 Do you know about the East African sound, the Swahili? Have you maybe thought of jumping on a track in Swahili maybe? Yeah, because I have a song in Swahili already. You do? Yup, Selema isn't Swahili. Masoko, to be ghetto, all those things are DJ-DJ-DJ Selema. I believe you know those words. So, yeah, I have a song in Swahili. I would love to make more songs in Swahili actually. What's up guys? My name is Liz Jackson. Welcome to Buzz with Stars. And today we have one of the best international artists with us. Hi. Hi, how you doing? I'm doing great. Could you please introduce yourself? My name is Mosiki. He's all the way from South Africa. Yeah, and I'm a musician. Yeah. How is Kenya so far? We say Karibu. And then you say Assante. Assante. Assante, yeah. Kenya's been great. I love the weather. It's not too cold. It's not hot. It's pretty chilled. Nice vibes. Apart from what we had, you see nice location and everything. So, yeah, good for an inspiration. I can make good music. So, what exactly are you here for? Do you have shows? Are you recording? I'm recording right now. And I'm doing a little bit of media. And then on the 14th of May, I'm going to come back again for some shows. I actually have a show tomorrow. Yeah, actually I have a show tomorrow. Yeah. You can give us details of the show. I forgot the name. I forgot the name of the club. But I think they'll put up a poster or something. So, are you a fan of Kenyan music? Or have you heard of any artists from Kenya? Yeah, I've heard of artists from Kenya but I don't know the main sound I could say Kenya has. I know songs that are made by maybe South African artists with artists from Kenya. Like Ida Ziz. I know some songs of his. Yeah. Are we looking into a collaboration with any Kenyan artists maybe soon? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm working. Hence, I brought my studio so I can make some more music with some artists. Yeah, I think it's going to be fun because mainly it's a different language. I'm learning new things about the culture. I'm learning new words as well. So, it's going to be pretty fun to make music with a Kenyan artist. As you can see, you've come with a whole set. Are you a one man army? Do you also produce your music? I'm a one man army. As you can see, it's only me and my manager and our studio. I produce myself, I record myself, I sing myself. Yeah man, so I just came to make two ends meet and make beautiful music with Kenyan artists. He in Kenya, the Amapiano sound is pretty popular. How does it feel to have South African sound being accepted globally? It's super dope. It's amazing that finally our sound is getting recognized. We've always been followers. We've always followed other sounds Nigerians had Afro beats, we followed that. Americans had trap music, we followed that. Hip hop, followed that. So now it's about time actually we have our own sound that people follow, which is happening gradually. So I'm super happy that the sound is becoming what it's becoming and I'm also so happy that I can be one of the few that are helping push it to that extent. So yeah. Two days ago, Kamun Fela was here. Are you a fan of her and what makes South African artists visit Kenya? I'm not sure. I think they hear because of music. Maybe they have popular music around here. I know her, we friends. Once made a song with her a long time ago. I think she's a great artist too. Work ethic is dope. So do you know about the East African sound the Swahili? Have you maybe thought of jumping on a track in Swahili maybe? Yeah, because I have a song in Swahili already. You do? Selema isn't Swahili. Masoko, to be ghetto all those things DJ, DJ, DJ Selema I believe you know those words. So yeah, I have a song and I would love to make more songs in Swahili actually. So in Kenya we don't have Kenyan artists going to perform in South Africa. What do you think the Kenyan industry could maybe do better to improve to make sure that their sound is global and they get shows outside Kenya? Of marketing yourself right placing yourself in the right spaces you know the same way I'm here I wasn't booked here I'm here to just do media just to get people to familiarize themselves with me to understand me as an artist to know me as an artist so I think that's something that the industry could do irregardless of it being Kenyan artist or Ghanian artist or whatever you just need to go out and create a platform for people to listen to you to understand you, to fall in love with your music you know be outgoing, go out there and get it done. How is the music industry in South Africa do you get support from the government maybe what struggles do you face maybe you can share with us? Uh Struggles I would say there are a lot of record deals that are just bad that's a big struggle because not everybody affords to do what a successful artist would do you know successful artist would pay big budgets for music videos, for marketing to get the names out there but then some artist can't hence why we need record labels which sometimes don't make sense it's not good for the long run for the artist then I think that's a big struggle in the music space as a whole do we get support from the government sometimes when they feel like it it's not you can't bet on it you can't be like yeah the government is going to do this and that but the music scene I think the support like from other artists then the power that we have in the sound and pushing it we support each other