"I carried guns in my school bag"

MC Zidii B is the identity Isaac Kinyanjui dons whenever he takes the stage. On stage, Isaac is very vivacious, confident and self-assured. Nothing like the man he was a few years ago. His scrawny frame and angular face gives him a youthful look but his eyes seem to hold some deep dark pain that belies his age. During the interview, he switches between fluent Sheng, English and Kiswahili with an astounding ease.

Born to a middle class family in Dandora, Isaac's father, Francis Kimani, worked as a land surveyor and ran a couple of businesses. Back then, life was good.

"We owned our home and never lacked for anything," he explains.

But things came undone in 1999 when a land dispute in Dandora ensued. A notorious gang hired by shadowy figures threw everything into disarray on the pretext of fighting for the landless people of Dandora. Caught up in the skirmishes, Isaac's family took flight for fear of their lives.

"Life became very tough. We dared not go back to Dandora. Even the fate of my father's rental units was unknown to us. My mother moved us to Sinai, one of Nairobi's low income neighborhoods."

In Sinai, his father's frustrations boiled over. The once devout Christian was now jobless having lost all his investments to crooked thugs. This made him turn to the bottle for consolation. From then on, Isaac and his three siblings knew no peace. He would come home drunk and beat everyone up.

"He later got casual work as a pit latrine and trench digger. He would however use up all the money on cheap drinks. When not working, he'd steal from our mum who had turned to hawking clothes in town," divulges Isaac.

When he turned nine, the situation at home became really desperate. So much so that Lewis, his elder brother, ran away from home. Sarah, his sister continued attending school while Isaac started using drugs.

"I would ditch class and make my way into a dealer's house to smoke bhang. I would offer him Sh10 as payment."

Due to zero supervision, his parents hardly knew about his truancy until he was suspended from school.

"My mother pleaded my case and they let me back." But that was not enough to deter young Isaac.

I became friends with a boy who lived in the Muthurwa area and his parents would allow me to stay over sometimes. My parents didn't mind either as long as I kept up my school attendance. And that was my entry into the criminal life. At the Railway Station yard, where they dumped the rickety rail cars, a criminal gang ran by my friend's brother used these cars as a hideout and weapons' storage.

"The guns would be cleaned and I would carry them to Ngara in my school bag. In the evening, the criminals would pick them up from me. I was the perfect mule because to everybody else, I was an innocent boy in uniform headed to school."

A few months later, the gang was disbanded after two of the members were gunned down.

Isaac however still needed to make a buck, so he moved into the streets. He was 10 at the time.

"I would beg and steal from innocent civilians. I was under the wing of a guy called Mau who I thought of as my street father and protector. Sometimes I would use human waste to scare people into giving me their money and valuables."

This sustained him for a while until his street protector was killed.

"Mau was shot dead in 2005 when he was caught in a fight between the City Council officials and mechanics operating in Nairobi's Grogan area.

I only survived because I hid under a car. While hiding, I remember thinking that it was time to straighten out my life."

After two years on the streets, Isaac joined a children's home in Kayole. It wasn't long though before the little boy was reunited with his mother.

"By then, my mother had moved to a slum called Chamapera. I also soon learnt that my father had been jailed while I was away due to petty crime."

In 2007, they moved to Gachie where Isaac resumed studies at the local primary school. Still bent on rehabilitation, he joined the church too.

"This is where I discovered that I was gifted. I could dance and sing and under the guidance of Sande' Bush at Winner's Chapel, I honed my emceeing skills too."

As much as he is now a successful emcee, Isaac is not yet done, he hopes to someday produce his own Gospel TV show.