Hip-hop, a musical genre defined by its rebellious nature and roots in social activism, has shifted from being underground to mainstream in the past half a century. With that shift, changes in style, cadence, and lyricality have followed, creating an almost unrecognizable scene where artists are more obsessed with fame than creating listenable music.
Starting as a way for youth in the Bronx (New York in the USA) to congregate, hip-hop slowly evolved into a culture that valued social activism, fashion, and deep thinking. For the latter half of the 1900’s, hip-hop was revered as an agent of change. It was openly challenging authority in a way that other types of music had not been able to do. However, it would not stay this way forever and would ultimately shift into what we know today as rap music, perpetuated by drug addiction and fake gangsters.
Hip-hop music in Uganda, like anything, has a history. Many people find this type of music to be speaking about real issues, social, economic or political, that people have to deal with. Even if you aren’t fond of hip-hop music, there are some songs out there like ‘Koyi Koyi’, ‘Lemerako’, ‘Soda Jinjale’, that have become so big that everyone has heard of them. They may be decades old but still identifiable when they are played on the radio.
There have been different generations of hip-hop stars over time. There was the 90s lot that passed through DV8, a favorite hip-hop spot then, like Yung Vibrations, Prim n Propa, Zak 40, DJ Berry, Bataka Underground, Yalla & Milka, Chain Thought Reaction, Sylvester n Abramz, DPPI, Survivor, Nizzy X, Da Squad, DOA, Playa, Mc Cool, Simple G, Swamp Kamp, Rule Smalls, Honey & Crazy Rhymez, Lumix to mention but a few. For many people, it was the first exposure they had of hip-hop music in Uganda.
From there, the early and mid-2000s had Babaluku & Bavubuka Underground, Klear Kut, Lyrical G, NL Squad, Abaana B’eka, Abeηηanda, Supaman, M33 Bwongo, GNL Zamba & Baboon Forest, Rocky Giant, Snooty Fredo & Eazy Moze, BSG Labongo, Lady Slyke, Rugged, Urban Legend, New Hope Squad, MC Afrik, Lethal, Saint CA, Moran & Lambert, FlipMode Onebe, Mayanja RnB, Dalton, T-rider Mc among others.
The 2010s and onwards have St. Nellysade, Keko, SP Omugunjule, Don Mc, Lugaflow Army, Pryce Teeba, Spyda Mc, Ba Cypher Kabaka, Shemy B, Kriminal Kase, Ali Kaliba, Judas Rapknowledge, Abaana b’ekika, Tucker HD, Blixxack, Flex D’Paper, Jora Mc, NTM, with late bloomers like Stone Age, Joyie7star, Taurus Mc, St. Maxi Mayne among others.
It is evident that the music has had a continuity with one group passing the torch to the other and it has taken special place of its own for the lyrics and music it offers. There are plenty of radio stations, blogs, stages and media spaces dedicated to playing only the art. You can listen to them in your car, on the phone or on your computer.
Now the future of Ug`sHip-hop holds it up for acts like Felista, Zedmonk, Fresh Kid, William Yolo, Wonder Jr, AJStyles among others.
