D Knob

He is not only an acclaimed Swahili hip hop artist, lyricist and Mitaani Most Wanted CEO from Kiwalani Suburb, D knob’s unique voice, ability and rap style deliverance have made him to be one of the most able and respected hip hop artists in Tanzania.  Apart from being one of them ten Mcs who hit final at the king of rhyme contest back in 2005, he has achieved to have made the biggest songs in Tanzania and East Africa in general such as elimu mitaani dot com, ingewezekana and bad man. He has been honored for the best tracks of the months by Tanzania’s hottest radio stations such as Clouds Fm and performed on the biggest stages, some of them with the biggest artists such as Ja rule.  With the coolest hip hop style, hottest tracks, and community involvement for charity since 2004 on his hands, he has got street credibility that can only be described by the word `high’. Fans call him `mitaani most wanted’ because of his musical dedication to the streets.

D knob was born Innocent Cornel Sahani at Kitete hospital, in his mother’s home Tabora in 1980, Tuesday 12th February. After birth he was brought to Dar es Salaam and stayed for about a year before moved to Mtwara with the whole family where his father Cornel M. Sahani got transferred to. He did his kindergarten education at Majengo church in 1986-1988 before joining Ligula Primary School in 1989. In 1992 when he was in standard four, Mr Cornel M. Sahani returned back to Dar es Salaam with the whole family which made D knob to finish his primaly education at Kipawa Primary School in 1995. He joined for an Ordinary secondary education in 1996-1999 at Pugu Secondary School before joining for an advanced education at Jitegemee in 2002 where he droped out. He again joined to take diploma of business administration at College of Business Education, CBE in 2003 and droped out during his first year of study. In 2010 D knob studied a certificate in project planning and management at Kampala International University, KIU. He is studying a diploma in development studies at the same university at the moment, expecting to join for a bachelor in late 2012.
D knob fell in love with the music back in 1994 when he was at Kipawa Primary School. He was introduced to Reggae type of music especially that of the late Bob Marley by his two elder brothers, Alfred Cornel Sahani and Thomas Cornel `OG’ Sahani. He started to listen to western hip hop songs especially those of Tupac, BIG, Nas, KRS One, Snoop Dogg, Jay z, Ice Cube, etc, in 1996 when studying at Pugu Secondary School with his fellow school friends he met. He stepped on school stages and performed other artists ‘songs calling himself Dirty knob meaning dark image racer in thug yard, later changed it into D knob meaning Door knob, ideologically meaning, you can’t get in unless he is there, if you touch him you will definitely feel him. He started to write his own English lyrics back in 1997, this time rapping on the streets with his first group called Gatherers formed by him, Hatibu Vunja aka Vunja and Jabir Mtama aka G Pose as well as on the different schools stages. His skills got more developed when He and his street crew started to perform at the talent shows at Amana Vijana Centre, Aset club, etc. He says he didn’t rap in Swahili because whoever rapped in English in those days was regarded as the best so he wanted to be the best too. He started to rap in Swahili in late 1998 when Prof. Jay released chemsha bongo track which made Swahili rap cool.

From 1999 to 2000 D knob had performed on every street stage. Some of them were dangerous on which only the hoodlums got hold of the mic. This caused one of his best friends and brother Kantu to lie on bed polarized for life after being stabbed by a screw driver. Since the music environment was dangerous and seen as a job for losers, D knob started to sneak out to perform, and hiding from his parents who were trying too hard to forbid him from pursuing it. In the end of 1999 D knob together with his crew auditioned for a record deal at Fm studios and got it. They recorded only one song which was never released to date. And in 2000 he started to go solo, appeared on records like Kibongo stance with various artists such as Pig Black from Free Dogs Camp at that time, Villy and G  Pose who was also doing solo, and it was produced by Miikka Mwamba. In 2001 D knob recorded and released a track also produced by Mikka Mwamba titled usiniache featuring Mez b whom he met at Times Fm radio, Lugoda. The song was not much of a success although it reached Ruge Mutahaba’s ears, later helped and put it on Bongo Hottest Flava vol. 1 mixtape. By this time D knob’s name was on the air. He kept on appearing on other artists’ tracks such as mama by Banana Zoro, wanadamu remix by Mad Ice and many others.