Getugi Nyamweya aka Joefes, a member of the trio 'Mbuzi Gang', has been at the forefront of Gengetone music for a while now.
Joefes' lyrics are delightfully nonsensical. Full of random phrases, Swahili slang, and inside jokes, understanding them requires an advanced degree in Gengetone studies.
But that's not the point, Joefes knows that when you're out on the dance floor, you just want a hard beat and an infectious hook to sing along with, even if you have no idea what you're saying. His songs are more about creating a vibe than conveying a message.
Well, his music started way back in 2014 when he met iPhoolish, another member of Mbuzi Gang. iPhoolish introduced him to Sam C for whom he did a couple of tracks.
Joefes joined campus, Pwani University and in late 2015, he started to work on his first mixtape, Metamorphosis, which was then released in 2016 under Sam C's label Republik Music.
He also released his first music video the same year (Ebibengi). School got the better of him and he took a break before releasing another video in early 2017 (Igwe).
In 2018, Joefes got contacted by Black Market Records with an ideal offer, a contract.
He was already in a crew consisting of his 'day ones' iPhoolish, Tatinomi and Dace (Urban Village Sounds). In mid-2018, he signed a deal with Black Market Records.
He and iPhoolish formed Mbuzi Gang as a two-man group until they met Fathermoh. The group was complete.
Despite giving us our daily dose of Gengetone shenanigans, Joefes, coming from Kisumu, first came to Nairobi without any parental supervision in 2015, when he joined campus. Nairobi was a whole new phenomenon to him in such a way that he couldn't tell his way around.
At some point, he was headed to Embakasi to visit a friend.
He didn't have a taxi-hailing app, neither did he know where exactly he was going, so, he opted for a taxi.
"I didn't know my way around therefore instead of asking, I simply jumped into a cab and the guy literally milked me dry. My naivety saw me part with Sh3,000 for fare, a distance I would have used Sh50 but I didn't know," he says.
"I was lost due to the high buildings, they all looked alike and I was also afraid of the fast-paced nature of Nairobians. This is what made me take the taxi in the first place plus the matatus were too rowdy. I couldn't board one by myself," he says.
This was a learning experience for the young man who insists that life was different from what he was used to back in the village.
Although they are a group, Joefes has a new solo project, an album dubbed Toxic.
"We are still together despite me pursuing a solo project and as a group, we have new projects that will be dropping by the end of this month," he says.
