 Welkom back to the E-Cycle, the only way to turn up your weekend. I'm Makita, you can find me at Mika underscore Kenya on every social media platform. In the morning we had an interesting discussion, actually a few, and we were asking the question of the day, do you think campus relationships work? You can let us know on the Y244 channel and the E-Cycle that's on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Now our first interview is something, it's an initiative actually and here to represent is Kevo. Should I just call you Kevin or Kevo? Kevo is just fine. Kevo is just fine. Now I'm talking about Lenga Ogaydi Natalanta, can you tell us what it's about first of all? Well Lenga Ogaydi Natalanta, it's a competition that was an initiative by Epuk Ogaydi, it's a local NGO, the 6-2, you know sensitize the youth on matters radicalization and you know countering violent extremism. So the competition basically is it's a contest to let the youth join this fight against terrorism by using their talents, the talents could be, you know you could have a talent in filmmaking, poetry, music and recently we started engaging people also who are doing sports. Even sports? Yeah even sports, we have soca bonanzas, we have basically these are streets engagements on the streets rather. But they're not really allowed because they can't really participate because from the information I have here, the way to participate is to send in a video. Yeah okay for now, for the competition basically is you submit a video or a content piece basically, it could be music poetry or film, not more than five minutes. And we have set themes that will guide you in what to address in your content. Yeah and then the judge will sit down, you know, adjudicate and we come up with winners. Before we get to the cash prize, which I can assure you is a lot of money because it started in 2017-2018, now there's the 2019 version that's about to start season three. Tell me about the history of Lengogaydi, Atlanta, who initiated it and how did they get all of it together? Well it was the directors of Epukogaydi, the NGO, well thought it wise to find something to engage the youth in this fight and the best way was through art. So we said well why don't we come up with a competition for artists in the performing arts or something and then see how they can join this fight to also reach to other youth. So basically that's how it started, we started small but it has grown in lips and bounds and yeah so it came season two in 2018 and now we are planning for season three. Nice, are you a participant as well because I'm getting a vibe from you like an artist vibe, the way you're you know maneuvering with the microphone. Well I'm a struggling rapper, but I don't know it's a dream that I'm not sure I'm going to pursue. I'm just like one of the organizers because we are different kind of guys. Is it the art aspect that made you want to get into it or what was it exactly because as a rapper I'm sure you know the art form you know bringing all these different art forms together sounded interesting so what brought you closer to that initiative why did you want to do it in the first place. Well it was a pool of ideas you know guys just came in with ideas oh well why don't you have like a Saifa street rap battle you know there were so many ideas coming in thanks to you know big names like GMC whom we also partnering with and Wana Kamati the big names in you know underground hip hop they brought in some ideas and we thought well other than having music only why don't you also have a film and you know other forms of art yeah that's how now that's what formed the competition basically the competition itself yeah from the Saifas all good things are born from hip hop yeah that's true yeah as a good wise man you know the postal to park said a postal to park and reverend a little cool jam now uh what's the main and the objective of lengo gaidi in Atlanta basically is to uh one we have like two two objectives yeah one is to you know uh channel this youth energy through art in this fight against terrorism yeah you know our biggest enemy right now is kenyans is al shabab because we are at war with them you know kdf is in Somalia and all that and we've seen you know attacks by them here in kenya so it's basically to to use this youth energy through art to combat these ideas that they have because well you know the evolution of a terrorist you know starts with an idea first you know to approach a moderate person you know turn them to radical you know they become an extremist then start taking up arms and you know it they are full fledged uh at a terrorist you know blowing themselves up and stuff like that so before they get to the violent part yeah that's where that's the job of security forces want to attack the idea yeah and how do you attack the idea is through changing of minds through through art you know that's the best way to change any mind yeah it's true yeah speaking of youth and the talent um you brought a few friends uh they were participating in uh previous versions of uh talenta yeah we have uh two two winners from uh um last year's competition yes we have uh murin lugano and of course locks and and locks and upcoming you know young man as we continue with the interview this is what i want to do for you guys back at home it's a treat i want to invite locks uh this come over here locks uh i'm sure he has prepared something for us yeah i'll whip him this uh here you go the floor is yours and the giant in a small