I feel guilty- Rapper Wangechi opens up about her best friend's death in fatal road accident

 Wangechi was involved in road accident that claimed her best friend

After surviving an accident that claimed her best friend last year, fast-rising rapper Wangechi finally talks to KEVIN OGUOKO about the events of the dark birthday party night and how the entire episode changed her life

Pulse: It’s good to see you back on your feet performing for the first time since your accident... Wangechi: I feel OK now. Guys are still tip-toeing around the accident story. No one wants to ask me about the night of the accident. There is also the aspect of people’s expectations now that I survived that accident. The other day my friend Amina asked me if I was now going to join the gospel music industry.

P: You have spoken repeatedly about your mum being your pillar on a number of your social media platforms. How did the accident bring you closer to her? W: She is strong and I love her. At the hospital during my recovery, she never shed any tears in front of me. She was the one comforting my friends who would come by my bedside and broke down in tears. She clothed and fed me when I was recovering. She is saved and she relied on her faith in God that everything would be OK. I had to repeat a semester in school and I would find it hard to cope and I would come home all depressed. She would look at me and tell me ‘you have gone through an accident where you lost your friend and now you are back on your feet. There is no way you can give up now’. I love her for that.

P: That’s amazing. So you would consider going gospel since everyone is pushing you towards that? W: Some people were also expecting me to do a ‘Kanye West’ and get back to music, recording while I was injured so you they could feel me through the pain. I just have my own plans. I have things I want to do for myself first. And no offence, but I find everything in that industry (gospel) fake.

P: Let us talk about the accident? W: Honestly, I don’t recall much. What I remember is having dinner at my friend’s birthday party and the next thing I was waking up in the hospital like I had been asleep

P: Was the accident caused by drunk-driving? W: I cannot remember much about the night. I can only trace the events of the night through two people’s accounts and none has mentioned alcohol. But I do understand why people would presume there was alcohol involved considering there was a dinner party that we had come from.

P: You had quite a few injuries and we saw the Instagram videos of you going through your physical therapy with difficulties in walking. How would you describe the whole experience? W: When I was recovering in hospital, I had no idea how bad I had been hurt and how long it was going to take me to recover. In the back of mind, I had it that I was performing at Blankets and Wines that end month and I was like ‘let’s get out of this hospital so that I can get ready for my show’. It was when I got out of bed to try and walk that I realised nothing was working

P: Are you OK now? W: Yes. I can walk and perform now but not for more than two hours. I am getting back.

P: You lost your best friend, Tiona Wangechi in the accident. A lot has been said about her including that she had suicidal thoughts according to her Instagram posts. Tell us about her from your friendship. W: I feel guilty. I knew what she was going through but I never fully comprehended how deep it was. I met her online on Instagram when I was looking for a make-up artiste six months before the accident. She was just the complete opposite of me. She was an extrovert and I like to keep to myself most of the time. We just clicked and hanged out more after that. She was really sweet and she got along with everybody, there was warmness in a room whenever she was around.

P: What of your other two friends in the industry, Xtatic and your producer Kevin Provoke. How are you dealing with both of them beefing with each other? W: I really don’t know what was going on. But they are cool now. They are talking. They can stand to be in the same room together.

P: What is your sexual orientation considering what Provoke has been claiming you are not straight? W: These are things I only read about in Pulse. They are lies. I am straight. My relationship with Provoke has always been professional, musically. P: Well... something must have driven him to say that... W: Let us talk about music. I have a management team behind me and I keep getting gigs starting with the Coke Studio where I will be a performing artist this season. The video to my single Cardiac Arrest is dropping next week Friday (today). An album will drop sometime this year. I am still working on the concept.