RAY C IS ALMOST DEAD.... RIP..

Ray-c

Ray C’s troubled descent into the hell of addiction, as chronicled by Pulse writer DAVID ODONGO

It’s on a cold Friday night in August  (2010). We are chilling at a friend’s residence in Westlands, Nairobi. The music from the nearby clubs faintly filters into the living room.

Seated far away from the other celebrities, on a red couch, is celebrated Tanzania singer Ray C. The star is draped in a kikoi. We have just had dinner. Although Ray C eats very little, claiming she did not have an appetite, she is in a jolly good mood. I move next to her and strike a conversation.

“Kuna joto jamani na ni hivi punde nilikuwa nahisi baridi (It’s hot and just a few minutes ago I was feeling cold),” she remarks.

She then throws the kikoi down on the floor. I stare at her, looking at her full figure now slightly covered in a black low-cut top. Her famous cleavage is heavily exposed. Physically, she is endowed.

 “Let’s head outside and talk in privacy,” she guides, as she stands up and I follow. We find a nice spot in the garden.

Hidden in the shrubbery, with dim light around us, Ray C removes a small pouch and a piece of paper from her pocket.

She starts rolling up a joint.

“It helps me relax. You know many artistes (she names nearly all top Tanzanian artistes) use weed. It is not a big deal,” she says as she lights the piece up.

Drugs and sex talkhe 30-year-old has fought a long, highly-publicised battle with alcohol and drugs and her private life has endured a harrowing two years.

When nude pictures of Ray C made rounds on the Internet, the troubled star quickly defended herself on social media, saying:

“Just because you can’t get sex, don’t make it my problem. I do it for fun. How did your mother and father make you...? I love being black and I love sex. Nobody should mistake this with pornography. I mean, if the photos find their way to the Internet by mistake, does it mean I was trying porn?”

Late last year, I bumped again into Ray C, and the Moto Moto singer shocked me with her emaciated frame, her ribs and chest bones alarmingly prominent.

“Just call me for an interview anytime you are free. We are now friends, aren’t we?” she told me. Her speech was slurred, and she seemed to be high on something.

Falling off the wagon

The demons clamped onto her back for the past two years refused to let go as early this year, Ray C was arrested on suspicion of possession of marijuana.

Just before that, she was booed off the stage in Eldoret when she put on a raucous display and stumbled around the stage, forgetting her lyrics and hurling insults at the crowd.

Wearing a low-cut top dress, Ray C struggled to contain her bosom as her top kept sliding lower, crudely exposing her ample bust.

The last time I met Ray C was early this year at a city restaurant. She struggled to contain her emotions. She had completely forgotten who I was, yet an interview with me was the main reason why she had come to the Central Business District. I looked into her drug-induced eyes and excused myself.

 A voice and talent like hers should have much more substantial legacy than her drug dependency.

Although her voice, beauty and thrilling stage performances made her a star, Ray C is now renowned for her lurid lifestyle.

A few puffs later, the odour of marijuana attracts rapper Lord Eyez (her then boyfriend) and his two friends from the verandah where they have been playing pool. The joint is quickly passed around — the usual ‘puff, puff, pass’ — before the men leave Ray C with the last bit. She smokes deeply, and then exhales leisurely.

We then discuss her music, her love life, and her plans for the future. Weeks later, I learn of her breakup with Lord Eyez who describes her as ‘unmanageable’.

For the past two years, Ray C has gone from being one of the most celebrated talents to a tragi-comic star wreck of sorry proportions.