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“This is a perfect soundtrack for movies! #Salute100 creative and unique.”
This was a comment by DJWhizzyKenya on YouTube, remarking on Come Dada, a song by Idd Aziz in which he features Nairobi’s most-talked about hip-hop artiste this year, Khaligraph.
Released two weeks ago under Wyre’s Lovechild Records, the song is a breath of fresh air on the country’s urban music scene. It starts with Idd’s tuneful brush, aptly stroking a shade of Arabic-inspired melody, which fades into the background when he finally coats the song with his lyrics, making it a masterpiece.
Idd comes from Rabai in the coastal region, but was born and bred in Nairobi and therefore knows it streets better than the Coast. Come Dada explores this truth.
“Khaligraph has an aura of arrogance he puts in his art, which I like. He is also very passionate in his art, has mastered it and is real,” he tells us.
During the interview, Idd tells us in that two of his other songs, Machozi and Makelele have been used as soundtracks in a documentary he cannot recall the name of, years ago. He is bad at names and dates.
Also a man of few words, we dig deep through his elusive self to unearth more about him. It became clear that we had to let his actions speak for him - before anything else.
Here he was, dressed in a shirt so tight, his chiselled chest almost burst through, a pair of jeans, a stud in each of his ears and a sizable necklace. He describes himself as a simple guy. His music might not be.
“I take my music as world music. I do not like putting any music into a box. I feel all genres can work, if one is a good musician,” says the gym trainer.
He has worked with Necessary Noize since 2002, co-wrote Siku Nikifa and remixed Msenangu. He wrote Mercy Myra’s Mahabuba, Achieng’ Abura’s Wimbo Wangu, and remixed his Makelele with Norwegian-based artiste STL. He has also written for El Da Sensai, a respected underground US singer on I’m the Future’ as well as on Kamikaze’s ‘The Good Bad Man’. This year, he participated in the Smithsonian Folklife Festival.
Idd Aziz started singing professionally at the age of 15, travelling around the world for concerts, festivals and tours. He was a performer at the Kenya National Theatre in the late 90s before he relocated to Norway where he lived until early this year when, as he says, he came back for music. Top of his plans is to release an album in May next year. Till then, he will release three singles.
“I am a percussionist and now trying a career in music. Music is my life. I have been vaccinated with music. It is not strange to me. I have done my research when it comes to music. I have the whole package. Many young people do not know me because my audience targets older people, though what I have now is what the young people would feel connected to,” he says.
Back in Norway, he was a music teacher at a conservatoire in Trondheim. He is also a performer at the Trondlag National Theatre and has an orchestra band. Struggle in music is an alien word in Idd’s world. He tells us he has had struggles in his personal life, but never with music.
“Real artistes do not have struggles. They take their time to research and create music that will get people to listen. Then everything else falls into place and people look for you. The artistes who want to rush art struggle,” he says.
And if you wonder if there is a woman he serenades when the world has gone to sleep, here is the answer:“The world has got so many beautiful flowers. I plucked one and I have it with me.”
