So why start today – well I think that’s probably because I realized I should blog not because I have interesting things to say, but because I have things that I want to share or I want to get out of my system. I think mentally I just got used to using Facebook or the twitters of this world to voice my emotions, ideas and random rants. However there is only so much you can do with 140 characters so that also fell short of my expectations and I stopped tweeting.

Facebook was cool for a while, the status feeds are kinda cool, the Facebook notes provide that optional feel of a blog inside Facebook. I especially liked FB because I knew only my friends could read my notes and my status updates which is what mattered the most to me. But then that also fizzled off as many of my promoter friends started tagging me on flyers, on event schedules and other random things that had nothing to do with who I wanted to be on FB. Really it felt like other people were managing my profile for me on facebook. I felt jacked, I felt so violated… Essentially people wrote on my wall about things we did the night before, people thanked me using my wall (blaaargh so impersonal), people tagged me on videos and pictures that i had no control over -I lost my identity on FB. I felt so violated people for real.

Thankfully i wasn’t the only one feeling this way so FB implemented some tough privacy management tools that allowed me to disable my wall, kill some of my friends and hide conversations from folks I didn’t feel like seeing from time to time. I think when you make the decision to go social and invest in becoming part of the social networking revolution, you have to be aware of the risks of exposure, the amount of work required to manage your personal profile and most importantly the tools available to help you keep your privacy intact while still being open. I think even after 10 years of working within Internet tools there is always a level of dissatisfaction with how people uncover things about me or others without their knowledge.

So am I inspired today… maybe a little.

Professionally I work with some pretty smart switched on – fun folks. The likelihood of being hit by a scooter, a ping pong ball or a falling bagel are slightly higher at my job than most other places I have worked at. I feel at home here despite the name change, honestly its just like changing clothes but internally you are still the same person.

I continue to work with some fresh technology tools and some fresh online strategies and ideas. It’s always nice to be part of a team of a company thats constantly trying to push the envelop for its clients and thats kinda what I feel Agency.com Signal to Noise does for its current clients. So yes – I am a little inspired by the people I work with and the team of people I am involved with day to day.

The other part of my day/life is left trying to shape up African Urban music through My other blog. After years of working with talent, artists, agents, promoters you sorta never stop being in that entertainment mode. So I am always hoping that one day I will play a major role in becoming part of that greater online urban Africa music conversation. I am inspired by the quality of work, the work ethic and the genius in some of the top key African artists right now. When people like Nonini email me about a posting on their blog I am touched. When I listen to what Musyoka has done with P-Unit and I look at the photo direction all these artists have lately – I am nothing but inspired.

So I continue that journey and I spiritfully post new music each day as it comes into my inbox. GetMziki has moved from serving 200 people to about 35,000 users without any real marketing, promotion or advertising. I could say its a small successful story I hope future iterations of what that business was actually supposed to be, will leave people more inspired and excited about what we set out to accomplish and did.

Lastly there is a group of social thinkers, current names include Jim Chuchu, his artistic crew at The Stingo along side their Kuweni Serious and Just a Band Movement. I am totally touched by these cats work. I think I watched a video on youtube by Kuweni Serious that I had so much to say about – and I realized that I had no more voice, I realised I had robed myself the one thing that allowed me to just be free – Blogging!

So as it goes essentially these folks are the very people who got me to start blogging today. And for that I want to say Asante (Thank you). Thank you for showing me that trully we can start to change the quality of work, the quality of expression, the quality of the voice and the approach of the conversations that we want to have in Africa (East Africa/Kenya). Thank you for allowing me to believe in talent – in change, in the transition of power. For years i’ve been saying the older generation in Kenya is not handing down the baton from generation to generation. As a matter of fact one of the few reasons I left Kenya to move back to the US was that I felt slightly inhibited by the change order.

But I am just glad that this new generation of Kenyans is taking matters into their own hands regardless of what the previous generation thinks. Thank you innovation – Thank you Internet for allowing voices to cross bridges. And for that I think I will start/continue blogging to a certain degree, share a little about my days, my highs, my lows and my ordinaries.

Thanks..

