RAPPER COLLO TALKS ABOUT FINDING HIS IDENTITY AND RAISING DAUGHTER TAWALA

Musician Collins Majale, alias Collo has opened up on his move from the secular music to gospel industry. Speaking in an interview, the musician said he made the move after an encounter which sparked the desire of finding his identity.

“It had a lot to do with an encounter and that encounter was sparked the desire of finding my identity especially growing up in Nairobi where a majority of people go through identity crisis because we consume a lot of content from outside. I just needed my identity and that’s why when I found salvation I accepted it and at that point it defined who I am,” said Collo.  

He also opened up on the challenges he faced after switching to gospel, “The stereotype utterances that are thrown around, ‘this guy decided to get saved because life took a toll on him and other stuff’. But I got bored with life in the secular industry, I thought I would get answers from the other side but I didn’t because at that point I was surrounded by ‘yes’ men and sadly when you get surrounded by ‘yes’ men you get lost. I had to make a decision,” he added.

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Collo who was part of legendary rap group Kleptomaniax also spoke about settling down saying he did it for the sake of his peace of mind. “Settling in the context of men has a lot to do with peace of mind. You can only get that if you abide by transformational presence of God and for me it was a choice of going according to his will and I found peace,” he said. 

The rapper talked about his daughter terming her his blessing, “Tawala. Guys are not even ready, just as her name says, she tawala’s.  She’s my friend, she has a great sense of humour and I have more meaningful conversations with her compared to many people out there and I believe it’s a blessing because she challenges me a lot. Tawala is definite a landmark in my life and I’m enjoying mentoring her as her father, it keeps me safe and I’m thankful to God,” said Collo. 

His advise to gospel artistes switching to the secular industry, he says, “Gospel artistes, these are people that understand to some level the art but they are not talking about their skill level. Their skill level is questionable so there is a misinterpretation of Christianity in Kenya in the name of gospel artistes and even if these are young people who have talents and would like to represent the gospel there’s an order of how things work. It begins with submission and so anyone who is transitioning from the gospel to secular there’s a question around their submission.

In order for you to lead others, you also need to be taught and to be led and you know there is a process for everything. I can say I’m still under construction and I’m still under submission, I’m learning how I can be able to minister to the younger ones. Currently this is a challenge, if you need mentorship you can’t just chill over there and wait for the mentor to come, ask for help.”