 ...we see the things I see. So the first, the song that we saw, it's about your mum, na Ukwanya Mbiya, as it was playing, you're telling me that you play that song for every interview and that song you did, seven? Seven years ago, ya. Seven many seven years ago. And you can see the transformation without dread, now, with dread. You see this transformation, over the seven years? And so why? What's so important now in this song? Mama made it is a song that I recorded straight after high school and it was like when you're in high school, I think most people usually say that for you to complete the complete high school, you actually need to make a lot of sacrifices and according to the statistics, most people usually don't go through FOM2, I think it's true, so I think I was very happy to pass my exams and also felt like I actually made it through high school. Apart from that, there are some honorable mentions in the song where I usually praise my mom and since she's appealed in my life and actually she's the one who has believed in me in my music career ever since I started. If I had my phone, if I could call her right now, her skills are tuned is the song. So I think it's a special song to me, that's why I say in every interview I usually go or in every show that I usually go to perform, it's usually in the playlist. Wow, okay, big up to mom, I mean she's a proud mother wherever she is, I'm sure she's watching, yes? Yeah, actually she's watching. Big up to mom. All right, so from that song, how was the journey like seven years in? Actually I think this song came with a lot of kismat, immediately I released this song, I featured in a show together with Kali Graf Jones, Jua Kali and after that I was featured in the Bumbola Sana, it was the first first ever show which took place in Zittek University. So I think after that that's when I received my first payment in music, that was from Gormanskiza. So things are building up from here, it opened up a lot of doors, so it was a major inspiration that actually music is a career that you can actually pursue and make a living out of it. And when you talk about music is a career that you can pursue, you have different things that you're doing, you know you're not doing music independently, wholly, not just focused on music but you have other things going on. But still on this song, you also mentioned that you had, everyone appearing on that video are your friends. So are they still your friends? Drop off along the way? If I could point out, I don't know if the video is playing right now. We don't have it on screen. Okay I can say from the video, one of the guys there, actually we are now neighbors and we have known each other since primary school. Only the guy is the one who left because he went to work in the U.S. And all of them are still in my circle, like we meet for birthdays and they are choosing that. I mean that's good, great friendship, you are a keeper. In any race you are to choose. I mean they work from Bishdhangwa and you know, all that kind of. So it tells a good story at least. Okay so from all your songs over the 7 years, what has been, I want to ask which is your best song from all the songs that you have written? My best song, I think all of them are my best songs. Please, you will have to, I knew it. There is one thing about artists, when I release a song today and then I send it to you, once you listen to it and you tell me that the song is good, then I will tell you that it is better than the other one. We are usually like that, we always think that the next song is better than the other song. But at the end of the day when you listen to your songs, they are all good. Apart from this one, I made it, Mama you have a story behind it. Do you have any other from all the songs that you have written from your albums that has a story to it, maybe from a personal point of view? Ya, I think as we keep growing up, I think there are things that we go through in life, especially loss. So as we kept on, as I kept on coming up we started losing some friends, in some, let me say sickness, some strategies, then there was the time during COVID I lost a friend and so I wrote a song dedicated not to him but also all the friends that I lost back then. That is a special song. There is another one, this one makes sense since once you are dating, you should dedicate a song to someone that you are dating. We don't say ex but that time she was not the ex. But at the end of the day, you can still break up and the song still remains on the platform since it is doing too well. There is that and also I have dedicated a song to my fans. I think it's also going to play some tension. Okay, we'll see what song our producer chooses from the mixes, the different varieties that we have there. And now getting back to or switching a bit to what you do apart from music. Tell us, do you think you don't have any anger? Okay, also the CEO of Alpha Digital Marketing Agency and the story behind this also still comes on the music side. Coming up as a musician, I think for you to get major deals, you need some connections for you to feature as a main event in a show, to go for the big interviews like 8-5-4 or 10 over 10 or the turn up. I think for you to go places like that, you need to have major connections and most of the time you can be texting or calling or you reach out to someone on Instagram and they usually just look away on your messages. They don't see them anymore just like that. So I think at around 2018 I got a job somewhere and it was actually an industry where I was the head of entertainment at that place. So when you interact with most guys I showed it like can you go for Willy Paul, can you go for calligraph, can you go for major or something like that. So me being in that position at that moment, I will usually place a big show, I'll take like two artists, I'll take someone like calligraph or Asake and then I'll put the main, the opening, the curtain raisers I'll put most people who are underground artists. So the main idea came from there. Then as it grew I started setting up events, not only for the big artists now, not for the underground artists which the major events are, there is one which is called Bad Fest. I think you should check it out, it's a big event now in Nairobi. It takes place usually every three months. The last one took place in December 2014. So the next one is supposed to take place in March. So from there I started as only a marketing agency but in terms of marketing it was managing artists. Then I started meeting some