XtraPhat and more....

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"In times of joy and gladness, when my heart is filled with laughter, Music is the smile that I carry on my face. The woman in my life, the love I feel inside, Music brings me leisure, music brings me pleasure. The walks we take together, the nights we hold each other, Music is the rhythm, which unites us all together. A special tool from God, a tool I can’t define... Music is my sight, music is my life."

XtraPhat Records is a Kenyan based record label which aims at promoting talent. It's a calling, the feeling deep within that drives, a dream, a goal, it's a vision. XtraPhat Records started back in 1998 when 3 guys, all with a liking, a passion and a love for music got together and started messing about with a keyboard (Yamaha PSR 530) and a mic... actually it was a set of headphones places into the microphone socket. These 3 musicians Gitura Kembi, Mike Muruli and Richard Njau were at that moment opening a the door to the music industry in Kenya... however they did not know it.

Mike Muruli a.k.a Saphire is for starters an MC. He spits on the mic like a spitting Cobra on attack. He's got smooth, chick-stealing lyrics, and a medium pitched American-Kenyan accent. Mike had just at the time returned home to Kenya from America where he had lived for the past few years. But aside being an MC he is the big vision of XtraPhat. He sees into the future. Big things. e.g. he sees XtraPhat releasing a track and it going platinum in East Africa. He is also the hope that rises us up when we have all given up. When Studio's turn as down he's the one who tells us not to worry, Tells us that's it's there loss and that one day they will coming knocking on our door, begging us for assistance. That those who turn us down, kick us out, or shut us down will one day be begging to be associated with us.

Then there's Gitura Kembi a.k.a Gitwix or in short just Twix. He is the hottest producer there is in Kenya. And I'm not just saying this because he's XtraPhat... ask anyone whose heard him play. God may have deprived him of height, but I think he over did it when he was molding his hands. This guy creates a track and after his done your like, "DAMNNNNNNNN!!!" But he's no satisfied... he immediately deletes the track and creates another one within a matter of minutes and after his done your like, "DAMNNNNNNNN!!! (X 2)" Gitura has mad skill that's no question. Too much skill in fact. He's creations have been recognized by many such as Steve the producer of SoulChild (Kenya), Tedd Josiah the producer of Audio-Vault, (produced over 20 Kenyan hits), Prestige of England, just to name a few. Gitura plays both the Guitar and Piano/Keyboard. His production are not limited to one particular kind of style. This mad-producer creates whatever depending on his mood. He may be feeling like winning over your chick and BOOM! A love ballad so soothing that even the most hardcore underground HipHop heads are left feeling emotional. The next minute he may hear sound on TV and Boom! An R&B track so catchy that your feet can't help it. There's this one time that he created an Underground Rap track with the tune from the Kenyan's President theme. (tii tii tii tii NYAYO...tii tii tii tii NYAYO...) His creativity is on another level.

Richard Njau a.k.a. Astar. He's the 4-in-1 in XtraPhat. 1st, he's a producer and although not as skilled as Twix he's been know to create a few jams such s the Original "To the Playa Hatters" and "Jackson J... like Dis and like Dat," to name a few. 2nd, he's the Technical Engineer (TE), i.e. the guy who increases the volume on the mic and provides the necessary equipment for recording. 3rd, in collaboration with Twix they have created a few song which a destined to Platinum status given the chance and proper recording, e.g. "Your Love," "Your Love (remix)," "I'll Be Waiting" and "An XtraPhat Love (with Jeidi)". But most importantly Richard is the make-it-happen-man of XtraPhat. He's the distributor. Whenever a hot track is produced Richard is the one who records it and looks for an MC, singer or even just a music lover and offers it to him as an opportunity to create something. Through him many collaboration and songs have been accomplished. E.g. Anne's "No Scratches...No Bites, "Mwedwa" and "I Don't Understand U". Double Doggz have also benefited through this, and so have JAEEEM (The Kileleshwa Gospel Rap Group). Jackso, Mato and Varina have also been brought together through Richard.

