Nairobi Graffiti Industry USAGM
Metadata
- Nairobi Graffiti Industry USAGM
- February 9, 2023
- Young People Drive Nairobi's Graffiti Industry
- Content Type Package
- Language English
- Transcript/Script English USAGM SHARE ((PLAYBOOK SLUG: TV Nairobi Graffiti Industry – Kaseko HEADLINE: Young People Drive Nairobi's Graffiti Industry TEASER: In the Kenyan capital, painting urban-style designs on public transportation vehicles has blossomed into a lucrative industry PUBLISHED: 02/09/2023 AT 11:25AM BYLINE: Hubbah Abdi CONTRIBUTOR: DATELINE: Nairobi, Kenya VIDEOGRAPHER: Joseph Ochieng PRODUCER: Omary Kaseko SCRIPT EDITORS: Kenochs; Reifenrath SR VIDEO SOURCES: VOA Original PLATFORMS: WEB, TV VID APPROVED BY: KE TYPE: TVPKG EDS NOTES: TRT: 3:09)) ((INTRO)) [[Nairobi’s public buses and vans, called "matatus," and their custom graffiti brighten the busy streets of Nairobi. The idea is the glitzier the vehicle's design, the more customers it will attract. Hubbah Abdi has this report from the Kenyan capital. Narrated by Michele Joseph]] ((NARRATOR)) Michael Macharia grew up in a low-income part of northern Nairobi. When he was young, he started making graffiti on public surfaces, like walls and bridges. Now he paints the public transport vehicles called matatus and employs more than 10 young graffiti artists. ((Michael Macharia, Graffiti Artist)) ((male, Swahili)) “It was hard at the beginning, before people accepted it. It was seen as an evil thing because people were painting awkward things. It took time before it was accepted, because of the system and technology and because people have different tastes. But eventually it became a business like any other business.” ((NARRATOR)) Matatu owners sometimes pay up to 1-thousand dollars for his artwork. He says the more colorful the matatus, the more customers. ((Michael Macharia, Graffiti Artist)) ((male, Swahili)) “What we paint is what is happening in our daily lives. There are movies, games, music — it depends on someone’s taste. Some clients want you to draw their picture. Others don’t have a design, so you give them a design. You have to be flexible.” ((Narrator)) ((Courtesy Twitter @Patrick Guda)) In 2021, the Grammy-winning rapper Cardi B caught a glimpse on Twitter … ((Courtesy Twitter @Celebs Love Cardi)) of a Kenyan matatu bearing her portrait. Cardi B gave it a shout out,… ((Courtesy Twitter @Cardi B)) tweeting, "America is boring. They need buses like this." These days, the market has expanded. Now motorcycle taxis in Nairobi, known as “boda bodas,” have adopted the culture. Joseph Mukoya is a graffiti artist who paints boda bodas. ((Joseph Mukoya, Graffiti Artist)) ((male, Swahili)) “When you go to the bike parking place, you can find 10 to 20 bikes with only red, black and blue, those are the main colors, only those three colors. We started thinking how we can make them unique.” ((NARRATOR)) Boda Boda operator Caleb , who didn’t give his last name, says painting his vehicles helps him attract more customers. ((Caleb, Boda Boda Operator)) ((male, Swahili)) “When customers come, they can choose me instead of the other one because they love how attractive my bike is. It looks beautiful.” ((Narrator)) Last year, Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja said that he will soon introduce awards for the best matatus, and that the judging process will consider the quality of their art. ((For Hubbah Abdi, in Nairobi Kenya, Michele Joseph, VOA news))
- Transcript/Script USAGM SHARE ((PLAYBOOK SLUG: TV Nairobi Graffiti Industry – Kaseko HEADLINE: Young People Drive Nairobi's Graffiti Industry TEASER: In the Kenyan capital, painting urban-style designs on public transportation vehicles has blossomed into a lucrative industry PUBLISHED: 02/09/2023 AT 11:25AM BYLINE: Hubbah Abdi CONTRIBUTOR: DATELINE: Nairobi, Kenya VIDEOGRAPHER: Joseph Ochieng PRODUCER: Omary Kaseko SCRIPT EDITORS: Kenochs; Reifenrath SR VIDEO SOURCES: VOA Original PLATFORMS: WEB, TV VID APPROVED BY: KE TYPE: TVPKG EDS NOTES: TRT: 3:09)) ((INTRO)) [[Nairobi’s public buses and vans, called "matatus," and their custom graffiti brighten the busy streets of Nairobi. The idea is the glitzier the vehicle's design, the more customers it will attract. Hubbah Abdi has this report from the Kenyan capital. Narrated by Michele Joseph]] ((NARRATOR)) Michael Macharia grew up in a low-income part of northern Nairobi. When he was young, he started making graffiti on public surfaces, like walls and bridges. Now he paints the public transport vehicles called matatus and employs more than 10 young graffiti artists. ((Michael Macharia, Graffiti Artist)) ((male, Swahili)) “It was hard at the beginning, before people accepted it. It was seen as an evil thing because people were painting awkward things. It took time before it was accepted, because of the system and technology and because people have different tastes. But eventually it became a business like any other business.” ((NARRATOR)) Matatu owners sometimes pay up to 1-thousand dollars for his artwork. He says the more colorful the matatus, the more customers. ((Michael Macharia, Graffiti Artist)) ((male, Swahili)) “What we paint is what is happening in our daily lives. There are movies, games, music — it depends on someone’s taste. Some clients want you to draw their picture. Others don’t have a design, so you give them a design. You have to be flexible.” ((Narrator)) ((Courtesy Twitter @Patrick Guda)) In 2021, the Grammy-winning rapper Cardi B caught a glimpse on Twitter … ((Courtesy Twitter @Celebs Love Cardi)) of a Kenyan matatu bearing her portrait. Cardi B gave it a shout out,… ((Courtesy Twitter @Cardi B)) tweeting, "America is boring. They need buses like this." These days, the market has expanded. Now motorcycle taxis in Nairobi, known as “boda bodas,” have adopted the culture. Joseph Mukoya is a graffiti artist who paints boda bodas. ((Joseph Mukoya, Graffiti Artist)) ((male, Swahili)) “When you go to the bike parking place, you can find 10 to 20 bikes with only red, black and blue, those are the main colors, only those three colors. We started thinking how we can make them unique.” ((NARRATOR)) Boda Boda operator Caleb , who didn’t give his last name, says painting his vehicles helps him attract more customers. ((Caleb, Boda Boda Operator)) ((male, Swahili)) “When customers come, they can choose me instead of the other one because they love how attractive my bike is. It looks beautiful.” ((Narrator)) Last year, Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja said that he will soon introduce awards for the best matatus, and that the judging process will consider the quality of their art. ((For Hubbah Abdi, in Nairobi Kenya, Michele Joseph, VOA news))
- NewsML Media Topics Arts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
- Network VOA
- Embargo Date February 9, 2023 11:19 EST
- Byline Hubbah Abdi
- Brand / Language Service Voice of America