MaKaNTa Afrika Biography
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It was November 2010, when Mkolosae (Michael Mwakolo) met Lugombo (Frank Mwakyembe) at a famous bar in Sae Street, Mbeya known as Rejoice Bar. Lugombo used to spend a lot of his time at that bar during the evenings. He would play pool table while listening to his favorite playlist of golden era rap music because he could convince the management of that bar to use his compact disks instead of theirs. Mkolosae would slowly start introducing Lugombo to his own music, since he had been in the rap game since the early years of 2000 with MYJ crew. He would let Lugombo play his music including the latest releases. Later on the two fellows became close enough to discuss and advice each other on music, lyrics and other life matters including education. By then Mkolosae was a student at Teofilo Kisanji University (TEKU) and Lugombo was an Instructor at Mbeya University of Science and Technology (MUST).
Early 2011, Lugombo met another brother famously known as “Siga Nyota” (Alex Msigala) at the same bar, feeling the same music. It suddenly became a culture to meet each other at the same place for refreshments while listening to Hip hop music, each of them inviting new friends to come and enjoy some playlists which had become rare to be played in nowadays clubs. Siga Nyota had by then Graduated from the Institute of Finance Management (IFM) since 2009 (the same year Lugombo graduated from University of Dar Es Salaam where he was also close to Mkolosae’s brother “Buggie” (Daniel Mwakolo)).
Just after Graduating from TEKU (2011), mkolosae met a brother known as Adamoe (Adam Kaseko) who was working as an accountant at the university. They talked about music and about the possibility of collaborating in their future songs. By then Adamoe had graduated from St. John University at Dodoma Campus. Adamoe had been a close friend of Geez Mabovu and a member of Dirty South family. By 2011 Lugombo and Mkolosae were residing in Sae, Siga Nyota in Ilomba and Adamoe in Block T. Lugombo and Adamoe had not met yet, but Siga, Adamoe and Mkolosae had already been in touch long before, the story of Siga and Adamoe goes a longer way back to primary school (They both attended Pambogo Primary school)
Late 2011, Mkolosae introduced an idea of the song to Lugombo (Relax) whose lyrics he had already written, they discussed the lyrics on their way back home, coming from the mentioned bar. Later on they decided to do the song together, after Mkolosae told Lugombo about the other brothers who would participate in the song (Adamoe and Siga). This song brought the four brothers together, with another song called “Running Away”, which introduced Jadah (Lilian Kibonge), the family was officially born. They called themselves MaKaNTa (Maskini Katika Nchi Tajiri) in order to present the reality in Africa while educating the people through music. Since the birth of MaKaNTa in 2011, a lot other members have been joining the movement. While the founders are mainly conscious Mcees, a lot of other musicians have been welcomed under the MaKaNTa’s umbrella including the famous “MaKaNTa Juniors” including Levis (Levis Kibonge), Elvis (Elvis Boniface) and Oldpaper (Kaizah Mwakolo) by Names and others. So far the official members of MAKANTA are the late Mkolosae (R.I.P), Siga Nyota, Adamoe, Lugombo, Jadah, Samicho Stimela, Tovuti Tata, Momumo and Ezedon.
The first music album by MAKANTA goes by the name MASKINI KATIKA NCHI TAJIRI (MaKaNTa) and was released in 2015. The album addresses the issue of poverty in Africa and how to the system is making it hard for Africans to benefit from their rich land. The Album also addresses how youths should come together and stand firm for their resource rich Africa for economic freedom. Not only that but also religion matters, family matters have been addressed in the album. Apart from the MaKaNTa album, there are albums/mixtapes released by individual members of MAKANTA. These include UHURU HAUPO HURU (Mixtape by Adamoe, 2014), MADE IN GREENCITY (Mixtape by Lugombo, 2016), MOMUMO (Album by Momumo and Patrino, 2018), UPENDO UTUONGOZE (Lugombo, 2018) and NJE YA MTAALA (Adamoe, 2018)
Just after his death (August 2018), Mkolosae’s album was released by MAKANTA HOUSE. The album included most of his work since he got involved in the HIP HOP culture and therefore named “THE LIFE OF MKOLOSAE”. Mkolosae left a two years old son named Kendrick Mwakolo. MAKANTA have a respect and a special recognition in Tanzania and East Africa as one of the HIP HOP families whose lyricism is conscious and positive for the African nation and humanity in general. They have been organizing street events and platforms such as AMKA KIJANA Project with an objective of fighting drug abuse among the youths and AFRIKA HURU STREET CYPHER whose objectives are to encourage economic independence among the youths in Hip Hop culture while providing a free platform for their self-expression through Rhythm and Poetry, Breakdancing, Graffiti art, Beat boxing, Deejaying and any entrepreneurship skills.
The “Tunavaa Machata Tu” (TMT) project of 2019 by MAKANTA inspired almost every youth in Hip Hop culture in Tanzania. The aim was to inspire street fashion to become dominated by Hip Hop artists themselves and encourage fans to buy from their favorite artists the locally produced street fashion clothes and other products. In collaboration with affiliates (WATUNZA MISINGI as a general term for all socially positive content underground Hip Hop artists in Tanzania and beyond, AKILI 100 ASILI 100 PLATFORM and other stakeholders) MAKANTA were able to organize the first TMT FESTIVAL in Dar Es Salaam on 21st December 2019.
The Slogan “Hatutaki Umaskini Katika Nchi Tajiri” (Say No To Poverty in a Rich Country) carries the main theme of MAKANTA family.
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