Kilundeezy- It all started with cyber bullying

By Winnie Makena | 3yrs ago | 3 min read

Why do they call you Kilundeezy?

My real name is actually Boniface Makuthi. Funny enough it all started with cyber bullying. I wanted to find a way to deal with the situation, so I made a diss on a random day and posted it on Twitter. I hadn’t actually given it much thought, but I finished the rap saying “yeah yeah Kilundeezy”. Somehow that caught on and it became my stage name. Kilundeezy is from Kilunda, a nickname I was given in high school.

How did you get into music?

I was trying out rapping, much as you would a hobby - I got a lot of encouragement from Twitter that I decided to give it a shot. After the diss rap, I recorded and posted a lot of other hip hop raps and people seemed to enjoy them. Late 2019, I decided to try rap with a Gengetone beat. That’s when someone randomly pledged to pay for my studio session. He was a stranger, so I did not think much of it, but then he made good of his word, sent me Sh5,000 and I recorded my first song ‘Niko Fiti’ with my producer DJ Kylo.

I remember I said something like ‘Nikona madem, wafiti kama Sheila Mwanyigha’ and everyone got so jazzed it reached her and she retweeted it, initiating a sort of domino effect.

You were new to recording music but already with a fan base waiting for new releases. How was the experience?

I was starting from zero, no subscribers nor experience. I got about 10,000 views in ‘Niko Fiti’, but to me that meant everything. At the time I was a mechanic and not making a lot of money, but I burned the candle on both sides till I was able to pay for my first audio rights for ‘Bomb ya Saddam.’

It was discouraging. Here I was, an electrical engineering graduate with no money to even shoot a video. So, I reached out to my followers on Twitter. I told them I really love music, I am committed and I have no money so if I can get just Sh50 from everyone I would be grateful. That was at 1pm and by 7pm I had Sh30,000 in my M-pesa. That is how I funded the ‘Bomb ya Saddam’ video. I knew no one, vixens asked for crazy fees but my fans pulled me through.

Biggest challenges?

The song went viral even brands started approaching me. Unfortunately, they were not willing to pay. Corporations should pay creatives with money not exposure, or in kind. Only Xiaomi made me their brand ambassador and paid me for my work.

You featured Trio Mio in your track ‘Form’. How did the collabo come to be?

Everyone is raving about Trio, so my manager reached out to his team. A month later, I sent my verses, we vibed and recorded the song. He is such a talented artiste, from how he writes his bars to his flow. He is going far in this industry.

How is Twitter important for you as an artiste?

When I dropped Bomb ya Saddam, I was trending at number one in Kenya for two weeks and went from 4,000 to 15,000 followers. I love the support from Twitter.

Do you consider yourself an influencer?

In some ways I am. An influencer is someone who can turn people’s mind to start caring about their own agenda. If I was to try and explain it, Twitter is primarily divided into two sides; Twitter A and Twitter Z.

Westmall Twitter is like a branch of Twitter A. Basically all the ‘cool kids’ and certain people with huge followings of 20,000 to 50,000 followers. Twitter Z is everyday people.