Waayaha Cusub launched its career when Somali-speaking youth who had lost family and homes in Somalia created a music and poetry collective in Eastleigh, Kenya, in 2003-2004. While some loved rap and hip hop inspired by the West, most were more interested in the ancient art of Somali poetry and dance. Their first album would be self-titled, Waayaha Cusub. And the first single to rise as a video was, Kaalay. Scratch Records and Scratch Films pulled it together.

Inspired by Waaberi, Mogadishu’s “Motown”-style collective record label of Somali artists, the new band agreed each performer could take a turn leading on different projects with different styles. Love, sports, life on the streets were common songs. But soon Waayaha Cusub’s identity formed around fierce challenges to negative authority: “We wanted to bring our youth the message of love, peace, and understanding,” was their common message, “to keep them from joining warlords, pirates, or killers. We should not destroy what God gave us. We should build a good life together.”