However Astar, Twix and Saphire are not the only XtraPhat member. They are just the starters. Two others were added as members and appear on the XtraPhat single. They are Kiffa a.k.a. KIFF and Jeidi.

KIFF is an MC with crazy Rhymes. His flow, inspired by Mr. Cheeks of the Lost Boyz contains comedian lyrics and reality metaphors. He is a strong key to XtraPhat's distribution and also in song ideas. KIFF is always coming up to us with lyrics for a new song. Stopping us whenever we are in the middle of something to listen to his line. If we are seated in a group and something funny happens KIFF like a computer, stores it in memory and when you least expect it he surprises you by flowing about it in his verse. He is mad creative when it comes to idea of songs and always has something to spit about.

Jeidi... not JD as in Jermaine Dupri is the final member of XtraPhat. Everyone comments about his name saying that it is already taken... Jeidi is his name. He is Mozambican and the name is Portuguese... I think. At first we decided not to make Jeidi a member but instead just have him as a featuring rapper. But it was clear from the start that Jeidi is 100% XtraPhat. Jeidi is the hardest, Baddest, Maddest MC that there is in Kenya. This guy has lyrics, and not only that his flow... OWWW!! WEEEE!! Jeidi is honestly too good at what his does, but that's not the reason he was made XtraPhat. Jeidi is committed. He always goes out of his way to better himself and even better, to better others. Because of his immense skill, he was asked by Jawabu (Kenyan R&B group) to feature in a song. He not only featured himself but also XtraPhat. He also managed to get us a recording deal to do a track... and thus "An XtraPhat Love".

We now had a PSR 530 Keyboard, thanks to Twix, a music system with a working microphone socket and headphone to act as our all so delicate mic. All that we needed was a venue. Where better than Astar crib... and there you have it... XtraPhat Studios. Many of you may think that all this is a joke but before you do, consider this. Everything has to start somewhere. Many of the musicians we hear on radio all once did what we were doing. In Africa, we are considered by many struggling artist as fortunate coz we can create our own sounds. Many talented Kenyan artists are unable to break through because they are singing or rapping over someone else's instrumental and are therefore immediately compared with the singer or rapper.

Before I continue telling you more about how we came to be I want something to be clearly understood. We (The XtraPhat Crew) were not at the time doing what we were doing for the fortune or fame. We didn't even know that we would release a song on radio. We were simply making a song because it was fun. Because we enjoyed listening to our cranky voices trying to be R. Kelly. Becoz we enjoyed making a song that people would listen and be like, "that track was done by Timbaland right?" We simply liked making music. It was, and still is FUN!"

We created over 50 songs and over 200 instrumentals at the XtraPhat Studio. Some of these we recorded onto tape, other we just simply deleted. Some we made songs other we messed about with. But slowly people started recognizing our talent. Our thirst for advancement had began. That's when we went to see Tedd Josiah. He was very kind to us and gave us an Atari... something! This Atari is like a semi-computer and connected to the to the Keyboard it offers a range of opportunity. The keyboard was limited to 8 tracks which meant that a limited number of instruments could be used per song (...2 sets of drums, bass line, chords, strings, melody...) The Atari was limited to 64 tracks. 8 tracks was sufficient for us when composing our tracks but sometimes it limited us. 64 tracks was like WHOA!!!!! Secondly, the keyboard would loop after 4 or 8 bars depending on which we choose. This often prevented us on creating some songs, e.g. love ballads such as Boyz II Men's "On Bended Knee." Once again Atari saved the day. Finally, bridges. With the Keyboard we would create the bridge by modulating the track or by muting some instruments. E.g. the rap in an R&B song would be over the beats and a bass line, or something like that. Now with the Atari we could do made crazy bridges such as change the beat rhythm, create a serious "commotion" of sings, a new melody with slight resemblance to the first... short we were not limited in ideas.

