Within the first two days of its debut, King Kaka’s hit dubbed ‘Wajinga Nyinyi’ already had over a million views to its name.
Kennedy Ombima, his real name, had done something no Kenyan artist dared to do. The song received massive attention with Kenyans giving their views on the spoken word piece. With all the hype and comments on the song, King Kaka was already a local hero. He got all the attention.
The song got famous because Kaka mentioned the ills in the society nobody was talking about. However, everyone knew everything Kaka said in his song even before the song was released. Nothing was new but the boldness of a Kenyan artist to call a spade a spade and not a big spoon.
Sequels
Barely a week after #WajingaNyinyi by King Kaka was released, another spoken word artist released its sequel Just like King Kaka, Tear Drops did not speak of anything new. He reminded Kenyans what they know and again some Kenyans admired his boldness to say it as it is.
It is evident that Tear Drops is a talented spoken word artist and this is clear in his version of #WajingaNyinyi. However, what he mentions is what everyone already knows and some of it was already mentioned in King Kaka’s piece.
King Kaka made ‘Wajinga Nyinyi’ a slogan. He asked Kenyans to stand with him and they promised to do so. However, with the slogan being famous, any piece of art that is affiliated with it gets the attention of Kenyans who related to King Kaka’s spoken-word piece.
3 days after Tear Drops dropped his Wajinga Nyinyi sequel, another artist dropped another sequel. Dubbed ‘Wajinga Sisi’, genge artist’s spoken-word piece also speaks of nothing new. Frasha who ran for office in the last election wanted to show Kenyans that he stands with King Kaka.
In releasing the sequels, both artists wanted to show Kenyans that they stand with their hero, King Kaka. However, being among the first artists to release songs in support of King Kaka, comes fame. The fame that is related with the slogan ‘Wajing Nyinyi’
What Next?
According to King Kaka. his song ‘Wajinga Nyinyi’ was a call to action. He mentioned the ills that are eating up the society and called for Kenyans to stand against them. The sequels are nothing more than calls to action too. What will be the next step for Kenya?
Every Kenyan artist can release his/her own version of ‘Wajinga Nyinyi’ but that will still be a call to action. It will still be nothing more than mentioning the ills of society. Killing corruption in Kenya needs more than just a few spoken word pieces.
It is the first step and a very big step. What is the next one?