booty in my hand bass everyone ducks in the center prayers looking at the shoppers in the mall raise the heads on after the other trying to figure out if indeed they are safe i feel sorry because one of them an elderly lady is raising up the sole and forehead i suspect it is an injury inflicted by the metallic shelf she fell upon during the scamper so terrorism is real the fear of his existence is up there living amongst us our safety has been compromised but the superiority of our security cannot let the minority intimidate our maturity because those who fight terrorism including me are the majority a flick on the switch button of our sitting room tv set welcomes me to the world of gunshots bomb blasts sirens thick loud rising over tall buildings but my heart tells me no daddy don't tell me to change the channel and watch cartoons because that will not be better than facing the reality at hand baba the superiority of our security has been compromised the superiority of us our safety has been compromised but the superiority of our security cannot let the minority intimidate our maturity because those who fight terrorism including me are the majority hey let us separate facts from fantasies posibilities from probabilities religion from extremism and keep everyone reminded that most people are good but the few who are root cannot overwhelm the mighty power of our security which is tighter to protect us love is larger than hatred so let us walk away from the misconception of generalizing people based on where they come from how they dress or even who or what they believe in not all muslims are ashabab not every pakistani salkaida not all Nigerians are Boko Aram and mark me right not every other bearded man is an ISIS ISIS drop reptiles but see they give nice breeze to sailors lives so the outward looks of each and every one of us should not be used to judge the output of human energy each individual has but to those who use unlawful violence and intimidation especially against civilians in pursuit of political aims now get our message right the superiority of our security cannot let you the minority intimidate our maturity because those who fight terrorism including me are the majority peace nice nice nice nice nice lox it's not the first time i'm meeting you actually uh the last time i met you you are a robber now you're a spoken word artist i think you've grown into you know into yourself never let go of mesama there's a bomb in a small package you know i felt really good and i just thought to enter the competition of the angle guiding so i just thought and wrote a poem yeah nice nice uh 2019 kabisa kabisa asanti sana santi thank you for coming through okay thank you thank you very much uh and say hi to kenneth p i like the talent uh that uh you know you guys have and uh who selects who are the judges what's the judge in criteria well basically look at many things from the artistry you know the message itself adherence to the themes that we have and appear what is pleasing to the eye let's make wikitu kali piya it's quick you know we have like uh four to six weeks of prepping yes kituya five minutes so yeah yeah in this this year's competition and we want to see quality quality last year we had uh you know slight uh to kongashida kido will say yeah when it comes to judging because kitu ni kali you know the message is right but picture quality sound not very clear you know so things like that people should uh should look at so if your message is good make sure you know your quality is also good quality sound quality is also on point yeah that's the main issue especially in terms of uh participants yeah the quality of the video but uh is that highlighted on the website uh lengawgahidi dot co dot kei uh in terms of the quality required uh well uh yeah we have you we have rules uh and uh you know regulations that you know people have to adhere to you know other than you know making sure you've submitted before the submission date you know make sure you know it's it's it's some good work you've done also yeah and number one but they adherence to the themes is one thing that's the most important that's the most important and the themes uh change with every year it's still the same thing kulengogahidi but now the themes of whatever you create the art pieces yes they change yeah they change well the themes which we change themes but there are those that you know uh like radicalization that that is one of the themes that uh for sure it's going to be in even in this one uh we've had it in the last two seasons yeah so maybe this year around uh i won't tell you the themes we want people to come for the workshop on october 17th at kenya national theater kenya national theater yeah at the time um yeah for from morning from morning yeah from nine ah nice yeah now onto uh the big part of it yeah yeah the cash prize i saw last year's winner he got uh 500 000 chillings yep and the second runner up was 250 250 the third 100 000 100 000 yes that's good money this is some good money yeah i'm i'm thinking i should start uh uh i usani nafakui to kulea siri usani na lipa ita lipa ita lipa yeah kulea you know that's what we always say here on the e-cycle and y254 hashtag talent in ikazi uh now this year let's talk about the prizes what are the prizes uh we have you know 1.5 million worth of prizes to have to be won from you know same as last year but this year we also have extra categories like the schools category a poetry music we still had it last last year uh last season and