Should The Music Scene Be Worried About The Nigerian Domination in Kenya?

By Kevin Oguoko

With everyone hailing them as ‘Africa’s Lost Boyz’, thanks to their hard-core hip-hop lyrics, Kenya’s pioneer rap group Kalamashaka, attained international glory back in the early 2000s.

With hits like Tafsiri Hii (1997), Ni Wakati (2001), Kilio Cha Haki (2004) and Dandora Burning (2006), the Kenyan exports broke new music ground in Nigeria, Sweden and Netherlands. Their street-smart demeanour and their lyrics centred on crime, tribalism, politics and Africa’s conflicts, gave them a wide and strong following across Africa. Their tours across Africa and Europe attracted masses. One of their concerts in Nigeria attracted 150,000 fans, a record number to be admired by any group.

Soon, they inspired the birth of many other big groups like Mashifta, Necessary Noize, Gidi Gidi Maji Maji and a horde of other celebrities who put Kenya on the continental picture as the leading entertainment hub after South Africa.

But with time, the Bongo influx was here, sweeping across East Africa like bush fire, not to mention the West Africa influenced Lingala craze. As we ushered in the new millennium, the now-popular Kenyan Kapuka beat was being mastered by an upcoming Nigerian music industry as their producers plotted a conquest. Leading this onslaught from the West was P Square, headlining the new breed of Nigerian musicians into an East Africa take over. It was a whole choreographed move involving West African artistes, promoters, producers, video directors as well as film directors who not only used their larger-than-life presence to break through into Kenya, but also their catchy pidgin English dialect as a distinct identity to cut a niche above their competition.

The new showbiz order threw our artistes into a spin. Local artistes changed their focus from keeping the Kenyan music identity beat as they fell in the hands on ‘celebrated’ Nigerian audio and video producers. To Nairobi, Nigerian entertainment stables trooped in to make a strong base complete with the take over of all the major events from comedy, music and fashion. Now, we have top cream Kenyan musicians signing to Nigerian stables, and these singers are singing their song, away from the dying Kenyan tune.

It is a significant showbiz development in the country and not necessarily a good one. We could be losing our base.

Staking their claim as the frontrunner in the game, about two months ago, Nigeria’s Chocolate City Music, an urban record label founded in 2005, set its East Africa base in Nairobi.

Having signed fast-rising Kenyan singer Victoria Kimani and a number of other entertainers, the newcomers included their own artistes Ice Prince, MI and Davido in the takeover recipe, making them big names in Kenya during and after the launch.

Big groups and names like Camp Mulla, Madtraxx and Atemi were already getting into recording deals with subsidiary Chocolate City partners working under the Mtech umbrella, yet another Nigerian fronted entertainment outfit.

The irony is, while some of these West African showbiz outfits setting base here are being adored as the in thing bringing in their chain of entertainment cartels, the country’s top artistes like P Square and D’banj as well as WizKid, don’t seem to give them the same space as they have been busy signing with international stables like Akon’s Konvict Muzik label and Sony Music.

As our artistes and the entire entertainment industry was letting Nigerian showbiz players take the driving seat in local entertainment, the likes of P Square had moved on ahead of our singers, fixing mega deals with big international labels like Universal Music South Africa.

As the debate rages on as to if our local entertainment industry has been relegated into a showbiz dumping site, the question has been why Kenyans would settle comfortably on the passenger’s seat playing second fiddle in this game changing showbiz invasion?

Are the visitors merely occupying a vacuum or is it that their packaging is just better than that of the Kenyan counterparts?

Why would artistes ditch the local stables and settle to work with the foreigners; just why does the grass look greener on the other side?

“I believe we have some of the best recording stables in Africa, being managed by professional producers and directors. Kenyans should learn to embrace their own,” says DJ Styles, a Kenyan showbiz guru behind the Code Red stable.

“However, competition is healthy and we welcome it. If it all helps to make our industry better, then why not give it room,” he adds.

His sentiments are echoed by a number of stable owners and musicians most of whom, even as they admit that Nigerians have been working harder that Kenyans to push their entertainment brands, note that more should be done not only to keep the local stables at the top of the game, but also protect the local sound.

“I am not sure Kenyan producers, musicians and events organisers would get the same space to run their business in other countries as is the case here. We seem to buy in into anything that is given to us. We play Nigerian music more than our own. We believe in other people more than we believe in us,” says VJ Define, a veteran deejay in the industry.

