on to something. You're on to something. That's a great idea. Idea Maxing he he really is fall down. Stop. Stop.
Please stop. I'm just gonna start throwing maxing at the end of everything now, especially. No, you just keep on Max. You're bro, you're Max smogging me right now. Max Max. Yeah, you're Max maxing right now. This is such a naughty podcast. Oh my goodness. We apologize, but also thank you for listening. We appreciate. You sorry for not maxing. You guys sorry for not maxing. Dunda, Dunda, listen, this fall down he's released a couple of like just joints that I've
absolutely loved. So it's good to see him keep releasing Mao from nowhere and he he is it he or hi? I don't know how to pronounce that release pressure with a bunch of artists on there. Go check that out. Yeah, that was just a couple of other people released. Somebody be the artist. August 4, Mudoka and Sunset kind of have like a similar sound released. So that's the thing. We'll check that out. That that might have been all I checked.
I checked out this week. I do need to go in and, you know, pay more attention to other people's. But yeah, that was that new. What are we playing? What's our What's our pick of the week? Yes, Sir, the pick of the week would have to go to Blinky Bill and Lisa Odor Noah with the song Bella.
So funny thing happened where you know, before the podcast I was I was like I wasn't so I listened to this song and I was just passive listening to it and I didn't know I didn't know how I felt about it. So I was just telling some I don't know. I don't know if it's the song that I want to play at the end of the podcast, but then I was,
I was like, you know what? Let me listen to this thing again and the hook and some, no, some categorically said, listen to that intro and tell me that's not a good intro. So I sat down and I listened to it and I was like, you know what? Absolutely this. Is actually. Great. Yeah, this is actually great. So yeah, man, no, no, this is actually a really good song and it's very, very catchy because I just kept on singing the hook in my head and out loud, to be
honest. So shout out to Blinky Bill and Lisa Odor. They really put together a good song. And we are going to play the song Bella for the end of the podcast. Feel it every day. The. The. None. That was Bella by Blinky Bill and Lisa Odour Noah so shout out to both of them. That's becoming a really good pairing too, because on Blinky's project there is a really good it is. It's becoming a really good pairing. Maybe an EP in the works, who
knows who. Knows man thank you guys so much for listening to this podcast as always, we created this podcast to uplift the Kenyan industry to highlight Kenyan music because we believe that Kenyan artists deserve to be played more and paid more and also I don't know what I wanted to say after that but. Oh boy, there we go. Listen, we've been having really great conversations and then the podcast just falls apart in the outro. Let's just because we're trying. To do No, no, OK, OK, OK, OK OK
Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, no, no. Watch me, watch me. Watch me. Watch me. Watch me now. Watch me whip a nanny. Go watch me whip a nanny now yeah, yeah. I, I listen, listen, listen, listen. If you're new to this podcast, you might not know, but I use usually like to end the podcast on the three C's, which which is a mantra that I devised for myself because I'm not perfect and I'm trying to work on myself as a creative. Number one, confidence.
Always be confident in your music, in your art, because that's what people are going to experience first when they interface with your music or your art. Confidence is key #2 consistency. I said confidence is key, but so is consistency. If you're not consistent, you are going to be forgotten. Your art is going to be buried under the deluge of creations of today's, you know, era where there's also AI that you're competing with. So always be consistent and #3
craft. Always work on your craft. If you only have 5 minutes to spare, use those 5 minutes to advance yourself in your chosen craft because those 5 minutes add up at the end of the year. You could learn something so vital or pivotal to your career in those 5 minutes. That just kind of changes everything for you. And with that guys, I like I said, thank you for listening to this podcast. Sam, would you want to say anything to your adoring listeners for for to end the
podcast? Yeah, yeah, there's, there's, there's a saying from like Proverbs, the book in the Bible, Proverbs, which kind of like I read this week, it just kind of slapped me in the face. And it's so simple. It's Proverbs 2213 and it says the lazy man says there's a lie on outside. Wait, but what if there was a lie? OK, OK, sorry. Let me hear the let. Me hear the, the, the whole thing is the, the, the lazy man says there's a lion outside. So just paraphrasing, there's a lion outside.
I like I'll I'll be killed. I'll be killed in the streets. And I mean, think about it. There's double meaning to that. So it's like, all right, like your fears, the fears you have are imagined, first of all. And so you're just going to stay in bed and not go out because you imagine a lion outside.
What if there's no lion? So for me that just kind of slap me like sometimes, sometimes, sometimes we're afraid of progressing and going further and starting things because of the just a fear of what's outside and what's to come. But I guess in this, in this, in this, what do you call it? It's in this sense it's looked at as it's still laziness. So just go out and get it. Basically what I'm trying to say is go out and get it. Do what you need to do to. Be who you. Want to be and yeah.
And what I'm getting from that is, like, even if there is indeed a lion outside, pointing out the problem doesn't help. Absolutely. It's better to point out the solution. You know what I mean? Like, fine, there's a lion outside. What are we going to do about it? I like it. I like it. Those pithy words from Sam. We'll see you guys on Episode 143. 43.