Jua Cali

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Jua Cali whose real name is Paul Nunda (born September 12, 1979) is a MC from Kenya. Together with producer Clemo he founded Calif Records in 2000 and has been with the label ever since. He performs genge style of Kenyan music. Jua Cali raps mostly in Swahili.

His first recorded track was Ruka, released in 2001 and was followed by Nipe Asali in 2002. In 2004 He collaborated with Pilipili in track "Kamata Dame". Like most Kenyan artists, it took several years before his first full album was released. His album "Juacali Sekta" reached the stores in 2006, containing mostly previously released singles.

At the 2006 Kisima Music Awards, Jua Cali won the Boomba male award for his song Kiasi ^[1]. At the 2006 Chaguo La Teeniez awards (CHAT Awards) he was nominated in three categories, but won none of them ^[2]. At the 2007 CHAT Awards he won two prizes: Best Male and Celebrity categories ^[3]. At the 2007 Kisima Music Awards Jua Cali won two categories: best male artist and boomba male ^[4]. In August 2007, he was among 100 most influential Kenyans as selected by The Standard newspaper ^[5]^[6]. He has toured the US and other countries ^[7].

In 2007 he was internationally nominated for the MOBO Awards ^[8] and MTV Europe Music Awards. His hit Kwaheri was a major hit in Kenya that year ^[9].

His stage name Jua Cali, is derived from California, an estate in Nairobi (as is the name of Calif Records). It also resembles Jua Kali, a Swahili term meaning informal sector.