West Media brings you a one on one interview with Saidi Kassaja Hussein aka Baby Q on West FM’s Za Kisasa show. Za Kisasa show hosts Upcoming artists every Friday of the week to nurture talents in music.
Your names?
I am Said Kassajja Hussein but my stage name is Baby Q. I was born and raised in Bungoma County more than twenty years ago. I am married and God has blessed me with a child.
Your education background?
I went to Muslim primary school in Bungoma County but I wasn’t lucky enough to continue my education path. I just fell in love with music and I must admit that I didn’t have the urge to go to school anymore, I made a decision to pursue music fully.
How did you enter into music?
Ok, I started my music path while in standard eight, which was some years back now. That is when I realized that I had a music talent and I started singing in front of my friends. I could use other artists’ beats to do freestyle music and sing along. One thing I must say is that my talent is unique because I never went to music school nor got any lessons about how to sharpen my music skills. My talent came naturally and I think at that tender age when I decided to pursue my love which is music, it might have been a big hindrance to my education at that time because I got fully involved with music.
Tell us about some of your music you have so far recorded?
The first song I recorded was ‘Hildah’, a song about love. A friend of mine catered for the recording charges. Later on I recorded many more songs which include, ‘Waambie’, ‘Chuki’, ‘Sio vizuri’. The latest songs so far are ‘Nimeathirika’, ‘Anatuchanganya’ featuring FastBon, ‘Lini Utarejea’, ‘Nyota yangu’. I have the official video recordings for ‘Nimeathirika’, and ‘Lini utarejea’.
Challenges?
There are many challenges. For example, you can make plans for a live show, you do a lot of roadshows, advertising , hang posters on the street expecting many people to turn up for the event but sometimes you end up with an empty venue. You can go to the studio, you record a song for the whole day and unfortunately, a blackout occurs at the eleventh hour, or sometimes the audio you have recorded is affected by computer bugs or a virus.
Money is another issue. To record quality music with a professinal producer at the moment, you need more than ten thousand for an audio. This is a challenge to many upcoming artists who want to go to the next level including myself as Baby Q.
Advice to the upcoming artist?
Upcoming artists need to be focused, have a target goal and with that, they probably know what they want to achieve in music as a career.
What else do you do apart from music?
I am into ‘Mitumba’ business. I buy ‘Mitumba’ clothes from Nairobi and Kampala and sell them here in Bungoma and I mainly target the youth whom I interact with most of the time. This is where I get my daily bread and also the little cash I get helps me to record new projects to push on with my career in music.
You are a fan of which team i.e. English Premier League and Kenya Premier League?
I am a supporter of Manchester united when it comes to English premier league, but locally, I support AFC Leopards commonly known as ‘Ingwe’.