At Number one (1)

Nation Television Kenya (NTV) has a weekly political satire news feature that runs on Sundays presented by hilarious TV presenter Emmanuel Juma. This clip features a prominent political affiliate called Stanely Livondo whose wealth and uprise are unknown – however the funniest thing about this well dressed wealthy character is the fact he cant read or pronounce things. Its even more hilarious that he called the press conference to embarrass himself – I mean the person who wrote him the speech should have atleast made sure he read it first. SMH

At Number Two (2)

Brother Franklin during offering time in a local Houston Texas church, The Redeem Christian Church of God. There are conflicting reports that this is actually a Nigerian Church and not really a Kenyan Church in Houston, however I could have sworn Brother Franklin is a Luo – either way he takes my number two spot.

At Number Three (3)

Muthoni Kifagio performed by Short by Tough Karish and Video by Wa Esther Films has to be one of the most emailed music videos of all time within the Kenyan circles. This guy has had more internet fame than any urban or pop (Genge) artists in Kenya. The ridiculousness of the video and the lyrical content is hilarious, there is no way to describe this but just watch – listen and appreciate Kenya

At Number Four (4)

The number of times I talk shit about this guy, you’d think I know him or I have something personal against him. I am just glad he stays in his lane and has been consistent being himself. Fredrick Mutua has all these random Youtube clips that are geared towards marketing Kenya online. His company Kenya Tourism Online focuses on many different things but its his videos that always get me. To me I find them ridiculous and very stereo typical of what he wants the image of Kenya to be. So I often ridicule and poke fun at his theatrics and animated attire – but deep down am sure there is some good he is doing for the country by sending tourist and helping many foreigners with their vacation travel to Kenya.

That said this is one clip you have to watch – as he promotes his Swahili DVD

At Number Five (5)

I am an avid Tom and Jerry fan, mostly because a small part of my childhood life spent tonnes of hours admiring Tom Quimby’s work. Its unfortunate that there arent as many African animated cartoons or classic cartoons that are performed in local dialects – because if that was to ever happen something close to the rendition below would take place. This is some guys rendition of T&J in swahili – it cracks my balls. This is actually Swahili from Mombasa which also has distinctive accents that can be very infectious if you listen to entire conversations.

At Number Six (6)

Although I am not Kikuyu, I can understand a few words here and there, this video cracked my balls – as much as its a serious documentary, some of the choice of words are hilarious. So someone actually decided to make a home video about Snow in Wisconsin Madison in Kikuyu from start to finish – You gotta love some Kenyans out there.

At Number Seven (7)

A friend called Rags actually put this together somewhere out here in the US. Its hilarious none the less, I actually love the editing that complements the humor. This was done a while back when Cribs was one of the more popular MTV shows – these days no one really watches Cribs, it sort of makes me want to see a Cribs African Edition. As much as I put this on my top ten – I think I will put Omondis cribs with this one because i also enjoyed Omondis Cribs Kenyan Edition (You gotta love it when Omondi says Babek Meaning BBQ)

Omondis Crib

At Number Eight (8)

I watch a lot of commercials, so its rare for me to actually youtube a commercial to watch it over and over and over again. I think by far the Coca Cola BRRRRR Campaign in Africa has to be the most effective in 2009. I think it was so big that they made different variations of the same commerical for the Asian market, Norther African market and also the Indian market. I prefer the East/Central African version which has the well famed African actor Joseph Olita … BRRRRRRRR

At Number Nine (9)

Am not really sure why I list this on my top ten list but I think the sheer fact that any president can call a press conference to debate his personal affairs is just comedy. We’ve seen so many different sides of the current Kenyan first lady – so this was not any different. What I found interesting rather what I thought after watching this was – DAMN that Lucy got her house on LOCK!!! she runs the white house not the other way round… You Go Girl! If your man is creaping – the best way to address that is tell him to publicly disown his Clande! right ? SMH

At Number Ten (10)

Nyanza meets Japan – I really want to say a lot about this video but I cant – this was probably one of the first NTV news clips that i thought was worthy to be online. Am just amazed at how she quickly learned to pluck that Nyatiti – you know what !! just watch the damn video