The journey of young Grenadian Kalbert “Najee” McKenzie becoming a rapper, is a story of human tenacity; of riding tall, falling into the abyss and crawling yourself back to the top.

Najee knew from a tender age that music was his passion and maintained this feeling over the years even while working in the hospitality industry. In 2017, he was the Grenadian recipient of a scholarship from the Buckingham Palace Royal Household Hospitality programme. Beaming with pride and reveling in the sense of the accomplishment that came with such a prestigious win, he started getting into the groove of leaving. However, an announcement placed in the national newspaper, The Grenadian Voice, said that the scholarship was being withdrawn from him. To this day, the reason for the withdrawal has never been announced or reported.

Having endured this metaphorical slap, it became a task for him to keep it all together. For not only did Kalbert lose the scholarship, but he also lost his job, and his personal life practically blew up. A wave of depression bombarded him. With the constant replay in Najee’s head of the loss of the scholarship, a well-paying job, and his relationship, thoughts of suicide frequented his mind. To combat these thoughts, he made the conscious decision to get physically active. This he accomplished by yoga, meditation, going to the gym, long walks, and of course, his tribe – his boys. His “tribe” as he fondly refers to them is a group of guys he has known, according to him, “for what feels like umpteen years”. They’ve played and continue to play a very important role in his life, as they’ve all rocked together through some of the lowest of times and the highest of times.

After the 2017’s tussle with life, Najee found hope and belief in himself and released his EP, ‘Life In The 3rd’ (LIT3). With this EP came the hashtag ‘#lifeinthe3rd’ with which he encouraged others to use to showcase Grenada in their own creative way. In 2018, he went on to release ‘4637’ which is a collaboration with Bob Da PhoeniX, and in 2019, to release ‘Shine’. 2020 saw him releasing a freestyle and in 2021, he is gearing up to drop another body of work which is to be headlined by his next single, ‘Tribe’. Set for an April 30th release date, it captures Najee in his groovy, island-boy element.

Today, towering above most (as he is over 6ft tall), he is heavy on confidence, has shoulder-length locs and a groovy rap flow.  The now Twenty-eight-year-old Najee describes his sound as groovy and “Creole-Pop”; his thoughts and feelings are conveyed and expressed through this multi-genre sound.

This is the tale of Najee on his journey to accomplishing a rap career in Grenada.

Caribbean Entertainment Hub wishes to extend nothing but the best on Najee’s continued endeavour! We at the Hub will keep our eyes peeled for the upcoming release of Tribe’s video (April 30) and also on the body of work ‘Tribe’ the single is to headline.