other people. I expanded to managing artists and models. Then me also being a media student, I majored in advertisement and marketing. So I'm also good in photography, videography, film production, content creation. So apart from me being a manager, I started explaining it to be a whole business. So it consists of a whole package that is photography, videography, there is content creation, there is script writing, there is graphic design, there is the management side, there is the PR consultation side and all that. Look at that, that's amazing. When did you start this and how is it going for you? It was started in February 2023. So last year. That's when I decided to, I was out of a very big company in Nairobi. So after some time I decided to venture out of myself. We started with only six employees who are mostly my friends. But then after that I started getting professional people and advices from different people. Then we grew from there to now. Wow, look at that. That's amazing, a good story to tell. For someone who's wondering how do you start? You've told your journey, what inspired you, how you advanced. But how do you start in terms of getting the resources? You know, starting is usually a challenge for many people, because they think of the money involved like, in that wazana kweli wa chatunin gojongo, chatunin na try next year, next year na try next year, you know. Actually when I started out for digital, most people that I started working with, they all thought that they were getting salaries. I love how you figured it. They all thought. They were getting salaries from the different gigs that you are doing. But in short, I was getting it from my own account. Oh, okay, now I get it. You were paying them salaries? Yeah, I was paying them per week. So most of them thought that they were getting salaries from the things that they were doing because they could have a graphic designer to design a graphic for a certain event which is coming up. But you know how usually clients are, na tumakiesho, na tumakiesho, na tumakiesho, but at the end of the day, starting is always a challenge, since getting major clients is usually a big deal and having people on payroll, they don't think about what the boss is doing. For them it's like, yeah, we deliver, we need, yeah, we deliver and we need the payments. So starting was a challenge, but as I said, I started with my friends. So there are people who could understand that. You are now doing this and you are doing this. So and apart from that, before I started I did a lot of consulting and me being in a corporate, a Kupu Corporate World, my boss was very close to me and actually he was a very open-minded guy. Anytime he would think of an idea, he would brainstorm it with me since I was his second assistant. So I saw how he usually got clients. I saw how he handed the clients, I saw how he wrote reports, how he delivered and how. So me getting that from him, I used it to build my own space and then that's how it grew from there. Okay, I love it, that you learnt from the job you had, you know, you don't know where to start from, you took your time to learn and you started with people who actually understand where you are, friends that understand. It's actually a good thing. I think for music tennis, we close up, you also do a lot of charity. I know you own, you are the founder? Yeah, I'm the founder of It's for Kids Foundation. It's for Kids Foundation. I think for me, I'm that type of guy when I'm a tattoo, let's say I'm coming to town and I see someone sleeping on the roadside. I won't think that that guy is going, I won't say that that guy is is broke or something. For me, I'll see a human being and I'll see that this guy maybe needs help and this guy has a story. So it usually started like that but then, I came to know that changing a mind of someone who's already grown is usually hard. So it's usually to go to the kids who are still growing up and it's easier to actually give them hope and it's easier for you to still become somewhat important even if you have disabilities or you come from a poor background or something like that. So it's for Kids Foundation. For now, we usually do visits to children who are undergoing autism or have their cerebral palsy disability. So our main beneficiaries are the missionaries of the poor children's home. We have the KIF, the Rachel Kay Foundation is located in the U.S. but they have a branch in Nairobi. That's the one that deals with autism and cerebral palsy. Okay, wow. Those are good initiatives. So you have music going on, you have your own company going on but you still have the humanity side of you giving back to the community by helping those that I need and the different kind to make you feel at the end of the day. Knowing that you are making any effects. I won't say that it makes me feel. I won't talk about the feeling side but I will just say that you are playing a bigger part in the comment. Okay. I mean, okay. I'm sure you're proud of yourself or maybe we are proud of you. Maybe they are proud of me. We are proud of you doing that. It's a good thing that you're doing. So now back to now music. What do you see yourself going? Do you see yourself moving with that father or you get to some point and then you just stick to the corporate business that you have? First of all, music is a universal language and I think you can see there are times where artists take breaks like let's say for example Nyashinsky. You have the music industry for a very long time but after around 10 years he came back and is still dominating. So I think music is a thing that can go on for the longest time. It has no retirement age or something. As long as you have good content. So as the music side I think in 5 years from now I want to see myself in owning my own record label and having major artists recording there and actually creating that creative space for them to express themselves to the people and most people perform the music in their studios and to their friends only. So I want to give them a chance for them to to have the music out to the world. You are a real entrepreneur. So do you see yourself also doing collaboration with the renowned artists that are there and if yes, then who? There are some few people I have in mind but let me say in Kenya I would like to work with someone like the Brooklyn boys. Brooklyn boys. They sing gang atone, right? No, they do drill. Drill? They do drill music. I think once I'm talking of collaborations I usually go for people who have the same vibe with in terms of hip-hop