Having lived in the Nairobi's Mathare ghettos, Eko Dydda has crawled through sludgy pipes, but came out smelling like roses, writes CAROLINE NYANGA

Pulse: Who is the real Eko Dydda off stage?

Eko Dydda: I am the face and voice of the ghetto youths or ghetto spokesman. I am a mere tool used by God to relay His word  — in particular the youth who are known to lead a confused and dangerous life.

P: You have successfully incorporated Sheng to your songs, but others view it as similar to secular music?

ED: Well, everyone is entitled to his or her opinion.

However, I would like to mention that I am not an extremist when it comes to matters of religion. Mine is to follow Christ – and his Word regardless of what people say or think.

Unlike some of my fellow musicians, I am not going to use Christ to suit my style while criticising others just to please people. 

On the other hand, Sheng means a lot to me having been born and brought up in ghetto where the use of the slang is the order of the day.

P: How was it like growing up in the ghettos?

 Eko Dydda

ED: It was hard but there was little I could do about it. After all, I hailed from a humble  background; getting enough food and good education was not guaranteed.

Upon completing school, I did menial jobs just to make ends meet. They include working as a garbage collector for two years (2006- 2007) at Mathare North where I earned Sh30 per week. I also sold chapati and madondo near Mathare Social Hall.

P: Hardly a year ago you were accused of impregnating a woman… 

ED: (Laughs… and then pauses). I knew that was coming.

Truth is, I cannot fault those who believed those lies as they got the information from second-hand sources and it was all hearsay.

They did not come to me for verification, because if they had, I would have told them.

Although I prefer to keep my private life that way, the woman in question happens to be my wife. We got married in a private wedding in 2010. I have the wedding certificate to prove that I’m not living in sin. Today our baby boy Eko Dydda Jr is almost a year old. 

P: Is that the reason you were conspicuously absent at last year’s Groove Awards?

ED: Let’s just say that I forgave and forgot all those who wronged me. Besides, we all know that Groove Awards is about talent and not conduct.

All the same I am glad that in 2010, I was nominated four times out of which I bagged two awards for New Artiste of the Year and Hip-Hop Song of the Year for Niko Na Reason.

P: What are you up to at the moment?

ED: I am currently working on my MP3 Eko Dydda album having completed recording my debut eight- track album dubbed Psalm 23. The latter targets conscious divinity and commitment to the word of God besides appealing to the younger Sheng speaking generation.

I have also written a song on tribalism – the cruel factor that has caused many to lose their lives.  

P: What is your secret to creating hit songs?

ED: Simple! I always give God my whole – as in 100 per cent in terms of creativity. I make sure that I sing and record with passion besides using the best beat I can to please my creator. I believe it’s God’s grace that makes my songs work.

P: Of late, gospel artistes have been accussed of putting industry before ministry…

ED: Although it is really hard to differentiate the industry and ministry judging by the hard times we are going through- but as a born again Christian and a role model, it is important for one to lead a good life besides being able to pay their bills.

The perception way back that church followers are poor people has since changed for the better. Everyone is entitled to reap what he or she sows.

P: You almost fell victim of post election violence...

ED: It was back in Mathare ghettos where I lived.

A gang of five confronted me demanding that I speak in ‘their’ mother tongue (which also happens to be mine) or I face  death.

Unluckily,  I’m not fluent in my mother tongue. The only language I knew was Sheng having spent most of my life in the streets. 

Just when they were about to chop me up, a miracle happened. An old man suddenly appeared on the scene and informed the gang that I was from their tribe. Suddenly, my ‘enemies’ became my friends.

P: You sound emotional?

ED: Honestly, it was the darkest moment of my life. The landlord who was not from my tribe decided to lock the house with all my stuff inside and fled.

This simply meant that I had to stay at friends’ house for months.

P: How did you survive?

ED: Being a good storyteller, I would make sure that I do most of the talking until it was late  forcing the family in question to accommodate me for the night. This went on from one friend to the other. All I had with me was my bag and a notebook where I wrote my lyrics Niko na Reason being one of them.

As fate would have it, I came across a Good Samaritan who assisted me. And like they say, the rest is history!

P: You initiated a project on tribalism. Tell us more about it.

ED: It is dubbed Tunabadilisha - a campaign against tribalism initiated in 2010. Apart from music edition dubbed Tunabadilisha Ukabila it also includes sports franchise Dida Ghetto Champions.

It’s aimed at bringing together youths from various ghettos who compete against each other. The first sport edition was held in Mathare North in August last year while the music edition was held at Nairobi Cinema in May 2010.

I plan on touring schools and urging them to avoid tribalism.

P: How do you hope to achieve that?

ED: For me, there are three elements to this; to begin with, Kenyans should strive to change their naming system in order to make it hard for one to determine one’s community.

Secondly, is the use of a common or neutral language, such as Sheng. This is bound to unite Kenyans. Take an example of Tanzanian’s who use Kiswahili as their common language.

Lastly, would be intermarriage between different communities.

P: Your last word:

ED: It’s a piece of advice from the book of Proverbs which states; “To everyone out there don’t be wise in your own eyes, but fear the Lord and shun evil.”