In the beginning…

Peter Ndoria delves into the archives to retrieve the first issue that trailblazed the Pulse phenomenon

Juliet Achieng’ will forever hold the torch for being the first ever cover girl on Pulse magazine, some two years before she went on to win the Miss Kenya title. Nine years on, the beauty is delving into the world of music and looking forward to becoming a mother.

Those were probably simpler days back then. How else would you explain when Smitta introduces his Scene @ column with the following, almost apologetic words?

“Hi. My name is Smitta Smitten, the show-biz kitten, and I’m going to be going places with you, and behind the closets of local celebrities to find out what hangs in there...”

No Smitt-glish, even. How much nine years a thug maketh; dude did not even have that mop atop his head!

Perhaps he was taking cue from our founding editor, Wayua ‘Madam W’ Muli, who, without much fanfare, started on the arduous task of minting a whole generation of Pulsers.

Smitta then went on to talk, in crisp English, about his first Scene @ escapade: The Smirnoff Media Rave, held at the Carnivore, where a young lady known as Italia Masiero of Capital FM won the Sh10,000 prize money in the dance-a-thon. They were offering vodka at the function... so you and I know that our beloved Smitts didn’t last long on the dance floor (that has been a constant, even nine years ago).

Our main feature had Poxi the saint, featuring the then controversial Poxi Presha but choosing to reveal the softer side of him as a father and husband.

In this maiden issue, he talked about his life at home and introduced the reader to his wife and child. This was quite apart from the colourful public persona that most were used to.

Other than the hit songs Otonglo Time and Wape Really?, a diss-track aimed at producers and promoters, many will recall the many fights Poxi Presha had with music pirates, and how the altercations landed him behind bars at one time. He was regarded as the ‘Bad Boy of Kenyan hip-hop’ for his constant push for royalties and the general welfare of artistes.

The story chronicles how he had gone out of his way to take on powerful forces behind the pirating of music. His was a world of firsts, as he openly sold his albums at events, which he later graced, something artistes would emulate to the point of it seeming normal.

He also worked with studios only in as far as recording his music, then took over the marketing and sales aspect personally. Being a veteran at the time, he pulled through somehow.

His parting shot: “If I win this piracy fight, I intend to do a gospel album to thank God.” That was not to be, unfortunately.

Speaking of royalties, our Overheard segment had a story about Mighty King Kong and how he punched a Music Copyright Society of Kenya (MCSK) official in Kisumu over a disagreement, after he realised that his expenses for his trip would be deducted from his royalties. In the same issue, and in stark contrast, there was a ‘Caught Out’ picture of King Kong the gentleman kissing the hand of Kenya’s First Lady Lucy Kibaki at a beauty pageantry that she had graced.

It was the efforts of people like Poxi Presha and Mighty King Kong that our artistes should thank, whenever they pick ttheir royalties’ cheque.

Sadly, the two have since passed on.  Poxi Presha succumbed to tuberculosis in 2005 at St Mary’s Hospital in Lang’ata, Nairobi, while Mighty King Kong died two years later, on Christmas Day, after a mysterious affliction. We salute them.

Those two were established artistes at the time, sticking their necks out for the upcoming acts, such as the artiste that graced our maiden issue as the Pin-Up artiste. Seated on some stairs, staring firmly into a future where he would become a force to reckon with was the one and only Nonini, the genge godfather!