Not many can experience the highs known to the multi-talented Kanjii Mbugua – a gentleman who has graced numerous platforms as a minister of God's word through music. An ostensibly gifted producer, worship leader and former Milele group member; he wears many musical hats.
 
Last born in a family of five, with two elder sisters Kanjii grew up in Nairobi. Each one of his siblings was seriously involved in extra-curricular activities; prompting his father to enrol him for music lessons. An avid sportsman he juggled tennis, swimming, basketball, piano, guitar and voice training. Driven with a burning ambition to play professional basketball in the NBA, he captained his team from Nyeri Baptist School to the provincial finals, and only after a painful loss did it dawn on him that basketball was not to be his career path.

At 10 years of age Kanjii accepted Jesus as his personal saviour at a Scripture Union camp after one of the guest speakers preached a sermon that he jokingly quips scared “hell out of him”. He did not fully appreciate his life changing decision through the subsequent years until he discovered, through a certain pastor Wanji sermon, that salvation was just the beginning of a spiritual journey with God.

Kanji went to Makini primary school, Nyeri Baptist High school . In 1997 he was selected as Kenya's Youth ambassador to the world. In the process he gained a diploma in Conflict Resolution and a world tour. On his return he joined Real Music school for voice lessons with Joseph Hellon. In the pursuit of the best possible music training, he enrolled at Biola University, where he studied music and vocal performance; studied contemporary music in Musicians Institute in Hollywood, audio engineering and music business at Dallas' SoundLab.
 
Upon leaving for the US, Kanjii surprisingly reconnected with some of his childhood friends, and went on to form the trailblazing music group Milele. Along with Kaima, Harry and Christian, Milele went on to record four albums – Forever, Level Up, Afrique and Monday – leading to a good umber of chart-toppers, including Forever, Sanjolama, and Turn It Around, to mention but a few.

Though a seasoned producer, Kanjii does not consider himself as one, and is rather modest in explaining that he does what needs to be done with the gift of capturing and actualising visions. As a producer he has worked with a large number of artists who have come through his Kijiji Records imprint, and in the process launching the successful albums of artistes such as Aaron, Hellon and Chizi, as well as the Hip hop talents Juliani, Astar, Rigga, Michelle and Bupe. These rappers went on to form the trail-blazing ensemble known as Hip-Hope, later renamed Chit Chat. 

Kanjii has gone on to distinguish himself as a pioneer in urban Gospel in this region. To illustrate, 2007 saw him spearhead an audicious live album recording together with the Mavuno Worship Team.Dubbed the Mavuno Worship Project, this was a master-class double album of live urband worship music that went on to spawn the congregational favorites such as Under The Rock, Zaka and Ombi. Together, they toured numerous states in the U.S, and further established the group as a force to be reckoned with.

And if that was not enough, his solo career was just about to take off. On the back of a succesul monthly event titled Live At The Village, Kanjii was able to introduce his solo music to the masses, and in the process build a loving and passionate fan base. On December 7 2008, he launched his debut solo record Stories to fanfare and media blitz unseen before in Kenya. Not only were his ads running on most mainstream (and Gospel) media outlets, the campaign was complete with billboards and other outdoor advertising. And teh event did not disappoint. A huge crowd turned up to see arguably one of the cleverest and classiest events ever undertaken by a local. 

The debut album featured few names (Juliani and Astar), as Kanjii carried it well. It featured the singles Just A Man, What If and Aumbe. Stories featured everything from Afro-fusion to straight up Gospel and world music. More recently he has teamed up with former Limit X frontman Isaac Rucci, and rumors of a collaborative album have been fuelled by the release of the joint single I Am Yours.

Kanjii and His Baby Daughter

Since his involvement in the industry Kanji says

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