Colonel Mustafa: I am ready for Marya

 Colonel Mustafa and his ex-girlfriend Marya. 

Ask Daudi Tunde, better known as Mustafa, anything and he will answer without batting an eyelid, belying the confidence of a man who is celebrating two decades in showbiz this year.

“I tell it the way it is. Nikiropoka nimeropoka,” he says in his no-holds-barred approach when I interrupt his busy schedule. He is in the middle of a media tour to popularise his new song Maloko.

“Maloko is about enjoying our things, our culture, our moments, our parties, na pia kienyeji!”

Yes, he means the euphemism for 'babes' in rural areas or those not yet gentrified.

Mustafa is full of exuberance and energy, explaining that Maloko is a new beginning of greater things to come, including finding space for Marya, his one-time girlfriend.

“Maloko is the first song from my official YouTube channel. All my previous songs were mostly copyrighted to Ogopa Deejays, so they are all on their channel. And, when the time is right, I will reveal the personal beef I have with them,” he says, not wanting to reveal more about the label and production house that made Mustafa, part of Deux Vultures, a musical powerhouse.

“We are grateful for what they did for us, but there are some things zenye hazijakaa sawa,” says Mustafa, who was in an old-school roster that entertained revellers in Naivasha during the WRC Safari Rally. 

Talking of Marya, Colonel Mustafa intimates that he could soon be working with the Chokoza singer, whom they did Hey Baby with.

Their fates have always been intertwined, questions about the other never far away from each interview they do individually.

“She calls me a legend and she wants to work with me. I am ready for her and I will help her get back to showbiz,” says Mustafa, excited as he explains that he had been vindicated.

“I have forgiven her for everything she did to me. But I had told her how dangerous and wild the world is. She did not listen.”

Is there a chance of the two, with Mustafa a senior bachelor, ever rekindling their love?

“Not a chance! Tulishamalizana.”

Interestingly, Marya, in an earlier interview, blamed Mustafa for toxicity, something repeated by the openly bisexual rapper, vixen and actor Noti Flow.

The Foto Moto rapper, as controversial as Mustafa, described their relationship as ‘messy’, when introducing her latest lover King Alami a year back. 

Four years ago, deep in love, Noti Flow asked her fans to help her choose between the Mtaani Dot Com artiste and Prezzo, referring to the two as ‘my two babes’. Mustafa won the online votes with 70 per cent.

“That was real (the relationship), but it ended. I had to prioritise my mental state and heart. The affair was not helping me in any way,” he says, another chapter in the long list of Musta-ffairs closed. He did not participate in the hugely successful but extremely dramatic Nairobi Diaries for no reason.

Besides Marya and Noti Flow, Mustafa has also beefed with Nyota Ndogo, saying the Swahili singer was probably secretly in love with him.

The shadow of fame, attention, and controversy follows him everywhere.

But he is now ready to settle.

He says that while he enjoys his life as a bachelor, he is almost giving his heart out to a lady he will reveal at a later date, a woman he refers to as mtoto msafi.

Back to music, Colonel Mustafa has completed an eight-song album that will feature some new material and refurbished songs; featuring Tanzania’s Dully Sykes and Pizon MC, Toronto-based Kenyan singer Shy music, and Mustafa’s old mate Nasty Thomas, who lives in Norway.

“I shall drop it latest by February of next year. But by then, half of it will have been out,” says the man who runs a jacket shop at Chokaa, Embakasi.

Best believe, Mr Tall Mnyama Everywhere, AKA Lipunda is always up to something.