Love has been one of, if not the, most inspirational themes in art history. Painters have spent painstaking hours rendering the details of their muses. Authors have penned tales and tomes on the great mysteries of romance. Musicians have spilled their emotions on wax, sometimes melodramatic but often sincere. It’s a force that drives creativity — even if said creativity stems from the absence of love. Hip-hop is no exception. Countless rappers allowed themselves to get sensitive about a special someone, even if it meant breaking a pre-established character.
Now Ugandan UK based Rapper Peter Mugabi Settimba alias Peter Rhymer last year released a fresh love ballad `Nkwagala` where he expresses his love for his woman praising her with compliments for her inner and outer personality.
Produced by Isaiah Prophet, Nkwagala is the type of jam that teaches us that being romantic might be an unfamiliar territory to many people. It’s not uncommon to see a given rapper staying within their stylistic comfort zone when doing so. That’s not to say the act of rapping is inherently less romantic than that of singing — it’s simply an observation that many emcees prefer to stick to the script, keeping their flow and cadence relatively familiar.
Many have correctly deduced that “Nkwagala” is a dedication to Peter`s girlfriend, who he once described in a tweet as his best friend. Rather than turning their story into an elaborately penned story, Rhymer instead relies on the narrative tools of ambiguity and inference. The end result is not entirely different from an inside joke, in which the meaning will hold a different meaning to the intended recipient. For the rest of us, it might be tempting to write his lyrics off as simple. Yet here the simplicity works in the song’s favor on a deeper thematic level.
Where Peter Rhymer is generally a layered writer, packing his bars with meaning and subtext, “Nkwagala” finds him reverting to the childhood stages. Anchoring his wistful verse around the recurring line “From your hair to your eyes/ to your lips, to your smile,” Peter Rhymer lays out a series of personal snapshots in a fragmented stream of consciousness style. There are no larger than life declarations but rather small slices of life. — those who have experienced similar moments will likely make their own connections accordingly.
Watch video below that was directed by Charz Fx
