In 2013, popular musician Chris Kaiga released a song that caused him a lot of trouble. The song put him in the spotlight and caused him to be sidelined due to the song’s controversial message.
The song dubbed ‘Pombe Bangi’ infuriated certain cliques of the society. Chris Kaira relayed deep regret for not putting so much thought to the song. The song in question gained fame but couldn’t be used. Chris shared,
‘Music is funny. Someone once told me, ‘Music needs to be used.’ You may have great bars, but if your song can’t be used commercially or even resonate with the audience, then it misses the mark. We didn’t present Pombe Bangi in a positive way. It became famous, but it couldn’t be used.”
Chris Kaiga was investigated over the popular song but asserted that it was meant to be harmless fun.
“People assumed there was a political angle, but before anyone got involved, they investigated. They found it wasn’t motivated by anything political—it was just some young guys having fun and experimenting. They realized it was harmless.”
Chris Kaiga shared that he was faced with problems while performing the song. He shared that, “Another mistake we made was not including my verse. If it had been in a different space, it could have been more successful,”
While Chris was close to completing his studies, he was hit by a major blow. He was expelled from Campus.
“It affected me deeply. I didn’t do it to harm the school; I didn’t even perform it on school grounds. I did it on my off day. But the school told us, ‘If you’re in JKUAT, you’re part of JKUAT’s property. You can’t just go out there doing whatever you want.’ So I kind of understand where they were coming from.”
Chris revealed that the setback compelled him to drop out from campus. He decided to open a studio and pursue music full-time. He shared,
“It really broke me. I was in my fourth year, second semester, and I had taken that course to push myself. It affected my mom, too,”