Former footballer-cum-singjay Kibaki is enthusiastic about the response to Rise Up which was released in January on the Sweet Music/Riddim Nation labels.

“The feedback is incredible so far. People a respond to it, and when it drop on the radio, and in the streets, people a go crazy over it. The Rise Up video can drop anytime now. It’s a great look,” he said.

In the meantime, another single, Still Can’t Get Me Out on the Limited Edition riddim on the Emudio label, is also doing well at the street dances across the Corporate Area.

“Right now, the whole a Grants Pen a create a movement behind the ting. The radio is up, and the streets a say Kibaki,” he said.

Last year, the singjay inked a recording and booking deal with United States-based label Sweet Music.

“People knew that I had the talent, but I never got the promotion. Now that I have the proper management structure, everything is coming together,” he said.

Raised in Grants Pen, Kibaki (given name Kibaki Halloway) attended Shortwood Practising School and Dunoon Technical. After graduating, he played for Constant Spring Football Club from 1997 to 1998. But music remained his first love.

He recorded his first song in 1999. In 2002, he gave up playing football for music. He continued to record music, scoring minor hits with Jah Jah Never Fail I Yet, which was produced by Daseca in 2010, and Jah Jah Children Beware.