AStar speaks on the Buzz article

Astar spoke to mwafrika.com and clears up some misconceptions that may have been created from the article. (Read the article here)

Mwafrika.com: Let’s start with why you did the interview with Buzz in the first place.
Astar: Why? Because I have a story to tell. I believe there are over a million young people who needed to hear what I have to say. I saw this as a moment to change this (edition of Buzz) from a tabloid to an inspirational thing. For me, God has made it very clear that my strength is in telling my story – I have nothing to hide.

M: Alright, how did the interview go?
A: So I sat down with (Muchiri), and I was very direct with him. I told him the painful, but I also told him the other side. We talked about my life before Christ, and my life after Christ. But clearly, they were only interested in the juicy stuff. And sometimes the Jesus stuff is not juicy, to be honest.

M: Specifically?

A: (Going question by question) For example, why do you call yourself Astar? I explained it to him over and over again, even opening a Bible to show him Matthew 5:16. I explained how before I got saved, A-star was a grade above 90% (as explained in the interview), but that I kept the name for two reasons – one, because I still strive for perfection in my music, but on top of that, I got the meaning of the word Astar from the Bible – the light that leads to the light. That my job is to tell guys about Christ, by keeping my eyes on Him. That’s what Astar means, not what he said. I mean, it’s true, the explanation he gave, but it wasn’t all of it. That’s not who I am now, that’s just the shallow meaning I had (before).

M: Go on.
A: He asked, tell me a bit about yourself. Well, I did. I’m a guy who grew up in a wealthy family, had the best things in life, and it’s not something I’m ashamed of. But that’s not me, that’s not ‘tell me about yourself’, know what I mean? I told him how my life really was, how I was a very ‘wrong’ person, partied constantly, how that’s all I did for like two years of my life. I spoke about how irresponsible I was, how I would skive school and all that. Not that I’m proud of it, but I wanted him to understand how negative my life was before I met Christ. I told him how my music started even before then, as a secular producer. And I felt like he didn’t bring out all that in the interview, he didn’t talk about my beginnings, the wrong life I came from.

M: I get you.
A: Let me clear up the issue of my internship at Barclays. It’s not that I didn’t like working there, or doing an 8-5 job as implied in the interview. I mean, that’s what I do now – I probably work an 8-7 shift actually! But working at Barclays made me realize I was called to do music, to transform the music industry. It wasn’t, as implied, that I was just tired of working and quit.

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