more than anything which helps which is what makes the sound as big as it is speaking about label is it better for you working as an independent artist? Yep I think it's better working as an independent artist because it's 100% me if I'm making money it's coming straight to me unlike having a deal where now 70% of the money is going to the label so for me being independent has been the best thing for me for my career maybe you could talk to us about recently billboard introduced Afrobeat chat do you feel maybe Amapiano should also be included on the chat maybe you could have an Amapiano chat having a separate Amapiano chat I think so sounds dope rather have that than having an Amapiano song in an Afrobeat billboard so yeah what is that one unique thing that has kept you in the game for this long? so many of them what is that one? talk to us about the many of them I think most importantly the way I look the way I present myself I think it's pretty appealing to females which helps me gain the fan base once women listen to music men will obviously listen to music women really lead in this community what else music I think my music as a whole is just a different sound it's a fusion of different sounds that not everybody could think of what else the way I dress I think just being me the way you dress maybe just talk to us about yourself because we have so much going on here yeah yeah yeah it's just cool drip this is just some cozy fit yeah yeah today is just a black on black day nothing hectic let me take you to the West African music industry do you have an artist specific who inspires you and maybe could you be working on something yeah actually there are a couple of artists that I would want to work with there are some that I'm working with which I also just choose to not say but more than anything I'm trying to figure myself out first in my placement in that space before even having to mention names and all of that so I can understand that if I've said something you know what criteria do you use to choose musicians that you collaborate with it's a thing of as I say I still need to figure myself out more once I understand my sound I am able to then understand the next person's sound then be able to know when what would work for my sound and what wouldn't I know the kind of music that I make I know what kind of vibes I need on them and before I even call someone I've probably thought about it I've thought about the song already I have an understanding of how the outcome would be so for me it's not a matter of criteria there's no specific criteria I can't say no you have to have dreadlocks you have to look blank there's no criteria it's just a thing of me thinking that compliment I hate wasting people's time I don't just want to make music just because we're musicians I need to make music because it was meant to happen that way you know and if it was meant to happen that way it's going to sound that way on a normal day how much time do you spend in the studio let's say you've woken up what goes on on Musaki's day on a normal day for you now I spend less time in the studio because I'm either on the road or I'm resting up to get ready to be on the road so always travelling but back then studio would be my bread and butter and like everything I just wake up in the morning shower mix my music mix and master my music in the morning because it's fresh ears then make music during the day take breaks baby go out to get fresh air come back listen to the music again so it just depends also in the space that I'm at also where I'm at mentally if I'm in a space of making music sometimes I can go for weeks without making music because I don't feel the need to or maybe I'm not in a good mental state to make music sometimes I'm just not feeling like making music I might be good mentally but I'm just not feeling I need some sort of inspiration to make the music so back there at home in South Africa do you have proper structures that are able to protect your music in terms of royalties do you get royalties for your music yep we do we have things like Samro Kapaso Risa royalty collectors but the only challenge that you also need somebody who could possibly be your publisher to collect those things because obviously as an artist you don't know where exactly some of your money is being streamed from where you're getting some of your money you don't know all of that so we do have those organizations that help getting a proper publisher that will rip you off that will make sure that they collect every cent it's kinda hard for example do you get 75% airplay on South African music just so that you can balance other artists being played in South Africa yeah yeah yeah I think airplay wise right now yeah we have a lot of yeah I think we were dominating South Africans are dominating a lot within our area yeah it's only the challenge that I think we have is on radio sometimes there's more outside of South Africa music playing more than South African music on radio but yeah it has its own pros and cons and it's a doable thing it's a good and a bad thing at the same time thank you so much for your time but I would want you to plug the 14th you're coming back on 14th of May yes you could just tell people to turn up put it up on the 14th of May I'm gonna be out in Kenya Nairobi it's gonna be too much details coming out soon so make sure that you get your tickets thank you so much that was Buzz with Stars with Musa Keys my name is Liz Jackson