• Broken salary hike pledge drove him to change careers
Image: COURTESY
Leading singer Kelechi Africana says he quit teaching after a broken promise from the school owner.
He told Word Is on Tuesday, "I worked as a primary teacher at some point in my life. I was teaching science, Kiswahili and Islamic religion.
"I stopped because the owner of the school had promised to raise our salaries if we improve the class mean score. I did that and nothing happened and I quit."
The singer has gone viral with the song 'Ring', which has garnered over a million views on YouTube and is being used across the world on social media like tik tok.
"I didn't expect it but I appreciate it because so many people from other countries were doing videos using the song," he said.
"I wrote it when I was walking and then I went to studio and came up with the lyrics. The song is a dedication to all the women. I wasn't only targeting my wife but also the entire world.
"Mombasa Governor [Hassan] Joho funded it. I don't know how much it cost because I don't like following up too much on things. I met him when he was campaigning at a certain place and he asked who can sing better than Ali Kiba. I stood up and that's how we linked up."
Adding "My other song 'Nimechoka', I was tired with the relationship life. You have a woman, you chat 24 hours and then things change. I write about love a lot because it runs the world. If you are not in love, you have been left."
He rubbished rumours that Willy Paul and Rayvanny had taken his idea of the song 'Chuchuma'.
"Ideas ziligongana tu. It's part of the industry. You can think of starting a certain project, share it with a friend not knowing in their mind, they have a similar project they'd want to start. In the end, this is their project," he said.
The singer-turned-producer is working with top artistes as he plans to release collabos with Tanzanian musicians.
"My upbringing was not easy. There is a time I used to record and then producers would delete my work, and then I decided to be a producer," he said.
"I have worked with Nyota Ndogo, Madini and so many people. I have collabos with Nay Wa Mitego and The Mafik before one of them died. His passing was shocking and I was really sad because he was so talented and humble. It was really stressful."