In 2005, rapper Czars (real name Abdulkarim Mohammed) was one of the biggest names in Kenya’s music scene.
His star began to shine while he was still in high school when he won music competitions and awards such as Pure Oxygen Jam in 2003 and Chaguo La Teeniez in 2004 and 2005.
Czars then went on to release Amka Ukatike, a hit song produced by Calif Records, that went on to dominate the airwaves.
Then at the peak of his fame as his song went viral, Czars vanished, never to be seen again.
Reports had it that on October 13, 2006, Czars left his Bamburi home for an afternoon walk and never returned.
To date, it remains a mystery whether he is still alive. Over the 18 years of his absence, there have been numerous theories of why he left home.
Some unscrupulous individuals even attempted to take advantage of the family for financial gain by claiming to have sighted Czars in different locations.
With time Amka Ukatike fizzled out. That was until Calif Records published the song online on YouTube on August 11, 2011, and to date, the song has 2,555,199 views on Calif’s official channel.
However, there appears to be hopes that Czars’ name will come alive again in the music scene with the planned release of some of his songs.
According to Mr Thomas Mahondo of Ngomma, a music publishing company, prior to his disappearance, Czars had recorded a number of songs but only Amka Ukatike was released.
Prior reports by Nation.Africa, The Insyder, the organisers of the competition and awards Czars won, had an agreement with the artiste to fly him to South Africa for a tour as well as to award him Sh100,000.
Apparently, they only gave him Sh 10,000 and the money went into chasing the rest of the balance.
Czars, the report continued, was also supposed to get a three-track music recording deal but he only managed to work on two songs at Calif Records.
Mr Mahondo also went on to reveal to Nairobi News that while Czars was still around and being managed by Calif Records and Ngomma, he recorded a number of songs but only Amka Ukatike was released.
“Czar’s music was almost a joint project. There are a number of parties who are involved in this matter. If you follow up on the story of how Czars got to record, you will know it was sort of a joint project. We couldn’t just act [release] the way we wanted,” Mr Mahondo explained.
He went on to explain that at the time, only Amka Ukatike was at Calif Records’ music stable but after he won the talent show, it was decided that Czars should record more music.
These are the works that may soon be released.
“The songs were done but were never released. Czars’ father has the unreleased music, not us. If he decides to release the music, it is likely that he will release it with us because we have a relationship with him. We are in good communication,” said Mr Mahondo.
“The unreleased music should possibly be five (tracks) because he used to record and we gave it to him,” he added.
It turned out that due to Czars’ disappearance, those involved in the project did not see how they could proceed with releasing the rest of his music because they would also need visuals for the music.
It also turns out Mzee Makasi paid for the recording of these unreleased music and it would be up to him to decide what should be done with the recordings.
Should the unreleased music be handed over to Calif Records and Ngomma, a proper release plan will be made and discussions on how the videos will done. The release dates are yet to be formally announced.
News of Czars’ new music emerged after Ngomma assisted Mzee Makasi in obtaining the royalties owed to Czars by YouTube.
They managed to get Sh71,000 which is in the management of Mzee Abdul with plans to hand it over to Czars to restart his life upon his return.
By Nairobinews