 What's up everybody? Welcome to SPM Buzz. My good name is Ms. Kithinshi. Thank you so much for joining us and thank you for watching Buzz with stars. In case you haven't subscribed, please make sure you do. Now I'm hanging out with a star and this one he does or rather he just uses his body to do things not everyone can do. I would like to call him a break dancer, but he's telling me he's a breaker. So in case you didn't know, now you know. I'm hanging out with the one and only king of the streets Yeah? N'zushi Africa. What's up Roha? You? I'm good. I'm good. Let me ask you You know when you say king of the streets Palekwino of the streets in Watuengine t'en a different kina Shakila So tell us what why king of the streets Okay, because first of all we're kings and we come from the street So the name king of the street basically comes from this is my organization which I co-found with Bboy Drift and Basically the names come from I come from Pumwani Majango, which is basically what people would consider a slum and You know for I think it's been 10 years now that I've been dancing through through me Just breaking I've been able to you know reposition myself from coming from you know from the slum to being able to go to some of The most you know extravagant places in the world to be able to travel around the world and to perform for some of the most You know notable names in the world Very nice now let me ask you at what point did you learn or rather did you realize that you can actually break dance? So you can yeah No, that's actually funny because for me. I actually came in to dance quite late Most people you know start dancing when they are really young like nine years old ten years I started dancing at 21 years old So you know that that for especially for breaking that is very late for you to start breaking because by the time You're 21 your bones are already mature and stuff. Yes. Yeah, and stuff But I was I was fortunate enough at 21 to start breaking and you know for me I call it luck luckily I have been able to for the last 10 years been able to You know to understand how breaking is all about to understand the history of breaking and to be able to represent Kenya on some of The most international platforms within East Africa and around the world Guys, did you actually know that you know you need to understand they know about to break dancing like any there is more information Other than what we just see, you know Mkey, you know dribbling and all these kind of things now. Let me ask when you started breaking Did your parents, you know your guardians or your family know this is the direction you want to take and do you just do that or In the kitchen you just do as a hobby and then you have a job that finances your life Okay So basically when I when I when I came into dance my my professional qualification is microeconomics and so that is what I did I did have the problem in the same and I was hoping to do this as a job But also, you know as you grow up also you start to understand yourself for me This wasn't something that I did that I wanted to do it was mostly like those things you do because parents pressure you like We want you to be this and that and so at 21 I decided no, I'm not going to do this I'm going to dance and you know, it's been quite it's been quite the journey at first It was very difficult, you know to do breaking as as a career It was quite difficult But I was lucky enough to dance with some of the best crews of dance with FBI dance crew, which are season 2 Sakata dance champions. I also danced with the titans all stars Which are the catechia dance champions also dance with shakers and so over the years I was able to make an income from dance not from breaking particularly but from dance I was able to make an income and then in 2016 I After we won the catechia dance battle in 2013. I I decided to use the money we got to pay for Production costs, so I went and did film production. It's quite funny because I actually studied just across at Prince Comedian Institute So I did film production. So my other job that I do and I'm not dancing is basically I direct videos and I also do editing for videos Yeah, and so from that I'm able to supplement my my dance my dance career using the money that I get from that All right sounds good We have different types of dances now and especially because we have tick tock There are people are dancing on tick tock to wake up. You can move your body You record yourself and you become a star How does that make you feel especially because you're someone who's who's going to rehearse with and the people actually making money off Just having a camera and a phone in the house and just and a ring light. Yeah, tick tock dance as we call them No personally like In some situations, you know, we people might have different opinions personally. I have a very different opinion First of all, I would think the fact that dance has gone so much into, you know, tick tock challenges and all this I would think in my opinion it has brought a lot of visibility to dance So before I've been dancing for the last 10 years I remember we used to struggle to be seen just to be seen, you know But thanks to tick tock thanks to social media in general right now. It's very easy if you're a dancer It's very easy for you to get your content seen by people out there So I'm one of the people who I'm not on tick tock personally, but I'm one of the people who really I'm too old for this I mean, we would love to see those tans on tick tock and I'm sure they would really Go very well. I think so. I honestly think so but being a videographer myself. I think tick tock is too much work Okay, I am editing most of the time I'm shooting the other times that I'm not editing and so for me to be able to actually come up with content for tick tock We'll again need more time. So this is for me the main reason why I'm not on tick tock But I have seen I've seen you know dancers such as dance general, you know Dancers such as Chiki Kuruka, Chiluba, Voda Selano Who are some of the people who came into tick tock just before it blew up and I've seen what it has done for them This has become some of the biggest name in dance, you know There's also people who are not particularly part of the dance community people such as Aziad who's also been able to make a Career for herself out of you know dancing on tick tock, you know There's a lot of opinions on this some people are against it Some people are for it. I personally think it's good. It's good for dance, you know If if you if it rubs you the wrong way Then maybe you just need to go ahead