Nairobi News

Watiri Murai’s debut in music was met with an equal measure of hate and love from fans, but she persevered against the negativity and today she launches her new mixtape called Nefertiri .

Who is Watiri?

I am a humble girl who loves spending time with family and friends. I’m also a singer and designer. I plan to start my own fashion line mid this year. My focus will be couture that will have two lines; one will feature performance wear while the other will be special occasion outfits.

It will be an interesting line, not your normal leso or Ankara wear.

What should we expect from your mixtape?

Expect uniqueness. I call my music new age RnB/hip-hop. It has eight songs; some love songs while others are just about having a good time.

Most people think that my genre is mostly hip-hop gangster because of the previous songs I did with Kus Ma (a member of the defunct Camp Mulla group) and other collaborations. However, I’m more of an RnB kind of girl.

Speaking of Kus Ma, he has featured in most of your songs and people may argue that he is the one who inspired your music career.

A year after you started singing you have not released a song on your own and he has to be involved. Is it true?

He has helped me a lot in my music career and I cannot dispute that. You know when you are starting out you need someone who has already walked that road to hold your hand.

In the mixtape, there are some songs that I have done on my own and the reason I took so long was because I was experimenting with different projects. People, do not be so quick to talk.

Your fans were angry after rumours went round that you would replace Lady Karun when she left Camp Mulla, was it true?

No, it wasn’t. I was never going to replace Lady Karun because the group had already agreed that they were breaking up and it just happened that that was the time when I was making my debut.

Even though I was affected by the issue, I realised that the life I had chosen is filled with rumours and lies especially from my haters so I had to learn how to deal with it. In fact, Karun and I are the best of friends.

What else are you doing apart from music?

My fashion line is taking more of my time and in September I will be going to London to study fashion design and creative arts for three years but I’ll be coming home during holidays. I hope to  have released my fashion line before then.

What plans have you made to ensure that Tiri the singer does not fade from our minds?

I have an amazing team that will be working to ensure that doesn’t happen. There are plans which I can’t reveal now that will be put in place when I’m away.