The celebrity scene is inundated by current stars who have eclipsed others to rise to superstardom, write CAROLINE NYANGA and TONY MOCHAMA

Last week, Abbas was at war with Jua Cali, saying he (Abbas) should have been the one flowing with gangsta rapper, The Game, and not Jua Cali, a ‘mere genge’ rapper.

Jua Cali

But really, the person who is allowed to have beef with Jua Cali ought to be Nonini — who used to be the King of Genge, before Jua Cali letad his ngeli.

Here’s the sad story, or happy one, of 10 stars who eclipsed the predecessors in their own game.

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1 -Jua Cali vis-a-vis Nonini

It was 2003. Genge music was officially introduced into the local music scene; by this we mean getting immense airplay on television stations, matatus and radio stations. At the time, Jua Cali who also produced the songs, only appeared in the song videos as a comical caricature. The man of the moment was none other than controversial rapper Nonini. His hits Manzi Wa Nairobi and We Kamu quickly became a favourite among local fans. Jua Cali released Ruka and Nipe Asali and but getting widespread airplay was a major hindrance considering his was relatively unknown. On the other hand Nonini quickly conquered the fame game as he got interviews from various media houses who dubbed him the King of Genge. He was the talk of town. With the release of the Homeboyz produced Keroro he was already going places and getting shows. Jua once again appeared in his video as a cameo character.

But then came 2005 when things begun taking a turn for the better for Jua Cali. He released Kiasi which was an instant hit. He followed it up with collabos with Pilipili and Flexx for the songs Kamata Dame and Nyundo. Others that came in line were hits like Bidii Yangu (featuring Mahatma) and Kwaheri (featuring Sanaipei). And there was no stopping this jamaa. He has since become the undisputed master of the Genge genre, with everyone wanting a piece of his action! With this international and local award nominations and wins have come his way. Jua Cali is now fully booked from January to December and producer Clemo has him as his star artiste at Calif records. He curtain-raised for American rapper, Game, who crowned him the King of local rap.

Nonini

Then a month later, Jua Cali was the grand finale in a concert that featured Jamaican ragga star Mr Vegas. To date Jua, who has since moved on up to the Hurligham, has also landed big contracts that saw him bank over Sh3 million last year alone. This from a dude four years ago was flown to Mombasa for the first timeby Bruce Odhiambo, had never been in an aircraft. His story is simple — he came, he sang (rapped) and conquered.

2 - Abbas vs Bamboo

They started out as pioneer rappers K-South alongside K- Shaka. The two seemed to cope so well such that after the release of their albums Nairoberry and Nairobizm. Their hit track Nyama Ya Ngombe under Samawati — was on everyone’s lips. "Tunapenda zote, nyama ya ngombe, ugali, kachumbari na ndio watu wasi kondeee!" (This song ought to be made our national anthem, seeing that two million Kenyans will be facing famine in 2009.

They later had differences with their label Samawati. And they released a diss song directed at Susan Kibukosya of Samawati. They decided to work on different solo projects. Bamboo’s releases of Compe and Kabinti in 2005 took him to the very top of the local charts. Amid his scandals Bamboo chose to leave for America.

Like many who go to the USA, he soon got side-tracked into the chinky hustle, like curio-dealing, and forgot the dream.

But not Abbas! Even as folk said he was finished without Bamboo, he kept a low profile, and finished a very creative album and video. Now he was ready to unleash fire! That was Mo’ Fire (with CLD) and Na-like Chapa. He became real big and was dubbed the best local rapper cum lyricist in the East African region. With a few local awards coming his way, Abbas continues to make headlines thanks to his controversial lifestyle and candid disses directed at fellow artistes.Getting hitched to Baby G in two different weddingsbrought out the fact that Abbas is a martial G.

Angela Angwenyi vs Sanapei Tande

While Coca-Cola was busy minting out Sema stars, including Sana, Angela Angwenyi was singing on a stage in K2 during the K2 Kenya Nites, hoping to win the popularity contest. And she did.

Abbas, Bamboo

Both Sana and AA went on to be radio presenters at KISS, and both girls have provided Pulse with much hilarity with their antics, especially when it came to men (think Manga and P Square).

But while Sana seems to still have much promise, Angela has gone on to be the greatest karaoke hostesses ever in Kenya, before she moved on to be an African pop idol judge (and make a milli in the process).

Now all that’s left is for AA to produce an album. We are still waiting.

Churchill eclipses Redykyulass

From 2000 until 2007 when KJ went into politics, the Redykyulass trio of himself, Nyambane and Tony Njuguna were the comedy kings of the country, alongside with the singing Kajairo.

The trio did shows, from our shores to those of the USA, were on TV, Nyambs ruled radio along with Ms Mutoko (as well as occasionally going bananas to deliver plantains to the former president Moi) and Tony did a good job mimicking the old man we now call the Baks.

