Tipsy Gee: Being a Mugiithi artiste is my retirement plan
Arbantone star Tipsy Gee has opened up about his long-term vision for his music career, revealing that he plans to transition fully into Mugiithi once he retires from mainstream genres.
Speaking during an interview with YouTuber Jeff Kuria about his new Kikuyu Amapiano titled Kairetu on Saturday, November 22, 2025, Tipsy said that although many fans know him for Arbantone, his roots and future ambitions remain strongly tied to the Kikuyu music scene.
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He noted that his decision to do a Kikuyu track was driven partly by identity, explaining that as a Kikuyu artiste, he feels the need to contribute to his community’s sound from time to time.
“Number one is because I am a Kikuyu, and I also have to do my community’s music from time to time. And number two, Mugiithi is my retirement plan,” he said.
He insisted that Mugiithi will eventually become his retirement path, adding that he intends to spend the coming years strengthening his mastery of the Kikuyu language so he can fully transition when the time comes.
According to him, embracing Kikuyu music early will help him understand the language, culture and style deeply enough to sustain a long career in the genre.
“After all this other music, I will venture into Mugiithi. By that time, I will have learnt and mastered Kikuyu fully, read it, and understood it completely,” he added.
Gaps in Kikuyu music
The ‘Finish Kumalo’ hitmaker also weighed in on the broader state of Kikuyu music, particularly what he believes needs to improve for the industry to grow.
The singer noted that many Kikuyu artistes still rely on outdated visual and audio approaches, citing the tendency to replicate old-style video concepts reminiscent of the late Queen Jane’s era.
“You listen to our Kikuyu music and you watch it, and I know you see the potential we have as a community. We have a big audience. I recently saw a tally showing we are around 10 million in Kenya. What I see, and what I think needs to be fixed for the community to go far, is just small things here and there, mostly the normal way we have been doing music,” he said.
He said that while Queen Jane remains a legend, the industry must not remain stuck in the past.
According to Tipsy Gee, the key is embracing change, modernising video and audio production, and borrowing elements from other thriving genres such as Amapiano to refresh the Kikuyu sound.
He acknowledged that people often resist new styles initially, but eventually warm up to innovation once they see its value.
“Recently, Gasheni and I were analysing how we Kikuyu artistes operate, and we used the late singer Queen Jane as an example. People are still trying to make videos like hers, yet she sang those songs a long time ago. There needs to be improvement. We don’t need to stick to the old ways; we need change. People usually reject change at first, but they later come back and accept it,” he added.
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Steve Ireri
Steve is a senior writer with over four years of experience in digital journalism. His focus is on the showbiz and human interest stories. Emails: [email protected] , [email protected]
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