It’s been exactly two years since renowned Kenyan rapper Fena Gitu aka Fenamenal, released an album, and her friends have been anticipating the return of the rap maestro.
Well, she’s back now like she never left, full of energy that she hopes to spread out to her fans as she describes her journey to creating her new masterpiece as phenomenal.
Speaking to Nairobi News during her recent reveal party of “Fena Unplugged IV”, her latest body of work, Fena explained what the much-talked-about hashtag – #RoadToLAL is all about.
The rapper has been pushing the hashtag for a while now through her social media pages, which she revealed LAL stood for “Love. Art. Lust”.
“Road to LAL was road to the third album which is called Love Art Lust, which is a play on Love At Last, but we had to make it cool, pulling back to my last album which was in November 2019 ‘Unleashed’. The pandemic then hit, and then we had to sit down with our thoughts and face the reality, face our own truth, face our own faults, and essentially this is where this body of work came from,” said Fena.
She disclosed that she had been working on the album long before she released her previous album, ‘Unleashed’, but was at a point in her life where she was not in tune to finish the songs.
“Of course, I had started working on it before the last album, but some songs were not yet ready to take on that project, and I like to take my time with anything I am working on. It’s a journey in love. Love for yourself, love for others, and love for God,” she said.
The rapper, however, said that the album is yet to be released but is due in May this year.
Fena got exposed to and developed a passion for music at a young age, and despite her dream of becoming an astronaut, she eventually pursued music.
Her major breakthrough came back in 2008 when she participated in and won the “Fete de la Musique” singing competition at Alliance Francaise Nairobi. The win marked the beginning of her successful musical career.
Like many musicians, Fena started from the bottom, moving slowly until the top. In 2009, she served as a backup singer for Dela, a post she held for a few months before joining Muthoni Drummer Queen’s team in the same capacity.
In 2010, she decided to pursue a solo career and threw herself into the salty waters of the Kenyan music industry.
Her hard work and discipline in the industry have seen her drop two albums dubbed ‘Fenamenon’ and ‘Unleashed’, which have over 30 songs to her name. She has featured in a number of top musical events that include; Coke Studio Africa Season 2, and several other special music recording sessions in Nairobi.
Known for her high massive energy and great live performances, Fena has performed in several top shows and shared the stage with big names in the music industry, including; R&B sensation Vivian Green (Lounge Unplugged, September 2011), S.A’s hip hop legend HHP, UK singer/rapper Lush, Ice Prince, Davido, Sauti Sol, Dela, Kagwe Mungai, Naiboi, Khaligraph Jones among others.
