This nation has spawned a number of celebrated artists – many of whom have shared the stage with major international acts and performed before dignitaries and sold out crowds. Think Milele. Think Eric Wainaina. Think Suzzana Owiyo.

Yet few, if any, have been nominated alongside industry heavy weights for any major award shows. After all, when was the last time you saw Nameless listed next to 50 Cent, or Prezzo highlighted together with Missy Elliot?

Meet DJ Fresh.

Not only has he played for Industry heavyweights such as Papa San, Bobby Bishop and Shekinah, he has also been nominated alongside international artists such as Kirk Franklin, Mary Mary, Canton Jones and Lecrae. During the 2006 UGA Awards, he received not one, but two award nominations – Best Radio Show as well as Best Mobile DJ.

And if that doesn’t impress you, peep this – he also regularly collaborates with none other than Grammy Award nominee and eight-time Stellar Award winner Tonex on Tonex’s popular Club Virtue, a popular radio broadcast that airs in major cities in the United States.

So who is this DJ that they call Fresh?

Real names Robert Ndung’u. Believe it or not he was born and bred right here in Nairobi – actually in Kikuyu. He attended Musa Gitau Primary before his academic brilliance saw him proceed to Alliance High School and eventually Kenyatta University, where he pursued a Bachelor of Science Degree.

His interest in music and disc jockeying had been growing over the years, but it was only while at campus that he took this to the next level. He begun to teach himself the art of DJ-ing from an early age, spending his free time practicing in his bedroom. He later managed to secure himself a job at a local media house, TBN Family Media, as a production assistant.

DJ Fresh Chills With Tonex

A DJ slot opened up on the radio show Rock Solid, and considering it to be a temporary assignment, he took it on. All along he reckoned they would find a permanent DJ to spin for the show, but he was surprised when the station got a host for it (Hope FM’s breakfast presenter Monica) and asked him to stay on as the DJ. Interestingly, it was actually during this period that he got his name. Monica once asked him what his DJ name would be, and jokingly, he asked her to give him whatever name. She picked Fresh, and Fresh is what they’ve called him ever since.

DJ Fresh went on to be one of the country’s top Gospel DJs, hosting and guesting on a number of shows on various radio stations. He says:

“I have had radio shows on Family FM (Rocksolid) as well as on Hope FM (Plugged In with Annie Kiguta and Yafesi). I have to say that this was the most exciting radio time I have had to date. I also filled in for DJ Kev on Gladys Gachanja’s Nation FM show Soul Food, as well as K-Krew’s Metro FM's Kubamba.”

“There was a weekend I remember doing Plugged In on Saturday, then moving on to Soul Food on Sunday morning and eventually spinning on a full show of Kubamba on Sunday night. I just blacked out when I reached home!”

Together with Mo Sound Ministries’ DJ Kev, he’s also been involved in organizing the popular Speed Parties on the 31st of December in both 2003 as well as 2004.

Grits Show Some Love For Fresh

From his humble beginnings at Family, the sky has been the limit for DJ Fresh, as he’s moved on to bigger and greater things. After resigning from Family FM, DJ Fresh moved over to the US and started a weekly mix-show on Orlando’s YHOT. The show has quickly grown and now airs on sixteen different stations around the world, including New York, Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Ireland and Hawaii.

Even though Fresh’s career has seemed rosy and incident-free, it’s taken a few knocks here and there. The most significant and painful of them occurring when he was orphaned in the year 2002. In January of that year, his mother suffered a major cardiac arrest and passed away. And just as the family was pulling together to move on, six months later his father went through significant diabetes-related complications and also passed on. DJ Fresh, who now works for Hewlett Packard in Boston, lives with his older brother and younger sister in the United States.

DJ Fresh is now passionate about Gospel music, in all its forms. Be it Gospel hip-hop Reggae or urban Gospel, he wants to see it grow more rapidly and gain acceptance especially with a younger demographic. He’s definitely started on the right footing, let’s now sit back and watch him take the world.

Hanging With KJ 52

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