Bahati, real name, Kevin Kioko had deleted his Instagram photos a day before he made a comeback with a post that did not make a lot of his fans and a few artistes - both secular and gospel - very happy.
In a long post, Bahati shared a photo with secular artistes who had done gospel this year, revealing that he expected them to be the ones to be nominated for the Groove awards 2016/2017 as Best Male Artistes.
He then went on to apologize to Kenyans on behalf of all the gospel artistes, for letting down the gospel music industry and confessing that he has strayed from God's word and the true meaning of Christianity and releasing gospel music that's not genuine.
WE ARE SORRY FOR LETTING DOWN THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST‼️ I personally feel & accept that as "BAHATI" I have not Represented Jesus & the Gospel Music as God expects. I know this might not be the best Platform to Speak about this but We all Know that The Public has Lost Trust in Us Gospel Musicians. Can we all agree that The Saints & the Streets don't See God in Us anymore??? Yes we Can't Ignore the fact that the Church is Complaining that's why "NONE" of our Urban Gospel Songs can be used in Praise & Worship Services. I feel Guilty & Sorry for Contributing in Devaluing THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST- God Says if We don't go back to What He called us to do GOD WILL AS WELL RAISE STONES to Praise Him & in a better way than we Can. YESSSS GOD CAN REPLACE US IN A MINUTE‼️ God has given us Supportive Media Personalities, DJs & Loyal fans but we have let you down. Our Focus has been making Hit songs, Scandals & Headlines and we are not Proud of Our Lord God & Savior JESUS CHRIST. Yes We Forgot the "CALLING" and Ministry... I personally feel my Last Gospel Song was "BARUA" in 2014 nanimechangia Sana kupaka Jina la Yesu Matope... LORD PLEASE FORGIVE ME 🙏 Some People might see this as Self Crucification but NO!!! God says clearly in 1ST JOHN 1:9.... "if we CONFESS our sins He is faithful & Just to forgive us and Cleanse Us from all Unrighteousness" ... God speaks through People; and if the Public & the People of God are not happy::: THEN GOD IS NOT HAPPY
This did not go so well for a lot of fans and gospel artistes who felt that Bahati was going too far, representing them without their approval as others disagreed with him saying that there are very many honest gospel singers in the industry and that he should speak for himself.
One of those people was Bien Baraza of Sauti Sol, who have touched many people's hearts with their heart-warming gospel song Kuliko Jana, which was off their album Live and Die In Africa.
Bien took to social media to blast Bahati, telling him to focus on making good music and not getting awards, and stop dragging the industry in his mess. Here's the post;
Bahati go and write songs or rather get good songwriters to work with. DO NOT do music targeting awards. Awards are a by-product of quality. Use this energy to better your musicianship. Also who told you to speak on behalf of Gospel musicians! There are plenty of Gospel artists who are doing God's work with anointing as they should. So stop roping an entire industry into your publicity stunts. It just makes Kenyan musicians in general look bad. Sautisol didn't sing Kuliko Jana targeting any award. Music from the heart goes to the heart. As musicians our legacy is cast on song not hype. I mean this with love and respect.
But now, all seems well as Bien has congratulated Bahati on his new song, Kwa Moyo Wangu with renowned female gospel bigwig Jemimah Thiong'o, known for her inspiring song Akisema Atakubariki.
The Sauti Sol vocalist took a screenshot of the song from YouTube and shared it with his fans, with this congratulatory caption for Bahati;
@bahatikenya Amazing new jam with Jemimah Thiongo. I have really been blessed by it. Looking forward to more positive vibez. 💯💯💯😎😎😎
I just hope that Bien actually means it and it's not sarcastic or just another publicity stunt to make us think that everythings okay. Well, all in all, we continue to watch how all this gospel drama turns out eventually.
