We check out the man behind the jam Finje Finje, Mr. T, aka MC Chizi...
.................................................. You might know him as Mr. Finje, others refer to him MC Chizi, and still others go with his stage name, Mr. T. To his parents though, he is simply Tony Mwangi.
But by no means are his achievements, musically speaking, simple, as he
has been quite a busy man. The huge reception he got for his debut
single, Finje Finje, is probably testament enough that this is a young man going places.
Born
25 years ago in Samburu, Mr. T started rapping while still in primary
school. His older brother corrupted a golden bell hymn song and gave it
a hip hop touch. Taking the cue , he found himself corrupting the song
further by adding; subtracting and rhyming, giving it a new lingo
altogether. Rather impressed with his antic, he pressed further with
his gift right through high school. “My brother would have become big” he says,
“He was lyrically gifted and had a flow that was quite captivating.
Unfortunately, people did not appreciate rap at that time and getting a
recording studio was quite a task.” His brother gave up but
for him, he was just to unwrapping. All through high school, his talent
gave him a voice, platform and position making him quite a darling
among his peers.
Salvation came after High School. A skeptic
to the core, his skin crawled to the mention of Pentecostals for he was
deep in Catholism. He saw Pentecostals as pretenders and doubted the
power of the Holy Spirit they claimed existed. This changed when he
attended a crusade only to see a blind person get healed. Shocked and
unable to comprehend what he saw, his cynic views were thawed as he
left the place with a deep conviction. He was later to accept Christ in
his local church, Tabernacle of Praise, Narok.
How he got called into campus to study with two points less the pass mark can only be divine, he says.
“During
my first semester, I was as quite and maintained a low profile lest
they came calling for me because of wrong admittance,” he jokes.
The song Finje Finje
was a result of campus life. Though people back at home knew their son
was strong in faith, he was living another life here. His new found
freedom saw him compromising and crossing the line of the faith he
professed. After going out for partying and drinking, he found his
conscience holding his hand for guilt trips, wondering why he was
living a double life.
Still, despite his devious life, he found
himself talking to people about God and asking them to repent. His Saul
to Paul moment came when, still drunk; found himself telling a ‘sinner’
they were raving with to repent. His conscience was pricked to the core
after that incident and his restoration journey began in earnest.
Finje Finje which he concurs is a declaration song, embracing his new life, is a true testimony.
“I
never missed church on Sundays despite my deceitful life. And thus the
line in Verse two was born ‘Sunday to Sunday umevaa rasmi tu/ na
matendo unajua sio true/…”
That was just the start of his right-living provoking lyricism, as he followed this jam up with more, including Kanisa Duniani, Jesus Business and Hidho, all sounding a no-holds-barred wake up call to the church.
Apart
from his blunt approach towards sin in his lyrics, something else that
distinguishes him from the regular rap artiste is that most of his
collaborations have diversified beats. Therefore don’t be surprised to
find a kapuka, lingala, raga or benga beat in his yet to be released
album The Epistle, Chapter One. Plans are underway to do a DVD launch too.
The
Geology student who is concluding his studies soon is working on
rebranding himself after school to reach more with his music and
merchandise. Mr T, or Minister of Righteousness wraps up thus:
“These
are the last days that God is coming for a perfect church and every
young person should walk in discernment and maturity “
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1Comment at Wednesday, 19 May 2010 05:09
God bless you, Tim. You\\\'re fresh, you\\\'re blessed.
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