About Gabiro Mtu Necessary

Starting out as a traditional band member back in 2013, Gabiro Mtu Necessary drew his earliest inspirations from the likes of Octopizzo, Lucky Dube, Khuli Chana, Juliani and a host of others.

He is steadily building a reputation for Kisumu’s best lyricist, and but also shares his personal struggles through his art. From working as a matatu tout to battling drug abuse, Gabiro’s ability to tell stories separates him from rap music ‘status quo’.

“Hip-hop inspired me to persevere. Persevere and self-educate myself. When I was going through it, the
thing that held me down was an old computer at my uncle’s place that I stored thousands of
downloaded beats. That’s why I’m so loyal to the cause and loyal to the culture. I feel like I owe it to Hip-
hop to do the best I can” – Gabiro

While many rappers tell us their story, Gabiro possesses the ability to bring you into his world and show it to you. Perhaps his most notable song, “Story” , is a story of stories that happen in real life but they are often ignored . In dramatic fashion, this song discusses bullying, police shootings, drug abuse and political injustice. There are few artists that connect with such issues through their music.

Gabiro's diversity has seen him transit from not only being a rapper but also being the best lyricist as is on his current releases 'Bad Girl Loving' and 'Kus Kus'. He portrays himself as the best export from the lakeside town of Kenya; Kisumu city where he has always made sure to be top of the class by being ahead of at least all trends and lifestyles pertaining to music.

To date Gabiro has performed and toured along several renowned artists including SautiSol during “Made In Kisumu”, Jose Chameleone, Macklemore, as well as shows like “2jinyce Concert” which holds sentimental value to Gabiro being that he is a Kisumu City native.

His show that meant a lot was whenhe opened for Diamond Platnumz in 2016.

He has worked with both young and well-known artists across the globe in both musical and non- musical collaborations including and not limited to Kidis, Wyre, Ketchup,Owuor Arunga and most recently uprising dancehall singer and producer, Blakangel on the song ‘Kula Nao’

His EP MPITO featuring singer Asen B has cumulatively gained more than 500,000 streams on various
digital platforms.

Early Life

Gabiro was born Gabriel Washington Ogonda on July 23, 1995 in Kisumu, Kenya where his father was a professor at the Maseno University and the mother a tailor at the local market. He is the 4th child in a family of 5 children. Gabiro moved from one high school to another before settling in Chulaimbo High School. Soon after moving to Chulaimbo, Gabiro was appointed the school choir soloist where he began to write and perform his own lyrics during music festivals.

His stage name is derived from Gabriel, which was shortened to Gabiro when younger schoolmates found it hard to pronounce his name.

By the age of 16 he was regularly recording his music at Starbell Records. The management of the studio was so impressed by his lyrics that they allowed Gabiro to record for free.

At this time he was a student at Maseno University pursuing a bachelor's degree in finance and marketing. He dropped out of campus in his third year to pursue another degree in computer science and later ended up being employed as a cellular software developer for a local company.

Personal Life
Gabiro lost his father in September 9, 2019 to cancer of the colon. He has since dedicated his music and art to his father who had a great impact in his music career as his second manager after he parted ways with Starbell Records.

Career
Gabiro released his first single, Story in 2014. It is at this time that he met with the talented producer and talent manager Jamal Malik who was the then director of the music department at Starbell Record.

With the help of Malik he recorded songs “Naitwa Gabiro”, “Ujumbe” and also got featured in the Kisumu All Stars collaboration “Kila Mtu Ako Juu Kivyake” in 2016.

In 2019, Gabiro and Malik parted ways with Starbell Records with each starting their own record labels. Gabiro released singles “Kus Kus”, that was hyped by Nigeiran star Korede Bello and later remixed by Jamaican singer and DJ Javada. He also released “Seche Rach”, “Daima Mjinga” and “IyaIyaIya” before he met Mattan Original in 2020.

At this time he was already working on a new EP with singer Asen B with Jamal Malik as the producer.

Mattan Original first heard about Gabiro through his longtime friend and video director, Crizo Mzeyah who referred Gabiro to Mattan. The two linked up and Gabiro was introduced to Tambua Media for a possible music tour and booking in Europe in the year 2020, unfortunately due to the novel Covid-19 the tour was cancelled.

They both partnered and released Gabiro’s debut EP, MPITO in July 23, 2020 to mark his 25th birthday.

Gabiro released “Isabella” in 2021 as his 5th single under Jodifa. He also released another collaboration “Mama” with Asen B to mark the 2021’s Mother’s Day.

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