Nostalgia is currently the hottest currency in Kenyan entertainment. Promoters and veteran musicians are cashing in by throwing grand anniversary shows, complete with heavy branding: “25 Years of Pop Culture,” “30 Years of Dancehall Royalty,” or silver jubilee concerts celebrating decades in the game. On paper, it sounds like a testament to legendary endurance. But looking closely at the timelines, a glaring question emerges: does taking a decade-long hiatus actually count toward your years active in the industry?

Recently, the local scene has witnessed a wave of these landmark events. Nameless headlined his Nameless @25 concert at the Carnivore, Redsan hosted a massive Redsan @30 show, and Colonel Mustafa announced his own 25-year career celebration. While no one can deny the massive contributions these pioneer artists made to shaping Kapuka, Genge, and Kenyan dancehall during their peak years, the math behind these numbers feels overly generous.

longevity should imply continuous relevance, sustained releases, or ongoing influence. Instead, many of these celebrations gloss over massive gaps of inactivity. When an artist drops a smash hit in 2004, disappears into radio silence, reality television, or non-musical ventures for ten years, and then resurfaces to claim “25 years in music,” it blurs the line between a career length and a gap since debut.

Celebrating a legacy is important, and reminding fans of the foundational hits that built Kenyan urban music is necessary. However, packaging decades of intermittent activity as an uninterrupted 25 or 30-year active career feels like a stretch. True longevity isn’t just about when you first stepped into a studio; it’s about staying in the work.

Do you think artists should count hiatus years when celebrating career milestones, or is it time we redefine what “years in the industry” really means?