on tick tock and get yourself recognized on tick tock You know get some followers and maybe you will be as happy as these people are But I honestly think it is a good thing not just even for dance, but for the art industry tick tock is very nice Yeah, do you feel the government supports what you do? Oof For breaking particularly, I don't think so, you know, we've had we've had a lot of conversation about this We just recently in May had to fundraise to go to Morocco. We had to raise 300 Kenya shillings in three days Which 300,000 300,000 Kenya shillings in three days, which in my opinion should not have to happen Government is there. They are able to facilitate some of these things But they came up with this excuse that because breaking in Kenya does not have a federation They cannot be involved in funding, you know, and my question will then be Do we need to have federations to support young people in this country? I don't think so, you know There needs to be goodwill from government to support young people whether or not structures exist and you know Government supporting sometimes might also mean them being involved in creating some of these structures You know when they said we do not have a federation It's not the easiest thing to create a federation in this country, you know And in my opinion even federations that do exist and I will give FKF as an example, which is the football Kenya Federation They still fail in major places, you know, I've seen Football players go travel to represent this country and still have to sleep at the airport or sleep outside the hotel Because somebody did not book their flight or did not book their hotel So even having a federation is not a permanent solution, you know for me Government having the goodwill to support young people regardless would be the first step And so for me as a breaker, I have not felt government support I am here to feel it and I know a lot of other dancers who are here to feel government support. So It's quite unfortunate for me. It's a shame. It's a big shame, you know Right now breaking breaking being a cultural sport cultural thing now it has become a sport And so now we now fall under the ministry of sports We fall under the Olympic committee and just because we do not have a federation Should not be reason enough for government not to support, you know The cabinet secretary Ababu Namoamba Secretary general Francis Mutuku of olympics kenya, you know I'm personally of the opinion that you should show goodwill to young people in this country whether or not federations exist Yeah, I mean I've seen um a CS Ababu Namoamba has been trying a lot, you know Especially under Talantahela to try and support the sports people the talent the creatives What you do like to tell him in the case that you could watch this video No, for me like what I just said is just goodwill for me I just as a breaker as a person who is involved in the creative industry in this country I need to see more goodwill from government, you know and Let it not be a case where you're trying, you know, there's some of the times where for me It's political, you know, and there's nothing wrong with there's absolutely nothing wrong It's good for you to show your people that you're doing something But many times I've seen where they come in and do this Public publicity of things and then eventually after you try to approach them later, nothing works, you know And even Talantahela, I will I will I will I will give a challenge to him with Talantahela Talantahela. I've seen them work with big artists like calligraph. I've seen them do some big events I am here to see, you know dancers benefiting from Talantahela And I am even here to see they talked about an app being launched For for creatives to make profiles so that government could facilitate helping them and looking for opportunities for them I am here to see this up on on App Store anywhere, you know I'm here to see any communication official communication from Talantahela to key players within the creative industry, you know I'm personally tired of of policy being made in this country for publicity If you have to make policy in this country involve their key players, you know If you go to comedy, there's key players in comedy If you go to football, there's key players within the football industry If you go to say a music industry, there's key players When you come to the dance community, there's key players and so when you come up with some of this policy Let those key players be involved. Let it not just be an announcement. You know, that is my opinion All right Now there are the day just a few months ago you guys went to Morocco. How was the experience because you know Kenyans were cheering you on Sharing your post on you know just to get financial support. How was it? How was the competition and what happened there? No, Morocco. Morocco was quite incredible because for those who had me talk before we went to Morocco There was a big problem where there was an African qualifier happening in Morocco and out of 54 African countries Only 11 countries made it to Morocco. And so I talked about this on my instagram Petition the WDSF, which is the international organizing body for break dancing being in the olympics and they did make a rule change where by Countries in Africa without a federation could actually attend the qualifier using the olympic committee And this was a good thing until we went to the olympic committee and they weren't willing to support You know, so, you know that was more like a slap in the face for me personally and not just for me I think for the for a lot of young break dancers in this country That was a slap in the face and then we now had to go to the community, you know to kenyans Of goodwill and as for help and fortunately they did come through in three days We were able to raise the money and we did manage to travel to morocco rabat morocco I traveled alongside b-boy drift government names joseph o mondi And you know, uh, this was very for me. It was very nice. It was very It was an incredible experience for us to be out there and we managed to get kenya on the ranking So basically in the olympic qualifier kenya had not been on the ranking And without being on the ranking that means we cannot get any of our people to compete in paris next year for the olympics And so currently we are on the ranking which means we can continue pushing and we can continue You know trying to see which other qualifiers around the world we can attend and maybe get someone qualified And for me, this is not I am happy this happened I don't know whether we'll