15 from scratch

DJ Pinye celebrated his 15 years of spinning on his 38th birthday last Friday. Pulse writer MATILDA NZIOKI was there to witness the turntable coming full circle

It was a trip down the memory lane, as Peter Chuani aka DJ Pinye celebrated 15 years since he first spun a record at a star-studded bash held in Carnivore last Friday. The Pilsner promoted party 15 From Scratch brought together partygoers from late 1990’s to present to reminisce on days when partying was a real privilege.

Hundreds of fans and the likes of DJ Adam, G Money, Moustapha, DJ Mos, Angel, Styles, Wahu, Maddtraxx, Nonini, to name a few showed up for the bash, - which also doubled up as the Pinye’s 38th Birthday.

Yup, DJ Pinye began his career at the tender age of twenty-three.

He has since earned his props as one of Kenya’s top decksmen. Even the infamous Omolo, former JK’s bouncer was in the house. The Westland’s based pub, long since shut down, was where Pinye launched his career.

Kwach the MC of the night gave the crowd a short musical history lesson, "Pinye started out as a permanent fixture at JK’s, one of the most popular clubs in Westie during the late 1990’s before moving to Jungle Club and his inspiration was and still is DJ Adam," said Kwach.

Kwach then called Jimmie Gathu who elaborated on the music shows he hosted on KTN in the 1990’s such as Rap ‘em, Rastrat, Kasskass, Jamadelic, and Rythmix . It is a path Pinye has followed as producer of The Beat.

1990s rap singles

DJ Nijo then took to the decks, followed by Gichboy playing the best of early 1990s rap singles. As the energy picked up, Code Red’s Styles took over and brought the house down with throwbacks like Darlin Ps 4 in one, Mr. Nice’s Fagilia or even Mr. Googz and Vinnie Banton’s Githurai.

In between these songs, several pioneering artistes took to the stage. From Kama of Kalamashaka, who excited fans with a bit of Tafsiri hii, to Gidigidi Majimaji, with their all time hits Ting badi Malo and Unbwogabble.

Moustapha and Nonini, also rocked the house with Monalisa and We kamu respectively. For the latter, it was a cool blast from the past as the video simultaneously played on the big screens. Nonini light-heartedly pointed out his weight gain to fans. He then launched on to his latest track Kumbuka featuring Lady B.

At around midnight Pinye’s birthday cake was rolled and lo! And behold. Pinye’s parents were in the house. His dad took the opportunity reveal how the Pinye hid his passion from him and waited until the completion of his education to tell him.

"All in all, I am happy for who he has become, and I congratulate him," he noted, with the backing of his mother. DJ Adam, mentor and teacher to Pinye, hit the turntables and dedicated a rendition of Happy Birthday To You to his protÈgÈ, as he (Pinye) cut the Pilsner cake with the help of his parents.

Slices of cake were passed around the club as revellers partied along and stars caught up with each other. And at this point, gospel DJ Mos also played his set, given that he too has been pal of Pinye’s from back in the day. Then came the three Pilsner Mfalme winners DJ Krowbar, Tibz and Joe, who had earlier in the night been awarded their prizes,- along the rest of the six finalists at the same venue.

Finally, at around 1pm, the man of the moment, DJ Pinye took to the decks with live video mixing. He kept the crowd on the floor with old school hits like Ghetto Superstar by Pras featuring Mya and a bit of new school. At a around 5am, the merrymaking came to an end even as the crowd screamed for more.

Well, they’ll just have to wait till DJ Pinye turns 40 in 2011, or fifty in 2021.