Ian Kamau has what seems like an entirely unnecessary shirt slung over his shoulder.
The heat has slowed everyone’s steps to a crawl and people are wearing as little as possible but, like all true travelers, Kamau has brought the shirt he is going to perform in that evening; in case the day gets away and he doesn’t get back to Katutura to grab one by nightfall.
Though he is extremely soft spoken and a tiny smile just about curves the edges of his mouth when he finds something amusing, Kamau sits at the counter at Square Café and says that he is happy to be here.
He’s spent the last few days hosting writing workshops with Physically Active Youth (PAY) Namibia and he is pleased to see that the youth are engaging with basic writing techniques like theme, character and setting before volunteering to read out their poems and stories.
Kamau wasn’t like them as a child. Born and bred in Canada to Trinidadian documentary filmmakers, Kamau was always surrounded by art and creativity but was relatively shy as a child.
Somewhere along the way he discovered Hip Hop.
Mostly because it was what was happening in the early 90s but also because he got the idea that communication was freedom.
Immersing himself in artists like Digable Planets, A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul and Arrested Development, a then 13-year-old Kamau began writing verses and poems which he would share with friends.
Eventually a teacher cottoned on to his talent and asked him to perform one of his pieces in a Black History Month celebration and soon his resolve to stay in the shadows was worn down enough to get him up on stage.
“I said no so many times because I was painfully shy, I tried to deflect the request towards some of my friends but I finally gave in and it literally changed the course of my life,” says Kamau who continued to write and perform in Ontario, Canada until he dropped ‘Love and Other Struggles’.
A mix tape that would resonate with fans in South Africa who would see him through 22 shows in all the country’s major cities and begin the dialogue with arts initiatives and artists in Zimbabwe, Ethiopia and Namibia and eventually lead him to Windhoek as a guest of Spoken Word.
“You go where you’re wanted,” says Kamau. “I perform poetry and some of my music but I am not strictly a Spoken Word artist or a Hip Hop artist even though I was at a certain point in time. My most recent album ‘One Day Soon’ is all over the place.
It’s beat-based music and ambient music and electro.
I suppose I write in a more literary style than most hip artists so it fits into a poetry context in a way that some hip hop doesn’t.”
Unwilling to stand solely on one soap box, Kamau says he writes about whatever is on his mind. Sometimes it’s politics, sometimes it’s love and other times he is inspired by social or personal issues.
“Some people are just about politics or love but there is always more going on than that. I think people are more complicated than that.”
In terms of travelling around Africa as a performing artist, guest talent or workshop speaker, Kamau says the opportunities present themselves as a result of five percent talent and about 95% administration.
“I get to live this way through sheer force of will,” says Kamau who has not been traditionally employed in over three years.
“That 95% administration is about writing proposals to arts councils, reporting on what happened where you were, making sure I know what money came from where, what money came back in, uploading and publishing my latest music and videos. It’s about 5% talent and the rest is all the work it takes to get somewhere.”
That said, Kamau believes all this administration is an inescapable part of self-determination.
“If you’re just being an artist, that is counter self-determination. You have to be in control of your own destiny,” says Kamau.
“No one is asking you to do stuff, you are asking to do stuff with your talent and then you are building on that. I had to raise N$40 000 to make my record and then I had to make that record. I think a lot of artists feel they can just be creative and people owe them something but it’s work, it’s a business. No one has to do anything for you.”
Asked about his goal in life, Kamau maintains that it is self-determination.
“I think in order to truly be free. You need to be able to gain the power to live and not just survive but thrive. I think all over the world black people are not doing that, slavery, colonisation, cultural colonisation, so many things prevented us from thriving,” says Kamau.
“All this community development is trying to get us back to zero. People should be born at zero. No one should have to deal with not having food on their plate or not getting to school. All this is about trying to get people to neutral because people are suffering. I don’t think getting to neutral is enough, you have to thrive, and I try to use the tools I have to help people with that.”
Though Kamau is making a name for himself and working within a field that can catapult individuals to superstardom, Kamau believes that the main thing is contentment.
“Fundamentally, I believe in freedom. Freedom to be oneself. To be what you are. If you were born a person of colour, if you were born a woman. It is about being free in gender, sexuality, race and culture.
The way you get to that freedom is the way to get to an ultimate happiness, contentment and fulfillment. And in order to do that, you can’t have someone with their foot on your neck. So much of my stuff is about self-determination. You have to create.”
With regard to his travelling, his next stop is Ethiopia where he will be taking a break after performing at ‘Ian Kamau – The Sharing’ at the Bank Windhoek Theatre School. Download Kamau’s music on bandcamp, follow him on Twitter and join his Facebook page all of which are aptly titled ‘Ian Kamau’.