and so I think Brooklyn boys will be on top of my list and there are people like the GTA they also do drill and there is Nene Kay and also I also put a graph of John's there since he is also a hip-hop artist and usually he knows how to make hit music. Interestingly. Alright so we look forward to listening to those collaborations During your time, your music journey what has been the favorite part of it all? I think the music videos, doing the music videos it's a good experience. There is that feeling also when your music hits the first thousand views he is the first ten thousand views and there is that feeling when it's played on TV so there are major parts when you release a music where you get a certain type of excitement even when people can sing back to your music, quite performing that's also a very great feeling so there are major parts different things that tickle your fancy when it comes to your music what has been your worst experience as an artist in history? My worst experience I would say there is a time we went for a show I went with a friend and then they had booked Aro Boy he was the guest he was the main artist in the main event so I went to Katin Raze but we were katerinizing together with a friend we had done a collaboration so it's the friend who had booked the show so I called him to me have this show, this place, can you come when it came when it was about the time to perform and he was the first one to go on stage I think Aro Boy was he said that he needed to go somewhere else so he needed to come to the stage at that particular time so after the main performance there are usually no other performances so actually going for a show not performing is a worst feeling you can have I can imagine that's something what do you think about the industry as it is now I think the one that has been constant is that the Kenyan music industry is not doing well so what do you think about that and if you think it's not doing well what should be done for me I'd say the Kenyan music industry is actually growing because in terms of growth I'd say I'll not speak on the music side only I'd say in terms of the videos the way people are using clouds to drop their videos now we have the products of the soul the songs are played all over the world so I'd say it's growing but at the end of the day we also need to come up with a Kenyan sound where you can say that this is like we have Afro beat we have Afro pop we have Amapiano we also need to come up with our own sound and we stick to it and we also need to support our Kenyan music because we have a music sector in Tanzania and we can ask them to name atleast three Kenyan artists most of them only get one then says out soul and calligraph yeah most of the time so I think as an artist we need to study our grounds we need to know that this music is the type of audience we are trying to reach out to and that we can actually grow in a side way you've said that we need to have Amapiano, South Africa has Amapiano but I think Kenyan we had but it was not impressed what do you think about that the language is full the language you know there's nothing to do with the language because remember the other time this type of genre called the message rather remember the time when dance soul was the main music in the world and when you usually went to see the dance soul music videos what were we seeing but it was still music so we cannot say that the content is bad because at the end of the day music is something that makes you move it's good music so whether it objectifies women or not it's still music I won't talk about it but I'm just saying as long it makes you move it's good music finally we've come to close on this what's your take on crowd chasing because we see artists I think it cuts across so just artists even content creators you know crowd chasing forward is another lab about something and then boom when you have a new music out you will look for something to get to attract people out to your YouTube book so what's your take on that me being a marketer it's a good strategy something to divert the attention to you and for me crowd chasing maybe sometimes you can find this week this thing is trending next week something else will be trending so for you to trend for that actually you need a strategy too to trend people actually it's a good strategy so it doesn't spoil your brand it's show beans that's just how it is as long after crowd chasing the thing that you release is good it's worth it it's fine so tell us about two fancy we want to play two fancy as we close so tell us about two fancy no give us your social media handle tell us about two fancy and then we play it you can find me at McRoyce in all handles tiktok, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook it's McRoyce everywhere what streaming platform is it playing on it's playing on YouTube SoundCloud Dundo and Spotify so McRoyce M-A-C-I-O-Y-C-E M-A-C-I-O-Y-C-E so get his music across all the platforms that we have everywhere so two fancy we want to play two fancy tell us about two fancy two fancy done this song with two other artists this homeboy Carter and this Jack that time was in high school so actually getting him in the studio was a hassle so two fancy is a song that actually speaks about lifestyle they have the name from it they come to fancy so it was recorded back in 2020 and I think we had some challenges during the recording of that song first of all finding the studio was somewhere in Roissambu so the person who was giving us directions was not good at it before we were thinking what they could require it was a challenge but then we did the song we did the video and the dancers they actually my cousins in that video now they are big dancers in Kenya looking forward to seeing that speaking on homeboy Carter he is also now a very big artist in Kenya he has just done I think he is now back from from Egypt or something he did 7 countries tour for Jack, Jack is now a dancer and so me I am still an artist I love how you work with your people you know you are all progressing that's great stuff you want to pick up someone before we get too fancy I started with my mom this is a camera so mama made it first of all I want to be kept at Tisa family that's the record label I mean right now so big up to you kid I want to be kept to my homeboys back at home I want to mention names so thanks awesome so too fancy it is thank you Mark Royce for coming on board and we want to support your music Mark Royce everywhere so let's listen to too fancy and then we take a short break