“For example, Nigeria is saturated with musicians and with their aggressive nature, they have been on an adventure, looking for new markets for their entertainment stuff across Africa. We are not doing the same. We are not opening new grounds. Our industry seems to be stagnant,” he remarks.

True to his statement, the contracts our artistes have been signing with some of those foreign stables translate to big cash.

The devil is always in the details. With a recording stable investing more than Sh500,000 on a signed artiste’s video (for example), reading between the lines, one must know that the end result would be major profit returns on the stables’ end.

With all the connections, once a local artiste’s video hits leading music channels like Channel O and MTVBase, little known to locals, the foreigners then use the hype to market the signed celebrities and strike lucrative endorsement deals on their behalf, for a good percentage. Probably, this is where the Nigerian stables have beaten our own stables, which rarely package artistes for the international market.

At the same time, due to the wide network the brothers from the West have established across the globe with multi-million entertainment platforms, it is easy to pitch for shows for their artistes worldwide and help them hook up with international stars for exposure and collabos as money opens doors. This has been one of the biggest catch for local artistes.

It is also a fact that Nigerian showbiz players also take a lot of financial risks to establish their artistes and other entertainment products, something our stables’ CEOs here rarely do. That way, they bring in new ideas in the industry that work for their own good.

According to various platforms, recording labels spend a lot of money to break out artistes to international platforms. That is, between $750,000 (Sh63.75m) and $1.4 million (Sh119m), depending on the artiste in question.

Pulse can confirm that, as much as it may not be entirely so, it is under such guidelines that the Nigerian stables are getting our artistes to work with them as opposed to local stables who don’t have such lucrative packages.

“He who pays the piper calls the tune. If a guy is giving you a good deal that puts food on the table, then that is all you want. With that, you can give up your Kapuka and sing that Pidgin English dialect as they dictate you to,” says Moustapha, a leading rapper signer to Ogopa Deejays.

ALL ABOUT RECORDING DEALS

During a recent interview with Pulse magazine, Karun, former band member of the hip-hop group Camp Mulla revealed there was never a deal between the group and Sony Music Label based in South Africa as speculated the whole of last year. During the same year, the group had been nominated for a BET Award as the best artiste/group in Africa. As Karun described it, there was never much for offer on the table.  “The question was what they can do for us that we have not already done for ourselves. And there was not a lot of answers to that,” said Karun.

Another music group that is the pride of Kenya, Sauti Sol, has revealed they have actually received a lot of offers from international recording labels in the recent past. During the recently held Boombatta Festival, the sensational group delivered an ecstatic performance and even outshone the headliners for the night, Nigerian artistes Ice Prince and Davido, according to some sections of international press.

The question lingering in everyone’s mind was definitely, why they are not yet signed to an international label along with the rest of the best.

Sure they are among the best, but according to their manager Anyiko Owoko, there is some nitty-gritty when it comes to international recording deals.

“They (international recording labels) are tricky. We have had a number of recording labels come forth to offer us recording deals that I do not wish to mention, which we turned down. It all boils down to such details as distribution set up, rights and all sort of things that may end up hurting you in the long run,” says Anyiko.

As Anyiko goes on to explain, there are couple of details that an artiste has to look into before signing the fine line on the music contracts. As a music group, the fact that they are four makes the money concept especially a little trickier.

“This is their (Sauti Sol) career. The contract may entail that the group gets 40 per cent of any deal and the recording company gets 60 per cent for their effort in pushing for the deals. Considering that they are four that puts them at a disadvantage,” says Anyiko.

Some recording labels have moved closer to the locals by being stationed in South Africa, long considered to be Africa’s music powerhouse. But as Refigah, creative director at Grandpa Records highlights, there is nothing new under the sun when it comes to international recording labels setting base in Africa.

“MTV was forced to set base in Africa under a new name MTV-Base Africa following the huge success of Channel O, which was mostly playing African music. Similarly, recording labels are setting base in Africa to cash in on the popularity of African music coming out of the African continent, says Refigah.

He adds: “What these artistes need to ask before they sign to a recording label like say Universal, are questions like; are they getting the same distribution deal and promotion as the likes of Jay Z and Rihanna… or are they different?”