Anyway we created a number of songs with the Atari but it was all the same routine. We enjoyed it though, but we wanted more. We wanted to show the world... starting with Kenya (Nairobi) that we were XtraPhat. A lot of people asked us where we got the name XtraPhat from and what it means. When you say something is "Phat" it means it's hot, dope, cool, deadly, rocks, the shit!, the bomb, nice, it means you like it. Now were not just all that... were all that and more. We are extra extra extra extra extra phat. However it would sound funny saying all those "extra's" so we decided to put an "X" to represent all the "E's and thus the name... XtraPhat. Astar is convinced he came up with the name but Twix says it came courtesy of James Odhiambo. Either way we're XtraPhat Records.

This anxiety to show Kenya what we're capable of led us from one recording studio to another. Man!! it was hard. Producers either wanted to take charge of the music thus us performing over their instrumental thus hindering our capability, or either they were demanding mad prices for our work. Most of us XtraPhat member had lost hope... all but one. Saphire. He managed to get a recording deal at Bruce Odhiambo studio, through Julian, the born again producer of Born Twice Records. Unfortunately Twix our main producer was going to be away at the time of production and therefore would not be on the track. Astar then stepped in but unfortunately because this was a favor been done to us at a minimal charge we were unable to produce the track. We were however not deterred becoz we knew Julian was an A-star quality producer. He production of XtraPhat was of XtraPhat quality.

"XtraPhat" which is a song about XtraPhat Records was the official beginning of XtraPhat. We then decided to take our song to the public and see what they have to say. We had some problems getting to the public but not becoz the public didn't like our song but instead because the radio stations were reluctant. Kiss 100.3FM was the most reluctant. We gave them a CD which till today has never been played. When we inquired as to why they have never played our song they said it was because it had not been selected in the panel that is constantly played and re-played at Kiss. We (XtraPhat) were greatly disappointed by this. We then moved on to Maina Kigeni who at the time was a presenter at Nation FM. He accepted that he like the song... in fact he said that he loved but however it was in all English and that the public would take us like "wannabe's". I really did understand that concept. When I'm with the XtraPhat crew, I talk English. When I'm with my parents, I talk English, When I'm with my girl, I talk English... sheezzz!! Damnit, even when I'm with my dog I talk English. The accent on the track was all our... nothing had been faked. We were rapping about XtraPhat... if I'm not wrong XtraPhat is Kenyan. So what's the deal?? Next stop...Metro. They accepted our CD and said they would play it. They would later interview XtraPhat. Thank you Metro. Final stop... Capital FM.

We dropped our CD and they said they would play it. We were particularly interested in Capital because they had the East African Chart Show and they featured a lot of local artists. We were confident... we knew we were HOTA! After dropping the CD off we waited but still nothing. Then Saphire decided to give Jimmy Gatu of Hits On Homework a call. Jimmy said that he would play it in the Chart challenge competition. We felt unfortunate because Necessary Noise a very famous local youth group was on the challenge and had just won it the day before. Jimmy being the true patriot he is played XtraPhat against 2 local artist. He then declared the lines open for voting. 10 min after opening the lines he closed them said that it had been won by a landslide... heart sank, I waited to hear the news of another Necessary Noise victory.

And the winner is... the track began. "Ay yo!" I waited uneasily to hear the sound of a Tedd Josiah production. "XtraPhat like this" Could I be hearing things if I'm not wrong I just heard the name XtraPhat. "Born Twice, Astar, Twix, KIFF, Jeidi..." I know that voice, that's Saphire... We had won the chart challenge. Beating Necessary Noise... my bad not just beating we had won by a landslide! The public had spoken. XtraPhat's first victory. We went on to win the chart challenge for the whole of the following week and made it into the East African Chart Show... debut at No. 21. The following week we were No 9. we spent a whopping 9 weeks on East African Chart Challenge.

