• Star says singers should make music they can be proud of when they are 50 years old
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Kenyan-based Tanzanian singer Ten Ballz, alias Mr Shakara, wants the content in the genre Gengetone to be changed.
He told Word Is last week, "I love speaking the truth and Gengetone is not a bad sound. However, the message might not be right. You need to do something that you'll be praised for when you are alive and when you die, when you are young and old."
Adding, "Don't do something that you'll not be proud of when you are 50 years old. When you have family and kids, will you still be able to mention whatever you are mentioning now in your music? You cannot tell me that a respected corporate company with VIPs can sing those words."
He said the difference between Tanzanian music and Kenya's Gengetone genre is also the governance.
"It's good music but they should change the content. If it was in Tanzania, they'd have been banned. Artistes need to educate the community," Ten Ballz.
Ballz is currently making waves with the song 'Shavu', which he had lost in 2016.
"This song is among 20 songs that got lost through a producer here in Kenya. 'Shavu' is cheeks and when your cheeks are big, people will definitely know you are doing well. So I speak about how stress-free people that are in love are, so they grow cheeks because they have no problem," he said.
Adding, "It is a song that my friend had a personal experience with. Before getting married, he had really suffered in love."
Before knowing the ropes of the music industry, the Inuka hitmaker was brought into the country by a fraudster who abandoned him and took away his music
"I haven't gotten my songs back but I can remember the idea of some of the songs because its like four years now. So, I went to Tanzania and recovered this particular song"
Ballz took to the streets after being abandoned and lived near Afya Centre before a good samaritan came to his rescue
"My family couldn't afford to get me to college because I wanted to be a doctor. I met a Kenyan guy who told me there are opportunities here. I sold my land back home, came to Nairobi only to find out that he was a conman"