*The Ridicule of the African artist*

 13th May 2019

 "Hii ni nyimbo ya Kenya?"

 *Yea*

" Ooh dah, khaligraph Jones anajaribu."

Such was the comment by friends listening to a Kenyan hip hop track titled Khali Kartel 2.

I was caught totally off guard by the casualness that inspired the lame comment which sounded like a "forced out of them" compliment.

Greatness is greatness, regardless of origin.

But then again rarely do we pay attention to our own pastures.

Is self sabotage natural?

Do we have an unexplained affinity towards the guy who's not our own and another reverse affinity towards claiming our own?

It's oftenly American music, Indian movies, Nigerian artists, Russian hookers, Latin women, blue eyes guys, French cuisine, Spanish melodies ...how quick we embrace, compliment and celebrate foreign acts and cultures is still a mystery.

I bet Turkish beds offer better sleeping and dreaming options than our Kenyan ones.

Maybe if we turned the attention inwards we could one day give the world a Kenyan Kendrick Lamar, a Taita Tiger Woods, a Luo Oprah Winfrey, maybe a Kamba Miles Munroe or a Kikuyu Bill Gates.

We loved Lupita Nyong'o after the international community accepted her,

We celebrating Eliud Kipchoge now that the New York Times declared him the Greatest Marathoner of All Time, where were we the entire decade?

So much more we could give to the world if we started nurturing our own lawns early enough.

I long for the day Kenyans will embrace Kenyan comedians with the same vivacity they embrace Kevin Hart with.

I long for the day Kenyan actors, actresses and artists get the love and support they need.

We can all make it, even by our solo efforts alone,  it's just harder without each other.

The world adjusts to stubbornness.