How I Got Into NSFF, Edition 1

I saw a poster. It was calling for a spoken word artist for a new event, Nairobi Street Food Festival, first edition. I wasn't a spoken word artist. I was a DJ.

I messaged them anyway.

They told me straight, no budget for a DJ. Fair enough, that happens a lot when something new is starting. But I wasn't trying to get paid at that point, I just wanted in. I told them I'd bring my own equipment, no cost to them.

That was it. That's how I got on that first lineup.

I remember playing that day not fully knowing what this thing would become. It was small back then. Vendors, a crowd that was still finding its feet, everyone figuring it out as we went. Now, editions later, the vendors have grown, the crowd has grown, and honestly my own skills have grown with it too.

Funny how one message to strangers, about a job I didn't even apply for, ended up being the start of all this.