Africa: Rap Till You Drop?

Africa: Rap Till You Drop?

The Weekly Observer (Kampala)

21 February 2008
Posted to the web 21 February 2008

John Vianney Nsimbe

Don't take things for granted! Not everyone who sings in Uganda today will be famous. While Reggae/Ragga, RnB, Afro-beat and Kadongo-Kamu continue to garner a following domestically, Hip-Hop music or rap is stagnant.

Apart from Klear Kut and Lyrical G, you'll hardly hear Hip-Hop music on the airwaves. More still, while the other music genres are showcased at concerts such as Ekitobeero or Ekiggunda, even the free Hip-Hop night that was held every Tuesday evening at Sabrina's pub collapsed because there were hardly any fans or sponsors.

Sirkumstance, a Hip-Hop artiste said that most music lovers are still locked into the Western Hip-Hop, while Eddie Okila a music promoter said that the radios here don't play Ugandan Hip-Hop, which is why it is not popular.

Sanyu FM goes by the slogan Today's best music. They don't play a lot of indigenous rap music, yet their target audience is the urban Ugandan including the youth.

The youth are fans of rap music around the world because of the lifestyle it embraces: break-dance, the American accent and youth fashion of sneakers and jeans.

Timothy Lwanga, Sanyu FM's Music Director told The Weekly Observer: "From our research, domestic rap is always scoring close to zero. We play what the listeners want."

Lwanga added: "Some rappers' music we play definitely, say, Klear Kut but most rappers don't have quality music that can be played on Sanyu."

He said most rappers sing hardcore style that is too loud and non-mellow for listeners.

Albert Twesigye, a rap music producer said the quality of music isn't so good because many are into quick production. According to Lwanga, Kenyan and Tanzanian rappers are appreciatedfor the quality music.

"Even here, we play a lot of Kenya and Tanzania rap music because it is smooth, mellow, harmonious and cuts across generations; for example No-Nini (Kenya) and Professor Jay (Tanzania)."

Fat Boy, a presenter on Sanyu FM has a rap music background. He reasoned: "Our rappers lack identity. They instead imitate American rappers, whose lifestyles are different from ours." He added that Ugandan rappers need to sing about issues like corruption, poverty, education and insecurity.

"Instead they concentrate on polishing their American accents and portray themselves as ghetto people, yet many of them are from rich or middle class families. A ghetto was a thing that Tupac Shakur used to represent because he lived in one."

Fat Boy gave an example of how attached Ugandans are to their Kadongo-Kamu because it identifies with them. "Singing in local dialects can be the start like the Kenyan and Tanzanian rappers do - rap in Kiswahili. But even in English, it must sound Ugandan not American."

Lwanga said rap music should adopt a fusion with, say, afro-beat styles if it is to survive. Singer Bebe Cool thinks that rap music has got to be blended with beats that the public can dance to like Rocky Giant did. "Also, rap music must cut across to the generation that has money to buy music too," said Bebe Cool.

Notably, Ugandan rap still lacks originality. Twesigye said: "Some Hip-Hop singers get foreign beats and place their lyrics over them." Lwanga argued that the Kenyan rappers have adopted styles they call Genge and Kapuka, which are originally theirs and get a lot of airplay."

"If Ugandans promote something like Luga-flow, then I think they'll progress," he said. Bebe Cool said Hip-Hop music hasn't been marketed well. "When do they have concerts?" Bebe Cool asked. It is usually at events organised by Alliance Francaise and the Uganda German Cultural Society that Hip-Hop singers will show up yet these events don't host thousands of revelers like other shows.

Also, like the Bataka Squad, they don't hold concerts and Krazy Nativ said that the size of fans doesn't matter to him, so he won't be hunting for shows to perform at in order to be popular.

He believes what is meant to be will be; well, not without effort.

Navio from Klear Kut told The Weekly Observer that Ugandan Hip-Hop being a new phenomenon needs solidarity to promote it.

"Instead", Navio said, "There has been a lot of divisions in the industry based on singing style - vernacular or English." Another Klear Kut member The Mith added: "Our friend Babaluku of the Bataka Squad who raps in Luganda (Luga-flow) insulted us in his songs making insinuations that because we sing in English, we aren't really Ugandan. Though we are now reconciled, this set us aback in trying to forge progress as a family despite diversity."

The divisions go deeper. Some rappers said Krazy Nativ a.k.a Saba-saba, a founder member of the now defunct Hip-Hop Foundation, told other rappers in 2005 that he was doing a documentary about Ugandan Hip-Hop dubbed: Diamonds in the Rough (Uganda Hip-Hop evolution). Many Hip-Hop musicians were interviewed and recorded to showcase Hip-Hop in Uganda and secure opportunities for rappers.

However, Krazy Nativ edited other rappers not in his group (Bataka Squad) out of the documentary. This angered many though Krazy Nativ argues it was a Bataka Squad project.

In 2005, the Hip-Hop Foundation was vibrant. They secured Sabrina's Pub free every Tuesday for the Hip-Hop night to showcase their talent. But in 2006, the pub's owner, Hope Mukasa asked them to start paying for the venue, but they weren't attracting many revelers, so they left.

Without radio play, Hip-Hop will remain in the shadow. But like Fat Boy said, they must realise that original quality music is important to get airplay.