In the hazy background was a side-show called Abednego Churchill, a comic side-kick. But once politics had swept the other comedians away, Churchill was quick to conquer the national imagination, like Peter Marangi, though the latter stuck to Dura-Coat.

Churchill has played four charcters on radio, written plays and acted with the Heartstring ensemble. He now runs the big hit Churchill LIVE! In other words, Churchill is like a Redykyulass, all on his one. If kina KJ were the Jesse Jacksons of Kenyan comedy, Churchill has become its Barrack Obama.

Wahu vis-‡-vis Nikki

Before Wahu kibow-wowing in the late 1990s, there was young Nikki wowing us in the mid-1990s. Nikki has always been around, producing a single here, an album there – and when she won the Kisima ‘Best Female artiste’ in 2006, her time in the ‘Big Time’ seemed to have arrived.

Nikki

The year 2007 went very well for Nikki, and after surviving a nasty accident late in the year, she still went ahead to do the MTV "Making the Video" with Shell .

Wahu, meanwhile, seemed to have disappeared and left the music-making to her hubby, Nameless Kamonski. Then last year came, and like a pop-up from Yahoo, Wahu made one of the strongest comebacks into the music scene with her hit Sweet Love. She made a ‘Shell’ video with Uganda’s Bobi Wine before stealing the show at the Velodrome in Abuja, Nigeria, by winning Kenya’s first ever continental MTV award. This mama, at the start of this year, is certainly the sweet queen of the music scene.

Mariga vs Oliech

‘Oliech, Odinga, Obama!’ that has been the battle cry when the Prime Minister of Kenya goes for Harambee Stars’ matches as Dennis menaces defences (although whether Obama, or the bulls of Bonny Khalwale, will ever see Kasarani is another story).

Oliech plays for Auxerre in France and has taken his big chance to make cheddar to buy bling, Chrysler and a house for his mother in upmarket Westlands.

Wahu

But France is France, and Italy is Italy, and while the former may boast a better art, hautre coutre, gourmet and wine culture, Italy’s Serie ‘A’ is a far bigger league than the French Ligue 1. As the Serie ‘A’ advert on DStv says –— "If you want respect, you must have the power, and if you want the power, you must have the money to buy the hit-men of ‘Serie A’." And guess who is being hired as one of those hitmen by AC Milan, the European giant? Not Dennis the Menace. But one MacDonald Mariga. That’s who!

Kapsabet vs Eldoret Express

Life prior to last year was going at cruise mode for Janet Jepkosgei of Eldoret. She was tall with good looks and long legs that ate up the metres in racing tracks across the world, earning her gold medals, platitudes and headlines.

She even got a nice nickname — the ‘Eldoret Express.’

Then a curious thing happened!

One day, out of the blue skies of Kapsabet, a schoolgirl called Pamela Jelimo dropped in –— not in a limo, but on hard bare feet. She conquered Nyayo Stadium.

The next thing we knew, young Pam like a speeding Pan-Am was stealing the thunder in Beijing, the limelight from Eldy, and winning Sh68 million, more money than any Kenyan athlete has ever won in a single year since athletics began.

Eclipse vis-‡-vis Boomba Gals

Winnie and Carol. The duo took the name from Kenya’s first Pulse generation celeb, E-Sir. In Nonini’s video, they pepetad their butts as they bounced about and Nons growled "Manze, mamanzi wa Nai amka tuanze kukatika!" The Boomba Gals katikad in kadhaa videos, then Winnie got saved, and they got eclipsed.

In 2009, Eclipse is the best dance troupe in town, although Toxic and Cheesey Mo try hard to banjuka, especially for Jua during his performances.

Oliech, Jelimo

Stl vs Ida

US-based Kenyan singer Ida Onyango was the new sweet young thing when she was nominated for Kisima Awards in 2005 and 2006. Although her songs were not so popular with the local fans she managed to capture the hearts of many with her scintillating dancing styles, creativity and twang! But not for long! STL, another SYT Kenyan based abroad (Norway) came in unobserved and managed to be even better than the bootylicious Ida. STL started her coup dÈ grace with her collabo with local rapper Kantai called Happy winning her local hearts. And awards! With the release of Taking it Back featuring Michelle. She is continues to make it big both locally and internationally, and was set to hit Kisima with her ‘Dreamer’ single before the award show simmered out last year. Her colleague Ida, it seems, decided to become play baby mama to one half of the Longomba brothers in the US. We have not heard any new releases from her since. In the meantime STL continues to rock.

Mejja vs Kenrazzy

With Kenrazzy’s — release in 2007 it became evident that he could be the next big thing. His supposed similarity of voice to that of Jua Cali made him more popular, and before he knew it his poetic song became a favourite among local music lovers. But just as our Kenrazzy was beginning to taste the sweetness of celebville — this dude called Mejja came in a major way and overtook him with Jana Kuliendaje? This became a national anthem among local music lovers (and walevis). He followed it up with Round Hii and a few other well recieved collabos. He has become the next big thing. And crazy Mejja has made Kenrazzy seem a little minor.