In Conversation With Kinoti

Kinoti is your little sister’s favourite artist, but more than that, he’s one of the fastest-rising names in the Kenyan music scene. Defined by an intensely personal, deeply heartfelt, and personally relatable style of songwriting, he has crafted a niche as one of the most romantic performers of our age. This quality sets him apart from the majority in the field, and setting him apart even further is the little-known fact that he doubles as a lawyer. We squeezed in a quick conversation in between classes at the Kenya School of Law grounds where I got the chance to paint a portrait of a passionate perfectionist determined to have it both ways.

You’re a fully-fledged artist, I would say Kenya’s first teen heart-throb in the style of Justin Bieber, but you’re still with me here at law school. Most artists’ stories are about abandoning the conventional route for the artistic one, but yours isn’t. What value do you see here that keeps you here?

First off, there’s a space I want to explore which is entertainment law cause I feel like it’s not really that explored just yet. So, just getting to explore a little bit more on IP (Intellectual Property) gets me excited. I think there’s so much money to be made and there’s so much information that people need to know about but there’s not enough people talking about it so why not just venture into what I feel is closest to music but still kind of. ‘suit-and tie.’

Ha!

Yeah, so just taking the route of doing it then merging them down the line so I don’t have to drop one for the other.

Having your cake and eating it, you know?

Exactly!

Nice! So, your songs are deeply romantic. “We were too scared to leave, too tired to stay” “We fell out of love and we blamed it on chance” “We’d rather be a mess together than be alone” this is all just from one song! What do you have to say about the concept of a muse? Who are all these girls loving you, hurting you? Is it all just about one person? Tell me all about that.

(laughs) Okay. It’s usually a number of things, not necessarily even just tied to me but sometimes it’s just prompts, you know? Like, you look at people or you hear stories from your friends or you just watch a movie, listen to a song, read a book…

The real busywork of living!

Yeah, and all those things lead you to thinking about something. It could be something as simple as a word, or as a line. For example, what you’ve quoted earlier is from “Alone” if I’m not wrong.

Exactly right.

And that came from I think something I read or a song I heard that mentioned something alomg the lines of, we know we’re done but we just can’t leave because we’re so used to being together. The idea of being alone is so confusing cause you don’t know where to start, and the whole idea of change is so confusing, so sometimes it’s just about listening to a song and being like “Yo, this one line should just be a whole song in itself.

But, that said, I have sourced a lot from my personal experiences. I think the one I relied on personal experience most was my first EP, Heart to Heart. All of it was so personal to me. And I think, most recently, “Nitangoja.”

And what a huge hit that became wah! It actually takes us nicely to our next question: Do you ever listen to your own songs, like on Spotify. Is there one song that for you is like, I can’t believe- hata siamini ni mimi-

(laughs)

I usually do that immediately after I’ve released them. So what I do, (laughs)

You know, before the song is released, man I binge it. Over and over listening to it. Because I’m looking and listening for mistakes. I don’t want someone to be like, “I heard something and I don’t know if it’s supposed to be there.” I don’t want those questions, ati at minute 3 there’s a click somewhere —

Nah. I need everything to be super intentional. So by the time the songs are out I’d say I’m listening to the next releases.

(laughs) No way

But I do listen, mostly on release day, with my fans. Like it hits midnight and I just want to see it go live on the platforms. I stay up until the moment I see that okay, the release is live. I listen to the project maybe four or five times. Again, mostly looking for mistakes. (laughs)

I really can’t help it, I’m a perfectionist like that. And then now after that maybe when someone says, “Okay, this thing actually bangs!” I’m like “For realll?!” Let me go confirm.

Nice. Now let me ask, as a romantic artist, what’s your favourite romantic song, like the best one you’ve ever heard. Something you’d want to model for yourself

Oh, okay, okay, okay.

That’s a very interesting question, I don’t think I’ve ever heard that one before. One song I feel is super, super romantic? Gaddemit. That’s a proper, proper question. Heh, I’ll have to think about it.

Ama we could just pause the interview there utanitext later when you figure it out

(laughs) Heh. Inaeza bidi —

No wait, I’ve found it! It should be JP Saxe, More of You.

Interesting shout. I love JP Saxe.

JP Saxe is amazing when it comes to writing about love. Either More of You or… what’s the name of this other song. Like That, also by JP Saxe. I think those are really good.

Okay! In another life, which creative discipline would you pick up instead? Or what genre would you go into?

I think I would really want to draw. Or do something very crafty. So probably draw, sculpt… I don’t know, they seem interesting.

Oh no! Dance too, actually scratch that, definitely dance. I haven’t danced in a while. I used to dance. I started dancing professionally before I started singing. I was doing it competitively too, in 2017, 2018, 2019.

No way!

I swear. Like, church competitions and I was part of a dance crew. We were aired on Kubamba like thrice.

No way! Ladies and gentlemen, we have our scoop

I swear! Like we did the most. We were on the scene. And then just, music took over. So, I think genuinely, I would love a return to dancing and then maybe something like drawing or sculpting or something crazy like that.

Which five people are in your dream audience?

First off, just having JP Saxe and Jon Bellion.

Ugh, Jon Bellion is amazing!

Bro! So, first just those two. I’m just looking for people I’d want to compliment my work. Bien, definitely.

Oh god, Bien.

And then also, I really love my fanbase man. So just all of them collectively listening to me play with Bien and Bellion in the audience.

And then finally, I think Tori Kelly.

Also Elani. I look up to them so much.

As we wrap up, what should we look forward to from you in 2024, anything new coming up? Any collaborations to look out for?

I have been working with a number of people, it’s just that on timelines, I’m not too sure. But the thing I can say for sure is that I will be releasing music very, very soon. Like really, really soon. This month, next month maybe. But yeah, across the year, trying different sounds, trying to see just how far I can push what Kinoti can do. Yeah, and it’s an interesting journey, so I’m super locked in.

Yessir! Lock IN!

Last, last question before we go, in your collaborations, how do you collaborate on a romance song? Cause I feel like romance songs are deeply personal, so like working with someone on a romance thing, how is that for you?

First off man, there’s just a sense of, there’s a sense of purity that I look for in myself and in the person I’d want to work with. Like both of us need to have it. For me, I genuinely love and enjoy working with people I’m a fan of, because it’s usually so serious. It really doesn’t matter who it is, as long as the music is good and I’m a fan of their stuff, let’s do it!

So, with that as the basis, it usually just makes things so much easier. You know, making music with your friends is way simpler than making music with strangers cause now in such spaces I can be very open about what exactly the song is about. And I can be vulnerable and very fully there and let people into exactly what I was thinking and whatever I did and the ideas I have. So, what I do is just give full and complete context into what happened. Like “I had this situation where one two three four five happened, and I thought it would be dope as a song” something like that. I don’t know if you feel the same but as long as that’s the starting point we can tap into, it’ll be alright.

Perfect note to end it on. Thank you so much for your time.

Don’t worry about it my brotha.