Nyashinki was born Nyamari Ongegu and he is a former member of the rap group called Kleptomaniax which was consisting of himself(Nyash), Collo(Collins Majale) and Roba(Robert Manyasa) before it
disbanded and he went abroad for 10 years.
Before he went away though, he became a solo artiste where he worked with fellow established artistes in the industry like Amani, Jua Cali, Pam, Karma and Abbas Kubaff.
The group was formed in 1999 when they were still in secondary school in Nairobi and were signed under the Ogopa DJ’s label that was responsible for bringing up artistes like Nameless and E-Sir who were and still considered as one of the great entertainers Kenya has ever brought out.
Here are facts about Kleptomaniax that you should know
1. The group joined the Ogopa DJ’s label and released their first single, ‘Freak It’ in 2002 and was followed by ‘Maniax Anthem’ and ‘Haree’.
2. They were picked by Ogopa DJ’s while still in school. In 2004 the group released another single ‘Tuendelee’, which became their biggest hit so far. The song was written as a response for the unnamed diss track by various hip hop musicians, who criticised the commercial Kapuka music style performed by Kleptomaniax among others.
3. Their debut album M4E (an abbreviation for Maniax Forever) was released in 2005. After 2007 the group had a break while their members engaged in solo projects. The group has since made comeback, but have left Ogopa DJ’s.
After a ten years hiatus from music and away from paparazzi eyes, Nyashinki came back with a single ‘Now You Know’ which got the attention of Kenyans and accepted him back like he never left, after the successfulness of that record, he released another hit gospel record ‘Mungu Pekee’ that made record to be the first audio song to hit a million views on YouTube without a music video.
He was also nominated for MTV Europe Music Award for Best African Act which he conceded defeat to Davido who won it last year.
Since that Nyashinski has worked with Tanzanian rapper AY, Kenyan supergroup, Sauti Sol and released another hit records like ‘Hayawani’, ‘Bebi Bebi’, ‘Now You Know’, ‘Malaika’ and ‘Aminia‘
which are both hit records across Africa.