manage to go to any other qualifier But I am happy that kenya is now on the ranking which means the next generation of dancers Will be able to be included in the olympic qualifiers and the olympics in general And this is not just for 2024. There is The car 2026, which is the youth olympics happening in senegal And then there is now a bid to have the breaking included in the 2028 los angeles olympics And so I hope you know by us going to rabat by us going to speak to the w dsf over there I hope this will open up opportunity for this younger generation to be able to compete in both the 2026 and the 2028 olympics You know for me now i'm 31 years old I wouldn't be able to compete much longer But I am doing all that I can before I retire to open up doors for the new generation And so you know that is why you hear me talking a lot about Government come on board, you know because we are young people. We are doing all the best. We can we are putting our money on it Government can easily do it. So why not why not come on board? Okay, and I mean, thank you so much, you know for just setting the pace for the young people that are coming after you There's somewhere you're going now Very soon What's the competition and where are you going? Okay? So basically on the 13th on the 13th of this month, I will be traveling down to Taipei, which is a city in taiwan and why I will be traveling there There is a competition the world final competition happening called the Taipei b-boy city world finals And this one brings together The best breakdancers from around the world. So this will be the first time that kenya is competing on this platform I will be among two africans representing the entire continent of africa And so this is quite special, you know for us to be able to go out there and represent it is quite special And for me, it's even more special because You know being the first time a kenyan is is is performing at this platform It means it will be happening more and more, you know So again, as I said doing all the best that we can to open up possibilities and opportunities for the younger generation Yeah, so is this a particular trip that you're going to Taipei Sponsored or what's going on? Okay, so basically most of the stuff is self sponsored But as far as the air ticket is concerned as the accommodation and everything it is being sponsored by taipei b-boy city Which is a company, you know, and it belongs to One person called b-boy bojin who comes from taiwan. He's actually the chairman of breaking in the olympics And so it's also quite nice because being the chairman of the olympics. It means we might also be able to uh, you know Bring up conversations about the olympics and kenya and so this is quite special and for me I'm very thankful bojin has been supporting africa for for some time now since 20 i first met him in 2017 In uganda there was a competition called uganda b-boy city And this was the first time any african person went to taiwan You know and uh, this is the now the second time some two people now are traveling And if you can see from the first time it was one person now It's two people it means more opportunities will continue opening up and uh, you know for me I hope I don't see government doesn't know about this. They are not involved. They don't care if you ask me But I I hope to see them get more involved, you know, I'm personally very thankful to you You know for creating this interview and having this opportunity for me to speak about it Because mainstream media has not picked this up, you know, I've sent out communication to them that this and this is happening I did the same for morocco. They did not pick it up and uh, you know It's called uh It's another part of government if you ask me it's called the third estate for a reason because you people as media also control the narrative and What you've done by giving me this platform, you know, it's basically giving me an opportunity to to uh, sort of Control the narrative or give my narrative of what's happening in kenya What it looked breaking looks like in kenya and I hope more mainstream people are able to pick it up Even if they're not able to pick it up. I'm comfortable with this, you know I'm I'm quite comfortable here I mean, we're we we as espion bars, you know, we like to support talent We like to see young people out there and that's why we are here, you know, because I mean what else can we do in We are the people's watchdogs and we get to tell the story out there as well So thank you for coming through. We are wishing you all the very best, you know, as you travel Go represent us. We're waiting to see the results as well Let us know how it goes with the conversation with the olympics. Um, he's the what? We are the qualifiers. Yes. Yes. Let us know and uh, you know, keep going Congratulations on just setting the pace. We are proud of you. All right And I think just to finish up there is a a film that just came out. Uh, it's a feature film Which is about my my my my journey as a breaker in uh, since I started in 2013 And the title of the film is called the fight of my life It just premiered, uh, I think it was last last week or last week, but one monday and basically it's it's it's it's it's It has dropped in a series form. So basically it's three episodes three or four episodes We just dropped the first one. The second one is about to drop tomorrow And so if if you're someone that is on youtube go follow Mzushi Africa Such for the the fight of my life as told by Mzushi Africa This is a story of like my journey for the last 10 years And it basically captures even some of the things we're talking here We are talking of them on a on a very light note But this one gives an a deeper insight onto my journey. So you can check it out. All right guys Make sure to catch Mzushi Africa on youtube check out, you know that that film that they've done and just understand more About what he's talking about now We're gonna we want to see some of the to is square to send you a square to non gear to let Let us see what he can do live on camera right here on espion bars. So take it away. Let's go Let's go Mzushi Africa in the act. Look guys. I'm trying to be a hype man right here Hey, hey, we have another hype man Very nice very nice. Thank you man. Thank you so much We appreciate All the very best as you go to Taipei and we can't wait to see what you do. Thank you. Thank you for having me All right. Thank you so much guys for watching bars. It's stars right here on espion bars My good name is miski finji until next time Keep it espion bars. Watch Anika from Zoki Doggo Some stands