Brian Kinoti, 22, is a singer/songwriter who does a fusion of R&B and Afro-soul, drawing inspiration from daily occurrences around him.
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Brian Kinoti, the next big thing in music
A great artist transforms our world, removes scales from our eyes, plugs from our ears and gloves from our fingers, and teaches us to perceive reality differently. Brian Kinoti Kinyua, mononymously known as Kinoti, is a great artist, or on his way there.
For starters, we are doing this interview on the back of a fully booked week: he is playing at the KE Unwind event at the Beer District on June 20, and at The Manhattan bar and grill tavern a day later. “This week has been crazy. I have rehearsals during the day, and performances in the evenings,” he tells me, needlessly.
Kinoti is a singer/songwriter who does a fusion of R&B and Afro-soul, drawing inspiration from daily occurrences around him. He seeks to make music that is relatable and heartfelt for all who listen to it, as exemplified by his album, Heart to Hurt, which he released in 2021. At only 22, it feels like he has been around forever, and yet, perhaps crucially, he remains fresh.
Really, how does it feel to be him? “I wouldn’t say it is any different from being a regular human being. It’s living life normally because I have been a student, and just finished my A-levels in December [2022]. Music has been fun and life has been pretty normal.”
Kinoti is the younger of two siblings. “My dad and brother aren’t as musically inclined as my mum and I are. I’d say I got this mojo from her,” he says. He moves smoothly and invisibly, with a diffident charm that belies his talent – that same talent that makes fans swoon and turns promoters into poets. His is a gift that demands centre stage. Perhaps it is not surprising, then, that music chose him.
“My childhood dream was to be an advocate (He is joining Kenya School of Law in 2024).” In his second year in law school, however, he realised that while he may be a lawyer on paper, he is a musician at heart. “In 2019, after releasing my first project and getting called to perform with Nviiri on stage, I realised I had something good going on.” That something never stopped.
The gigs kept coming – first performance at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, then appearances here that culminated in a sold-out self-organised show dubbed ‘Welcome to the Kingdom’.
Songs can become like teenage children: you take credit for them, but they are more or less responsible for themselves. “My first song, Nitakungoja, was a ‘character development’ song. I drew from that well and started writing, using music as an outlet.” He was broken, easily hurt and impressionable – all the hallmarks of a life still under construction.
From this was born the album Heart to Hurt, from which his legion of fans emerged. Turns out, when you set yourself on fire, people love to watch you burn. When you write a song for your fans, perhaps the fear and longing you think you are expressing as theirs is your own.
Kinoti has as friends some of the biggest names in the industry, but he stresses that he is nothing without his fans. “That number of people loving what I am doing and responding to my music keeps me energised.” He says this with a smile plastered permanently on his face, like a man who has never had to pay taxes a day in his life.
And he has paid the price for that. What you see is not always what you get, Kinoti says. He confesses that the hardest part about being a songwriter-cum-musician is the self-critique.
“You are always trying to do better than your last project. It is part of the human experience to always want to do better, but even doubly so with creatives. What if I never do go higher than this high peak?”
Does he consider himself a celebrity? “I don’t think I am famous, so it’s not something I need to handle. I get stopped in the streets from time to time but I try not to act awkward. I want to tell you that I know, but I don’t. At home, I am Brian, when I am on stage, I am Kinoti.”
He is disarmingly honest. Which gives me room to float a most pertinent question: What is the most amount of money he has made from his music so far? He laughs. I insist. He laughs some more. I insist some more. “Over 100K.”
“But I don’t think I‘ll feel accomplished until I pull a Burna Boy and fill up a stadium. I won’t stop until the dream is fulfilled.” He also wants to be multifaceted. He wants to be all round, and expand the scope of what he plays. “The weight of the word musician is heavy on my soul. When you think of a perfect musician, I want to be the first name on that charge sheet.”
His definition of success is quite simple. “Doing better than I did yesterday. To add one “I am a very reserved person,” Kinoti says when I ask what he struggles with. “My people skills are not the best. In new spaces, I am not the most outgoing person.”
Sitting at the forefront of Kenyan music, and inspiring a whole new wave, where does he see it going? “The only way is up. There is so much traction with the new sounds. Kenyans are actually listening to Kenyan music, spaces are opening up and people are investing in their crafts, going to school to learn the art and business of music. I don’t just want to hear myself playing the guitar. I want to keep going until I’m not playing the guitar anymore, but just playing music.”
Does the prophet struggle with focus? “Compartmentalising and prioritising what exactly I need to do sorts me out on that. If I need to be a student then at that moment, I am a student and nothing more. If I need to be at home and do chores, then that is where I will be. It is about doing what I need to do and being there to do it.”
Wise words for such a young man. Which is no affectation, because when I put him on the stand, he does not let his tongue slip about his favourite song. “My favourite song is not yet released. Look out for my upcoming project.”
Having been there, and still doing that, it’s only fair I ask for a piece of advice for younger musicians to ignore: “Sometimes people say there is not enough space in this industry for everyone. Everyone has their space here, as long as you have the dream. That, and that music is not a sustainable career. I am Exhibit A, am I not?” Well, I can’t argue with the numbers there. He has the fire. Maybe he hasn’t read, or maybe he has, but poet Upile Chisala best captures that thought: “There is danger in letting people misname you. If you are a fire, do not answer when they call you a spark.”
He may not know it yet, but Kinoti is soon becoming Africa’s musician now. Listening to him speak, then sing, you rest easy that maybe there is hope for a Kenyan sound after all.
Your own wish? To be 20 years younger. But against the backdrop of what’s happening in Kenya at the moment, the proposed taxes on the creative industry, would anyone want to be 20 years younger? And why, if you’re Peter Pan playing a game you love, getting adored and paid a fortune for it, and you can fly too, would you ever want to grow a minute older?
Not that those questions keep him up at night. Kinoti knows, he always knew, that everything good, every art, comes from the heart. He sings songs from experience. He knows.
But now, at this very moment, he knows that he needs to get back to rehearsal. Before he goes, though, what song would best summarise his life at the moment? “That’s a really tough question.” He scratches his head, lets out a wry, charming smile then sings: “I follow my dreams / You’d think they were nightmares the way they scream / I’ll make them believe (whoa) / Someday, someday I’m gonna be the next big thing!”
The song is called Someday by Rags Cast. Today, Kinoti may be just a big deal in Kenya and the region, but one day he will fill up a stadium, one seat at a time. Someday.
