Drae Frank: Kenyans on X mourning popular graphic designer behind viral Wajackoyah weed t-shirts

Kenyans on X (formerly Twitter) are mourning Franklin Ndirangu, popularly known as Drae Frank, the graphic designer behind the viral Prof. George Wajackoyah campaign t-shirts.

Drae was the founder of Perma Prints, a design shop located in downtown Nairobi which became suddenly popular for designing 'weed' t-shirts bearing Wajackoyah’s image ahead of the 2022 presidential elections.

The news of Drae's sudden demise left the social spaces in utter shock with many people and X compatriots unable to come to terms with the loss of the young, gifted designer.

On Monday, Drae seemed to have a premonition of his death after he posted an ominous tweet which read: 'Mi nayo msinizike.. Mnicremate... (Don't bury me, just cremate me). "

On the same day, the gifted designer had also tweeted that he had found love and happiness but then left a cryptic complaint about “toxic parents.”

"Mimi tbh i have found love.... I have found happiness...peace... And tbh as much as y'all don't wanna talk about this sh*t... Toxic parents...f** toxic parents!" he wrote.

One year ago, Drae spoke to Citizen Digital about his passion for designing t-shirts while also saying that the Wajackoya t-shirts were then running out of the shelves and that he had made good money from the brand.

While speaking to this writer, an upbeat Drae credited Wajackoyah's marijuana messaging as the main reason for the t-shirt's wild popularity, saying that women were actually his biggest clients.

Many people who either knew Drae in person or interacted with him on microblogging platform X took to the site to send their condolences and reminisce on their past encounters with him.

His broken-hearted partner and X user @Miss_Patriciah took to her X page to express her grief, too, saying: " 21. 11. 2023. My baby's gone. I'm shattered. Thank you all for your calls, and I'm sorry for everyone whose call I've not picked. It's been hectic. Matoh, Amacha, and I will update y'all on everything soon."

Another user @Electronicsmerchant wrote," A part of me has left today. No human came close to understanding me like this dude. I have your memories all around my life bro. This one will hurt for years. Fare thee well... "

On his part, a dejected Charlie Ogada went back to the days he would visit Drae’s city designer shop, reminiscing on the love the deceased always showed him.

"It's still hard for me to process Often I'd pass by Perma prints to check on Frank & Caro. It'll be painful not ever seeing him again when I visit. The brother has always shown me so much grace from time I met him. This one pains me much Rest easy Drae!" he wrote.

Franklin Ndirangu's family had not publicised the cause of the young designer's death by the time of publishing.