On March 27 2007, popular female rapper Remy Ma (Reminisce Smith) was sentenced to 8 years in prison after a violent altercation which saw her friend get shot twice outside a New York nightspot.
Remy and her friend had been fighting over 2,000 dollars which Remy accused her friend of stealing the money from her.
8 years later, Remy is free and has joined the 6th Season of Love and Hip Hop (New York) and is also working to get her rap career back.
Just like Remy, Here are 5 Kenyan celebrities who have been to jail:
1.Majirani
Before we all knew him as the ‘Hivo Hivo Ndo Kunaendanga’ hit-maker, Majirani was a jailbird.
In 2011, Majirani decided to quit his degree in Criminology at the University of Nairobi, Eldoret Campus and chose to pursue music instead. But a calamity befell him after he quit school; he spent a whole year in jail.
Speaking to SDE in a past interview Majirani said “A week after quitting campus the worst happened. I was arrested by cops while on my way home from a gig.
I was locked in the cells where I had a brawl with one of the inmates who we had a misunderstanding. I wasn’t lucky enough as within no time I was remanded in Narok Prison without being granted an opportunity to defend myself or bailed out.”
2. John Kiriamiti
If you went to a Kenyan school, chances are that you read the riveting tales of the famous hardcore criminal John Kiriamiti who enjoyed a prolific criminal career in the 60s and 70s. His stunts and daring exploits were straight from a James Bond movie and were chronicled in 3 books with his story being told through the main character, Jack Zollo.
The books were written while he served time at the Kamiti and Naivasha maximum prisons for violent robbery.
A movie on Kiriamiti’s life is still in the works with Nigerian actor Jim Iyke , Ojiambo Ainea and Janet Kirina expected to star in the movie.
3. Blaqy
In 2014, Blaqy released what is possibly the most ratchet video in Kenyan history,’Money Maker.A video that showcased Risper Faith shaking her goodies in some rather unflattering positions.
About a year later, Blaqy’s name was put in the back-burner of entertainment .But life got worse as he was arrested for a hit-and-run accident that took place years ago and he spent 37 days in jail after he failed to raise bail.
Luckily, Nairobi senator Sonko bailed an emaciated Blaqy out and even offered to pay for Blaqy’s upcoming music video.
4. Nicholas Cheruiyot a.k.a King Kafu
After getting wrongly accused of stealing a camera in 2002 and spending 6 months in jail, King Kafu decided to resort to a life in crime. He started out as a petty thief snatching phones purses, jewellery and bags from people.
He later graduated in to a hardcore criminal and acquired a gun for carjacking and raiding fund-raisers. He soon got arrested for robbery with violence and spent one year in jail.
After spending a year in prison, he decided to turn his life around and start hustling the right way after watching his friends die like flies. His hustle led him to the doors of Ghetto Radio where he became a messenger.
He was later picked and trained as a radio presenter and he got to host the drive show before joining the morning breakfast show alongside Anita Rey and Maji Maji.
5. Rapcha the Sayantist
During one of his stints in Prison, King Kafu met comedian/radio presenter Rapcha and they bonded.
This relationship formed in prison, helped Kafu launch his career as it is Rapcha who gave him his first platform at Ghetto Radio which secured him a job at Ghetto radio.
