The Paramedikz is a non-profit organization that officially started in December 2004. Dj Wave, Pepe Haze and Frozen I.D made up Rosslyn’s first Hip Hop music group. Together they made an underground album entitled “Brothahood†and released it to the public (April 2005). The money from the album sales contributed to an NHS project to support Reheema home, a children’s orphanage in Limuru. Sales went remarkably well and the sales ended up a 40% of the 200,000Ksh + that was raised for the children’s home. The 50Ksh Album (that was recorded in the members’ bedrooms) was a great success and feedback from that gave the three rappers morale to take their music to the next level. May 2005, DJ Wave graduated from Rosslyn Academy and august that year, joined the Homeboyz Deejay academy to study music technology. Meanwhile Haze, in his search for another partner after DJ Wave’s departure, he encountered Laura Nicholas (the lead singer in the Rosslyn worship team at the time) and a month later, she joined The Paramedikz. Shortly after, the group began working on their first professional album entitled ‘Destined for Greatness’. By this time, The Paramedikz had earned immense respect from the Rosslyn community and a lot was expected of them. Therefore, the group felt obligated to record a professional album in order not to disappoint their fans.
November 2005, the group started looking for studios around Nairobi which could record their music for a low price and at the same time respect the different style they were bringing. Next Level Studios came into the picture and The Paramedikz recorded their first single, "Struggles". They also recorded the original copies of “It’s all good†featuring Haggis and “Respectâ€, however due to unavoidable circumstances; the group was forced to leave Next Level and join forces with Soundland studios, where they had to re-do and complete the ‘Destined For Greatness’ project.
During this period, the group added another exceptional Rapper (Wu Kid). He had been hangin’ out with the group through out the making of the project and after a couple of freestyle battles with the crew; Wu Kid caught the eye of the group manager and official joined The Paramedikz (December 2005). He featured on a good number of tracks on the album but wasn’t really involved. There have been numerous rumors to why this happened but recently Pepe Haze set the record straight, “Wu Kid is one for the future, we used Destined For Greatness to preview what he’s capable of… that was just a way to introduce him to the public… You’ll see a lot more of him in the year’s to come...â€
May 2006, the vastly anticipated album was released. 200 copies were sold on the day of the launch at Rosslyn Academy and hundreds more were sold at various institutions such as Daystar University, U.S.I.U, German School and the International School of Kenya the following months.
Hush, the album’s first single featuring Mariko of The Wakimbizi got a bit of airplay but wasn’t really publicized in Kenya. However, it did make the top 10 on Burundi’s number one urban station at the time (The song graced the CCEB FM charts for 3 weeks at number 1). Struggles as well got a bit of airtime, however due to poor networking as well as advertising, the song didn’t get far. Though still optimistic, lack of airplay left the group discouraged. To add to their misery, Laura Nicholas (First lady and former lead singer) left the group to pursue further education in the United States of America.
From august 2006 to august 2007, The Paramedikz did little to show for their talents and nearly called it quits; however a surprise return of rival and fellow Rosslyn Alumni Jadon Crain breathed a new life into the crew. The group transformed into a band and began performing at various gigs. The fusion of Rock and Hip Hop caught the eye of the Kenyan public and resulted into collaborations with high profile artists; Hip Hop Artist of the year Abbas Kubbaff (a.k.a Doobeez) and Mission Driven among others. The Paramedikz were back on track however an unexpected country-wide crisis caused the departure of the lead guitarist (Jadon Crain) and rapper (Wu Kid). The roles left by the two proved hard to fill, as it resulted to yet another unproductive quarter for the group.
As well, the launch of Paramedicine; The Paramedikz’ second album was postponed to give the crew some time to re-group. The date of release is yet to be announced however, the artists promise this album to be worth waiting for regardless of how much time it will take to finalize the project. On the 21st of this month (April 2008), the group will release the first of the 10 tracks dropped off Paramedicine on radio. The track is called “Reppin My Block†and it features Abbas Kubbaff as well as Westie legend, Jahmani. For those in Kenya, you can catch up with The Paramedikz at WAPI on the 19th for an exclusive performance, an opportunity to interact with the group members and as well a chance to get your hands on all of the 10 tracks dropped off Paramedicine FOR FREE!For more information of the group’s whereabouts, latest projects and shows, contact us via mail [[email protected]] or simply leave a comment/message on our page.