Currently the XtraPhat member are scattered all over the world. We are all in university trying to learn more and better ourselves. KIFF and Saphire are both in the USA. Twix is in the UK while Astar is in SA. Jeidi is the only one still in Kenya at Daystar University. This however does not symbolize the death of XtraPhat. As we say in all our songs, "XtraPhat... Now and Forever!" We started out with nothing, now we have a song on the radio which people love. We have just completed another song called "An XtraPhat Love" which is co-produced by Star, thus expressing more of XtraPhat. XtraPhat will never die. "Now and Forever" tells not just Kenya but the world that we are here to stay. A true passion never dies. XtraPhat is no longer a dream it's a reality. Personally it's my calling. I may wonder off and do other things, but inside me I am constantly being pulled to what I love, to what I've always been destined to do. Why do something else? Why leave the one thing that I 100% love doing and settle for second best? XtraPhat is like a journey in a car. It started back in 1998, but all my life I've been preparing for it. Making sure I have a spare tire in case of puncture, making sure that the car is in proper service order... I (hopefully we XtraPhat) are currently refueling for the second phase of life.

The Kenyan music industry is maturing at an incredible pace and yet, the facts in development of the industry are not even been looked at. Music is a product. Just like you go to the store and buy Nike's, people go to also buy music. For every pair of Jordan's that you buy, M. Jordan get a cut. This is because it is his name that encourages you to buy the shoe. The same applies to music. Every time you listen to a song on radio you are buying a service. The product in this case is the benefit you get from listening to the song. Therefore, shouldn't the owner of this benefit be compensated? By who you ask? Well in the case of the Jordan's it's Nike who have compensated M.J. because they are using his name to sell a good. You bought it but you did not physically give Jordan the money. With music it should be the radio stations to pay. They are using local artists music to attract a group of listeners. They then place advertisements in between songs and you the listener, buys the goods being advertised. You pay for the goods being advertised... The advertiser pays the radio station for the advert... but who does the radio pay? no one! it should however pay the artist. It charges an advert per second. The artists should then be compensated every time a song is played. All this is done through copyrights and royalties. However artists in Kenya do no seem to be seeing the fruits of their labor. XtraPhat intends to step into this matter and assure that the LAW is followed... paying royalties is the law.

Another major step that XtraPhat intends to undertake is to ensure that local artist are played by every radio station. Why locate in Kenya and only play music from America, Britain and the rest of the world, and yet leave out your own country? Makes no sense!! Why promote the rest of the world and not your own country? XtraPhat together with the help of the Kenya government aims at changing this. In Australia it is a the law to play no less than 10 local songs a show. The same applies to SA. In countries like America and the UK such laws are not needed because either way 90% of what they play is local music anyway. That is one of the reasons why they have such a powerful and wealthy music industry. It has nothing to do with having better skill that the rest of the world. It is simply a matter of the law being enforced. In Kenya, on kiss fm, less than 5% of the music played is local, i.e. out of every 100 songs they play there are less than 5 Kenyan songs. Thankfully this figure only applies to Kiss FM.

Even though you are not a fan of local music you have to clearly see by this that there needs to be changes. Not for the better of one or two people, but for the better of the Nation as a whole. Through copyrights and royalties, the industry will begin to generate capital thus enabling it to expand and diversify. Currently in Kenya it cost 500ksh to produce an album per album. In American this figure would be 100ksh. One of the reasons is mastering. Their is no music studio in Kenya which masters music (DAT tapes) to the proper international standard. Thus a lot of funds are used in sending the DAT tape for mastering in SA and Europe.

XtraPhat also aims at assisting talented needs. By this we are referring to the talented and committed. There are a lot of talented and committed artists and musicians out there who are trying to make it but do not have the funding. XtraPhat knows the feeling of not being able to peruse a dream due to lack of funds. However, staying committed helped us accomplish this obstacle and fulfill a dream. We therefore see it fit to "do unto other, as we would want them do to us."

If there's that one thing you've always wanted to do in life, then go for it. Let no one stop you, let no one try and put you down. Life too short to waste. Believe and you will make it.

Music…what exactly is music? The dictionary definition of music describes it as " a harmonic sound made up of notes and tones". I personally define music as the God-given tool that enables me to express myself. The tool instilled deep within my heart with which I am to define myself, express my unique individual-ness, as well as run my life on a day-to-day basis knowing who I am, and where I am headed… without music, I would be lost. My love and obsession for this so called "notes and tones" is so great that putting it in writing not only shames "Music" by trying to define the indefinable, but it also illustrates but a mere picture of its true magnitude.