On System ya Majambazi, widely believed to be the first ever Kenyan hip-hop music video, he wrote a verdict on our society. And he didn't spare anyone.
"Hii system ni ya majambazi. Ma-pastor majambazi. Ministers majambazi. Ma-lawyer majambazi. Na si vijana wa ghetto? Majambazi. Askari wazazi."
No chorus needed to soften the blow.
Then he stepped into his verse and continued cooking.
"Uongo na mkono moja kwa Bible. Kwea na mitambo ya chuma kwa parliament na nyumba za kuombewa. Unatolewa ushuru na pistol kwa mdomo kwa jina la Kristo."
That was theology + political science + street journalism all wrapped at once in a verse by a young man from Dandora who the industry had no space for.
And the lyrical genius didn't stop there. On Pesa Pombe Siasa na Wanawake, he gave us something even more intimate.
"Pesa ndio power. Pesa ndio inagawa family, bwana na bibi. Ndio inagawa society nzima, maskini na matajiri."
He understood that corruption doesn't only live in parliament. It lives in our homes. At the dinner table. In the silence between a husband and wife when the money runs out. He connected the macro to the micro in a single bar.
Then came what might be the coldest bar in Kenyan rap history before CBE was launched.
"System. Eight minus four, minus four equals zero."
And then this too..haina comeback🤣
"Tuliharibiwa vichwa na pombe tuko bado kwa mimba. Generation ilipita kwa condom zimetoboka juu ya kutotosheka."
He also asked the question that still has no clean answer.
"Nani ndio nani. Mahabusu amevaa nyeupe vi-angel. Ma-pastor wamevaa nyeusi videvo. Ma-conmen wameekelea sura za wasamaria wema."
He rapped it. Two decades before the rest of us fully felt it.
Imagine writing all of this in 2001. Then watching Kenyans quote those exact lines during the 2024 Finance Bill protests.
That's Kitu Sewer. He never chased validation. He never dressed up the truth or sweetened it for radio. He just kept telling it, about politicians, about the streets, about alcohol, about society, until the truth became too loud to ignore. He gave Kenya a mirror at a time when Kenya preferred to look away.
And then, quietly, painfully, he walked into the same fire he spent a career warning others about.
Our OG is currently in rehab battling alcohol himself 💔. Kenya's sharpest mirror, now confronting a reflection he understood better than anyone.
The people who see the fire clearest are not immune to it. They are often the ones who burn the longest carrying the weight of what they know.
Top 3 Kenyan lyricist in my books. All time. No debate.
Today the culture came together to hold him through his recovery journey. A concert dubbed "Who is Kitu Sewer?", on donations, and real love from the community he helped build.
If you can chip in, please do. Let's support Kitu Sewer.
Pale YouTube akona catalogue wazimu pia unaeza pitia
https://t.co/c61O3NLcOU
Sylvester Wakoli Bifwoli was MP for Bumula between 2002 to 2013. No one has come close to how funny he was in Parliament but he also had serious moments to push back on govt excesses even when he was part of the ruling party.