ARTIST PROFILES (original) (raw)

FEATURED ARTIST BIG PIN KENYA

The man who loves to rap in Luo, Big Pin, was declared East Africa’s best artiste at the 9th All Africa KORA awards held in South Africa earlier this week. Today, he tells us how the late E-Sir helped him become the man he is today, what his future plans are and what it feels like to know that he could have been Sh400,000 richer, had he attended the ceremony

It has been a bitter-sweet time for 21-year-old Chrispin Mwangale, popularly known as Big Pin. First, there was the bitterness of learning that his father, former member of Parliament Elijah Mwangale, had died of a stroke. And while he was in Kitale attending the funeral, there was the sweetness of finding out that he had won this year’s KORA award for the Best Male East African artiste.

"I was watching television in Kitale with my aunties," says Big Pin. "I was very nervous – my hands where shaking, and I wasn’t sure that I would win." Nominated alongside artistes who he thought were much bigger than him, such as Redsan and Chameleone, a great part of him was certain that the award would go to someone else. "When they called my name," he says, "of course I was elated, but all I did was kneel down and say a word of prayer." The unbelievable had happened. Big Pin, almost an unsung hero back home, had just declared the best thing to come out of East Africa this year.

And then there bitterness of knowing that if he had been in South Africa, he would have received the Sh400,000 given to winners who are physically present to receive the award. "Although it’s painful (to miss out on the money)," he says, "I have no regrets since at the end of the day what matters is that I did my country proud." But just as soon as he had won his accolade, the naysayer started asking how someone who has only released one song this year could win against people with at least three albums to their name.

"I want them to know that I did not win the KORA by flukes," he says. "It took hard work and a bit of luck." He states originality as one factor that boosted his entry, the video for ‘Natafuta’. "I bet the Luo factor and the quality of the video helped out a lot," he says.

Big Pin may be more Luhya than Luo, but his proficiency at writing Luo rhymes has earned him the name ‘the king of Luo rap music’. Big Pin learnt to speak fluent Luo from his mother, Mary Onyango. His interest in music begun while he was a student at St Christopher’s Secondary School, Karen in 1998. "I was a big fan of the late Tupac Amaru Shakur (back then)," he says.

Not only was he a deft rugby player, but also the undisputed leader of the school’s cheering squad. Whenever the school team prepared for a rugby match, he burned the midnight oil - not reading, but fashioning popular tunes for cheering purposes. He twisted lyrics of popular songs and conjured up catchy lyrics in praise of his team.

With time he became a lyricist to reckon with. His schoolmates nicknamed him Big Pin (‘big’ because of his physique and ‘Pin’, short for Chrispin).

However, it took the family moving from Eastlands to South C for him to do something about his love of the art. "I discovered that South C was a hotbed of music. Every youngster was trying to make music," he says. South C is the home of some of Kenya’s most notables, including Nameless, E-Sir, Habib and Manga and Kurupt.

In 1999, he decided to enter music. But it was in 2001 when he met E-Sir that his life begun to change. "When I met E-Sir we realized that we had a lot in common," he says.

They may have held divergent opinions about popular US rappers (E-Sir liked Notorious B.I.G while Big Pin liked Tupac) but the one thing they knew for certain was that they needed to support each other if they were to make it musically.

"So we started going for rugby tournaments together where we would put our rapping talents in use," says Big Pin. But with time merely flaunting their rapping talent did not give them much satisfaction.

They started mulling over the idea of recording their music. Armed with a few rhymes that they had written, they started hunting for producers, a hunt that was not without its share of hurdles.

Phoney producers conned them of all their capital – about Sh40,000 - with no production to show for it. "We thought ourselves as unlucky then," Big Pin remembers. "Each time we tried out a song we would give up because things did not work out as expected." But then they went back to the drawing board and begun re-mapping their strategy. Then, artistes like Redsan, Chameleon and Bebe Cool burst onto the scene with gripping releases from Ogopa deejays.

"We instantly loved Ogopa’s work," quips Big Pin. They immediately went in search of the Ogopa studio and managed to make an impression on the producers, in the year 2000.

After listening to some of their songs, the Ogopa deejays enthusiastically signed up the two. They begun working on E-sir debut track ‘Nimefika’. Big Pin also featured in the songs ‘Bamba’ that also featured a close friend of his, the late K-Rupt. Big Pin has since worked with Nameless on ‘Wailai’, off his ‘On Fire’ album, and Patonee’s ‘Talk To You’. He is currently working on releasing his album that is scheduled to be out in May next year. Unlike many other Kenyan performers, Big Pin has not only mastered the art of rapping, but he has also turned himself into a consummate stage performer. "I realized that Kenyan crowds were so demanding that I not only had to be a good rapper, but also an unrivalled stage performer," he says. His most memorable performances have been in Kampala, Uganda in 2002. He has also performed in numerous shows in major towns around the country.

The Ogopa DJs, who have worked with him since 2002, are very happy for him and proud of the award. "This is an indication that our efforts have been recognised at the continental level," says Emmanuel Banda, the Ogopa manager.

"Just like the late E-Sir, Big Pin is one talented personality who is easy to work with and seems poised for a greater career in music,’ says Francis Bukedo, one of the Ogopa producers. Big Pin is currently working on his debut album, to be out next year; his priority will be the distribution of his songs and working on promotional tours for his album