uh yeah this year around we're going to have uh schools because also want schools high schools uh our colleges you know participating you can participate as a group so there also be a schools category you know and so how we create awareness for the competition uh or what uh yeah we have we have pre workshop or pre launch activities that we do yeah we have like the one in knt at the moment yeah what about the schools are you visiting yeah we we have visited schools we're also doing some street engagement like the football bonanzas in uh in eastlands and also we have a walk uh on october 10th uh so i think do moide yeah so takona walk uh like uh five to seven kilometer circuit in kaiole umoja those areas uh takona live band you know and it will be something nice madam because i've already come to have a life but i live if you have talent like locks of course it will be dope it will be yeah speaking of another talent like i said we have two uh visitors here with kevo and uh she's one of my favorite trappers she has something prepared for us as well thank you thank you brave i think you down you feeling slave well this the two seconds i feel i needed to have safe emancipate yourself from mental slavery nothing can wash of certain stains i talk to kata heavily hey red soil precipitate from the blood of our innocence turning natives into immigrants red soil precipitate from the blood of our innocence turning natives into immigrants nice nice nice now moraine uh what do you think about this year's competition are you taking it home it i was i'm i'm taking it home what have you done so far to prepare for the competition uh currently i'm gonna come in as an actor this time hello yes because actually what people don't know about me is that acting is actually my first love it's my passion way since back then in high school i discovered i could act you know i used to narrate stories took it on a holiday now we are to the series we've watched and stuff like that and then came the passion for music so acting was my first love so this time i want to do that in terms of the competition so we're coming up with the stories ideas of what we can um present in the film category i like that i like that what uh i hope people back at tom also know this your sister yes is also another force to be reckoned with yes is she performing as well not really yeah but she is a performing artist but she's not participating in uh lengo guide yes but she's a reggae singer she's actually she's done a media tour this year and her music is actually really very much out there i was actually in one of her music videos called selfish i remember yes so you're gonna see a lot more of her yeah she's an amazing reggae song stress okay we wish you nothing but the best thank you so much for coming through thank you asantisana na kevo uh prepare us what should we do if we want to participate in lengo guide 2019 if you want to participate camera number four is yours oh cool uh if you want to participate uh make sure attend the workshop first of all it's because the the workshop will also have the launch on the same day uh workshop we are now you'll be told more about the themes that we we're going to cover then what would we expect of you you know uh so that's where we'll also address the issues of quality you know uh good workmanship basically you know and uh need to for guys to work as teams because uh another issue we had last year was you know late submissions because some teams weren't really organized but they had very good stuff but unfortunately no they they fell off the rail because we couldn't there's a deadline to the submission they had to stick to the submission date yeah but you know those on the scheme late you know we realized hey some of them are good pieces yeah so those are the things we want to address now you know are you one of the judges no i won't be on the panel we have uh guys who are who are set aside for that yes yes uh we also have names that we'll be working with uh some of them from big names from keno national theater yeah like uh kena to be uh so uh the the guys in the industry so we'll we'll actually use a professional judgment or expert advice in comes to judging our thank you so much i love this initiative uh also thank kena to be when you see him and they should be here next time well yeah for sure yeah come come also come for the launch yeah you can come for the launch music tell him to come to the circuit with the new music thank you very much for coming through now we had a question of the day yeah before you leave you have to answer it do you think kampas relationships work well well those at work you know i've met guys who fell in love some of them i think got married stop being on the fence like rajiz but you see you know as young people you know people need to explore you know see life we'll meet new people that's what i'm saying be truthful you see kevo at least i somewhat lakini wanna do buy out on ito kevo sito na do uh maybe see you see now buddy lakini see you more not to know but uh you know press mingi of late but i think all pr is good thank you so much for coming through we wish you nothing but the best for the 2019 version yeah thank you thank you very much and uh we're here to support you any anywhere we can so i'm a much respect and uh you know to our fans who come here na fans will you show busy fans will you show uh keep it here no just run on spear winners will be through this medium so keep it locked nice nice we'll be back after this thanks