The return of Mr Lenny

     Mr Lenny is now getting back to music

Following in the footstps of his estranged father, a musician himself,lenson Njuki aka Mr leny became a well-known vocalist, bagging the title 'King of Collabos'

"Why were you called king of collabos?” I shoot first. He laughs before calmly explaining, “I started music kitambo but guys didn’t know me until I did Githurai with Mr Googz and Vinnie Banton. That put me on the map, and I did more collabos thereafter thus the title”.

Mr Lenny started out as a dancer in a group called Kabaka Twins at Florida 2000 before a friend, who was into rap, introduced him to music where he started out as a rapper before getting into singing. Fresh out of school, he used to hang out at a new Scratch Records, which at the time, was ran by Clemo of Calif and his partner Roba; and was one of the few stables back then that attracted the likes of Jua Cali and Nonini.

“We would meet there and do freestyles so one day, Vinnie asked me if I could be in their Githurai remix after he heard my vocals and I agreed. We went to Ogopa, the track was laid and when they played it, we could all feel it would be big. That was my first collabo,” he recalls.

He also got the chance to work with the late E-sir on the hit Kamata followed by MOU with Indiginas and his last big collabo, Juju, with Nameless.“It reached a point I now had to do solo tracks and that’s when I released my first one Cash Money, which did well,” he says of his track that became a clarion call for struggling artistes.

He went on to record an album in 2007 with producer R Kay titled Kwa Nini that had hits like Helena, Jaajaa and Kwa Nini. Then he went mum.  “Helena was the last song I released before I left the industry due to lack of sponsorship because music is very expensive. 

Then I needed a manager and someone to push the album,” he explains. He was later signed to Pine Creek Records where he recorded a few songs that were not properly marketed. Exasperated, he rethought his career choice, thus his exit into pursuit of other interests.

“It got to a point where I felt I needed a change from music after doing it for so long,” he says. At the time, recording was expensive due to few studios and the media wasn’t giving them a platform, challenges which set many aspiring artistes back. “I would tell my elder sister, who I was living with at the time, about my interest in music and it didn’t sit well with her since she wanted me to pursue other things.”

To make his sister happy, he followed her advice and started selling clothes from Gikomba, selling mandazi’s and samosas in offices, to doing promotions. He also dabbled in events management and supplying gas.

“They all didn’t work. I’ve really hustled but nothing worked. I come from a very humble background and after high school, I knew I wouldn’t go to college because we couldn’t afford it so I tried to make it on my own,” the 34-year-old artiste narrates.

His sister has since changed tune and is one of his biggest fans as he plots his comeback. It is now a different game from what he had left years ago and his passion for music always got him into the studio.

“The industry has really changed and I am still studying the market. I will still do RnB since I am a vocalist but will fuse with hip-hop and Afro music. It will be different but I will not veer off from singing, which is what fans know me for,” he offers when I ask him about his music strategy.

The artiste, who launched his song and video titled Randa Randa yesterday says he will be working with new artistes from the Grandpa Records, where he is signed, and also East African artistes whom he declines to name.

For now, he also plans to do the Randa Randa tour from next month and record an album within the one-year contract he has with Grandpa. The father of a three-year-old son beams with joy when talking about his family.  “I have been with my wife for more than ten years now and one of my goals this year is to give my lovely wife a big wedding,” he concludes.