Dancehall powerhouse Qritical outlines his plans for the year

Qritical doesn’t believe that he is better appreciated elsewhere, partly because he doesn’t believe he’s a prophet. 

He sees himself as a talented individual with a good heart and a lucky streak, a young Kenyan who easily makes a connection with foreigners.

“I can’t explain how I always get gigs from total strangers, non-Kenyans especially. But it's clearly a highlight of my career.”  

Here, he is referring to a recording deal he signed with Nigerian label Chocolate City, the home of MI, Jesse Jagz, Femi Kuti, Ice Prince and Victoria Kimani, among others. 

He is a talented artiste who grew up in the same house as Suzuki and Risasi, Kenya’s finest dancehall and raggamuffin artistes. 

Qritical is a dancehall powerhouse, his songs unique and his style distinct, a student of the game in a way that many can envy, a young man who can write, produce, sing and direct much older talents.

“You can’t believe this, but I spent almost a year in Colombia writing and producing songs in a language I’m not even 10 per cent great at yet,” he explains, sitting opposite me a few weeks after he landed back in the country. 

 “But music is a feeling and once you know the fundamentals, you can create an album with aliens if they so wish.”

But how did the unsigned artiste, whose entire catalogue of songs he had written and produced post-pandemic, get here?

“I met a great man here in Kenya, a man of Colombian origin, who invited me to his country and hosted me without asking anything of me,” he explains how he ended up in Colombia.

Besides the many singles he helped create, and the album he expects to finish at some point this year, he appeared in three videos; 'Balance', with Jossman, I wanna Know, with Lil Keren, and Love is healing with Marino Luis.

“It was a great honour to be featured in the two songs and videos,” he says excitedly, adding, ‘Those two songs got me to perform and headline in a few festivals down there.”

In June, he performed at the Sucursal Fest 2024, an event dubbed, ‘a great Historical Moment for Unity and Cultural Expression (between) Africa and Colombia’. 

In August, he performed at the Afrourbanfest 2024, summarizing his experience with, “It was an amazing feeling, singing songs in swahili and english and seeing the mostly Spanish-speaking crowd go wild.”

Qritical, who has previously worked with King kaka, Linex Mjeda, Mustafa, and Prince Adio, was hosted under Cuaryen SAS, a record label based in Cali, one of the most populous cities in southwest Colombia.  Interestingly, he was never signed. 

“It was more of a cultural exchange program,” implying that his benefactor, whom he is not ready to disclose, works in Colombia’s state department. “Cuaryen is a very reputable label that works closely with very big institutions in Colombia that I prefer not to mention, yet.”

Regardless, he features heavily on the labels’ social pages of the label that is home to Marino Luis, Jossman, Orlando Music and others.

“More is on the pipeline for this year. Including a curated cultural experience between Kenyans artistes and Colombian superstars,” he revealed.  

“I’m also currently working on my album with the likes of Chopstix HitMaker and YoungL from Nigeria, which is set to be released this year, and a tour around Kenya and the world. Watch this space!”