Fredokiss Penjani Kalua

Rapper Fredokiss Penjani Kalua Musician
Personal details
Born	(1986-03-28) 28 March 1986 Lilongwe, Malawi
Website	fredokiss.com

Fred Penjani Kamlepo Kalua, born 28 March 1986, is a Malawian born rap artist popularly known by his stage name Fredokiss. Fredokiss started doing music in the late 90s while he was in secondary school at Chichiri, Blantyre. His interest towards music came as an inspiration from his elder brothers who were battling out at school in different rap competitions. This was at a time where Malawi was not doing any vernacular rap, rather, most youths would imitate the English flows that were hot then on the international music scene with artists such Tupac and The Notorious BIG.

Early Life and Education

Fredokiss grew up in Lilongwe and Blantyre in Malawi as well as Johannesburg in South Africa. He did most of his early child hood education at Chirimba Primary School in Blantyre, Manja Primary School in Blantyre and later went to Zingwengwe Seconary School before moving to Chichiri Secondary School where he completed his Malawi School Certificate of Education.

In 2005, Fredokiss went to University of Malawi, Chancellor College where he graduated in 2009 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Humanities, Sociology and Classics. Fredokiss also holds a Masters of Public Health (SBCC) from the University of Witwatersrand; South Africa. Prior to attaining a Master's degree, Fredokiss also studied Insurance at Chattered Institute of Insurance and completed a diploma.

Professional Career

Fredokiss worked at Pakachere as Projects Manager for 9 years before resigning to contest for a parliamentary seat in the Malawi National Assembly at Blantyre City South Constituency. While at Pakachere, Fredokiss managed projects funded by Unicef, gIz, National Aids Commission and Global Fund.

Music Career

Fredokiss' music career boomed when he released his first and only album "Kunditcha Fredo" which tackled challenging issues affecting young people in Malawi, attaining him the status of "Ghetto King Kong".

In 2017 Fredokiss organized free shows across Malawi which attracted multitudes of young people in the urban circles. His first show was in Blantyre's Ndirande Township, followed by another one at Masintha Ground in Lilongwe and the last one at Mzuzu Stadium in Mzuzu which filled with over 30,000 people in attendance. Following his successful shows, he was named Malawi's biggest crowd puller at a music concert and he went on to sign a number of endorsements with different companies and organizations.

Business and Activism

Fredokiss CEO and founder of Ghetto Gutter Holdings which is multi business venture that deals with his music, branding and marketing. He is the President and Co-founder of League for Change (LC), a registered Malawian organization involved in areas of social justice and humanitarianism. It is a platform that pushes Malawians to work towards registering meaningful change and development to the nation without waiting on anyone to bring about developmental change.

Endorsements

Fredokiss was named by NBS Bank in 2017 as their brand ambassador. He had a specific bank account type mainly for his fans, his main role was to advocate for the bank to his fans at his events and help push the NBS brand to higher grounds.

He was also the first UNICEF champion for children and brand ambassador. As an ambassador, he did runs with UNICEF looking out for the well being of children in Malawi, mainly looking at issues of access to education, better health and social issues.

The British High Commission also engaged Fredokiss as a Champion for Wildlife in Malawi. His role required him to speak against wildlife crime and promote the importance of preserving our wildlife and he mobilized young people to sign up as local champions in their communities.

Philanthropy

Under Ghetto Gutter Holding, Fredokiss establish an Ghetto Gutter Initiative to support the under privileged and the needy called the Ghetto Shoulder Initiative. This platform supports needy individuals, with its core focus on the youth, the platform offers scholarships to secondary schools, skills training and supports some orphanages by proving food and basic needs from time to time.

Awards

On top of receiving numerous nominations, Fredokiss has won a number of Awards including Best Hip-Hop (2017 and 2018), Best Live Act (2017), Artist of the Year (2017), Best Collabo with Gwamba (2018) and Humanitarian Award (2018).

Controversy

In 2020 Fredokiss was arrested for allegedly issuing cash handouts to prospective voters in the fresh presidential elections and he was granted bail the following day after being charged with the offence of "using fraudulent means to induce another person to vote for/against a particular candidate or party" contrary to Section115(6) of the PPEA and Section 41 of the Political Parties Act. On the judgment day State withdrew Fredokiss case for lack of evidence.

Discography

Fredokiss only has one album to his name titled Kunditcha Fredo, however, over the years, he has released a number of singles including Dear Jah Jah, Ndagoma, Dadada, African Bride, Amafila Fredo, Upeze Njira and has collaborated in other singles such as Levels Remix, Dzuka Malawi, Kapolo and Nthawi Zanji.

External links

• Official Website

This article "Fredokiss Penjani Kalua" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Fredokiss Penjani Kalua. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

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