Breadstepping is a quick manoeuvre to counteract the effects of hunger by taking half a loaf of bread and crushing it down into one sandwich. It refers to those of humble means who may only have a loaf of bread to carry them through a day of work (once a common sight in Kenya). In another sense it is a paradox set to music - crosscutting the connected and the disconnected economies of Kenya, whereby: Bread = $ and Bread = food.

La Vie Ne Pas is the Opus Magnus of the Breadsteppas collective. This is an album that explores the major influences of popular Kenyan music and presents those inflections within futuristic Dancehall and Hip-Hop compositions. The 'steppas produced all their own instrumentation for their music. Instead of sampling from Western influenced sounds the Breadsteppas chose to produce their own Swahili; Benga; and Indian music with real instruments and musicians and craft their songs out of these foundations.

Who is each player in the ‘steppas?

JJSNWLPRD is the founder of Bin Khalid Sonic Pollution. Was the bassist and producer in the seminal Nairobi Hardcore band Class Suicide. He also DJ’d extensively across Nairobi and produced a multitude of traditional and modern music under the Bin Khalid Sonic Pollution label.

Ra Ny’Kang (The Seeds of Datura) is a guitarist and songwriter well known as both a Reggae musician and Metal guitarist. Prior to joining the Breadsteppas he was gigging frequently with Alvarez Anwar. He has recorded as a session guitarist for international artists like Donovan Francis and Lavosti.

Richard Mumo Mutua a.k.a. Sir Mumo the Sub-Saharan is a sought-after music producer based in Machakos, Kenya. He has produced music for multiple mediums including film; television and a plethora of well known acts such as the Kenya Boy’s Choir (My Kenyan Christmas ), Juliani and STL(Sony/Universal). Alongside Pepe Haze, Sir Mumo was a founding member of the Pan-African Hip-Hop act, The Paramedikz, one of the most prominent gospel- Hip Hop acts in Kenya between 2005 to 2009.

Mudogo is a Para-athlete and Lyricist who is also producing his own Hip-Hop and Reggae beats. He is one of the principal songwriters with the Breadsteppas and performs vocals with them live.

The material for the album was conceived and produced over a period of roughly 3 years from 2015 to 2017 at the Realm of Mist studio in Tigoni and involved a dozen different artists. The bulk of the production of the music was made during the 2016 residency of Sir Mumo the Sub-Saharan as he was contracted to score a soundtrack for a Bollywood film. Sir Mumo involved the Breadsteppas heavily in the production of the music for the film and they generated many songs together aside from the scores, of which a bulk of songs form this album. The unit went deeper into exploring Indian classical instrumentation and merging that with traditional African rhythms as they collaborated with a slew of rappers and vocalists. If you are interested in the development of the future sounds of Nairobi this release is one not to leave out of your collection!

In 2016 the Realm of Mist studio in Tigoni was running almost 24/7. The Seeds of Datura has just taken up residence in the rehearsal studios. Sir-Mumo kept studio A running all night and in the day he would record his session artists including members of the Seeds of Datura. JJSNWLPRD worked on the post-production in studio B, mixing Sir Mumo’s work and sending it back to him for further development. In this way Mumo and JJ acted as the overall producers however they left it to their friends to fill in the parts or come up with musical ideas in a manner that was completely free. Therefore this album is truly a collaborative production between the Breadsteppas and the likes of Lord Spikeheart (The Seeds of Datura, Duma); The Addvoket (The Paramedikz); King Cush (Last Year’s Tragedy) and Alvarez Anwar (Mtaani Survivors).

Ra Ny’kang was responsible for most of the guitar based melodies and bass-lines for the songs. JJSNWLPRD was responsible for the percussion and rhythmic composition. The overall arrangement and instrumentation for the tracks was by Sir Mumo the Sub-Saharan with some assistance from Mudogo who was also active in writing the music with Sir Mumo in addition to writing lyrics. Most lyrics were conceived on the spot by the featured artists although others were written to fit the theme of the film.