Born Eric Mobegi 24 years ago in Nairobi, the producer and songwriter popularly goes by the name Yung Koded. “It basically means young and complex, I changed the spelling to make it easy to trademark,” he says.
When he was younger, his family traversed various estates within the capital. “I grew up in Starehe, Kariakor and later Loresho before I relocated to the US when I was 14,” says Yung Koded during our interview.
A decade later, he is back in the country and hoping to steer his way up the Kenyan ladder.
Having featured the crème de la crème in hip hop and Gengetone artistes, Yung Koded has probably been on a project with almost every industry player musically; Khaligraph Jones, Mejja, the Yung Trio Mio, Breeder LW as well as upcoming projects in the works.
“I have been privileged to work with some of the biggest names in the Kenyan scene. I have an upcoming track with Boutross called Niko Okay, which was an absolute joy because we had great chemistry,” says Yung Koded.
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He adds, “My hardest collaboration to secure was with Khaligraph Jones because of his busy schedule. He was working on his album, Invisible Currency while my time in the country was limited. It took us close to a year to get done with the project, although it was worth the while.
“Luckily, most of my work revolves around friendships and close relations, which we are always creating,” says Yung Koded.
He reveals his record label takes care of all his production needs. The self-taught producer says he picked a liking to production when he was introduced to software at a young age, and he started learning the ropes. “My friend from our church choir introduced me to Fruity Loops and I taught myself how to produce. I have since produced a lot of artistes in the US, Kenya and Europe. However, I prefer to separate my rapper persona from the production. Golden is the producer while Koded remains the artiste,” he says.
Yung Koded says he is here to stay. “I need ties to my home country so together with my management, we made a two-year strategy to build a repertoire and catalogue in Kenya. That is why I have been putting in a lot of work,” says the artiste who is signed under Chinatown Music group in the US.
Yung Koded’s music is characterised by its diversity in style and incorporation of diverse genres such as Indie Rock, Afrobeat, Hip Hop, Afropop, and Punk.
He intelligently blends tales of his life, love, dreams, politics, and satire. In a scenario where he applies dark emotions, we question the message behind his track Suicide, whose lyrics insinuate “that’s what on my mind.”
“I was going through a rough patch when I made Suicide. As artistes, we are always alone. I was a teenager going through heartache, betrayal, depression and lots of emotions. I did consider giving into suicidal thoughts, but I realised I could not cave into my dark spaces.
Being able to speak about mental health is part of growth. I have not released any of my emotional content since the African market is still premature on that end. We need to accommodate such discussions without stigma,” says the artiste.
Yung Koded says he has a few more days to finish his Kenyan projects before travelling back to the US, but promises to be back bigger as he continues to fly the Kenyan flag high.
“I am amazed by Kenyan talent and as they say, out of sight out of mind. I will definitely be making regular visits to Kenya.”
