Throwing It Back: Octopizzo Addresses ‘Older’ Looking Photo

June 19, 2025 4

Octopizzo is one Kenyan rapper who embodies the spirit of hard work and talent getting a creative out of the trenches to the pinacle of Hip Hop music. The rapper recently shared a photo of him from his early days of music looking back at how far he has come.

As Bloga Flani disects, Mr. Ohanga has gone through a lot to get t where he is warranting his braggadocios type of rap. In a post of X the rapper reflected how he looked back then while addressing how goons were used to distrub the peaceful protests that happened on Tuesday June 17th in Nairobi CBD.

The rapper shared the old photo of him explaining why he looked way older than he was at the time. In the post, Octopizzo revealed that growing up in Kibra was tough for him and what he went through made him grow up way too fast.

“Someone asked me why I looked old or older in my Kibera photos compared to Now, this was my house when Legendary @NaziziHirji visited me in 2009. Looking to how youths are being used badly as goons let me tell those who don’t understand coz it’s clear most of you may not fully grasp the reality of life in the informal settlements so allow me to offer you a lived synopsis,” the post read.

“The slums age me long before the world ever gave me a fair chance. By 18, I carried the weight of decades not because I wanted to, but because I had to

Spending your first 25 years in a place where poverty is normalized doesn’t just shape you it scars you. Not only through the absence of basic needs, but through the constant dehumanization even from relatives who distance themselves once they move beyond those streets. You’re criminalized by default. Watched, profiled, and blamed before you’re ever seen or heard,” he continued.

The rapper talked about how there is no access to food security, no reliable healthcare, no consistent education, and certainly no financial safety net. Just the brutal mathematics of survival.

“Survival isn’t free it demands your innocence, your dreams, and often, your spirit. It ages you. It erodes your sense of wonder. It kills the child in you before he ever knows what freedom feels like.
But somehow, I found a way out. Music became my escape not just an art form, but a form of resistance. Through it, I found my own . I reclaimed my voice. And in doing so, I began the slow work of reinstalling my soul,” he said.

This is why ending poverty is not charity it is justice. It is the restoration of dignity and the protection of every child’s right to simply be a child.
If this doesn’t happen the goons will never ever go away and your favorite politician probably knows this and it excites him.