In hip-hop, the greatest rappers to have ever touched a mic and spit their truth have dabbled in this art. Some have done it more smoothly than others, who—in their own right—have made the obvious a bit more clear.
Wordplay can come about in a multitude of directions, but the overall goal is to execute a pun or pop culture reference through word alterations and the flipping of meanings.
When GNL Zamba rhymed on “Microphone Yange” song he did with Ykee Benda in 2019 that; ” Ensi tujiryako makola, kati bampita raps Racheal Magola, oh bar nga ayina”, that was such an incredible wordplay where Zamba meant that he is the King of Hip-hop in Uganda playing with words such as Racheal” “Magoola, and “bar nga ayina”. Racheal Magoola is a songstress from a local band called Afrigo band and had a hit song in the early 200s called ” Obangayina” from which Zamba could rhyme, “Oh bar ng’ayina”, literally meaning he spits so many bars in his songs.
Another example is American rapper The Game who created dope wordplay using a deck of playing cards on his song Jesus Peace featuring Kanye West and Common off his fifth studio album ” Jesus Peace.
The Game on that song partly rhymed; “Everybody king of Diamonds until the feds pull they cards….Not the deck though”. So, King of Diamonds is said to refer to the infamous dictator of Rome, Julius Caesar. Game creates the image of a gang leader (the man in charge, as Caesar was) being taken down by the FBI.
But Game states it’s like with any organisation, just because you take down the leader, it doesn’t mean the rest of the members become amiss. Someone will always be there to replace.
The up and coming talented luga-flow prodigy Jim Nola MC, who I personally hold with high esteem in as far as Wordplays are concerned rhymed on his “Bye Mucheveni” song in 2020; “Buli mulambo ogugwa mu struggle yegwe Kaguta”, here the young MC was addressing and pointing out that all those who have lost their lives in the political struggle headed by Kyagulanyi Ssentamu are murdered by the Ugandan head of state Yoweri Museveni whose other name is Kaguta.
In conclusion, wordplay for me is the highest leveraged ability in the rapper’s arsenal. Most times when you hear a crowd go “Oooooooo,” it’s because of a clever and complex use of wordplay. All rappers in Uganda need to learn how to effectively use wordplay, because many styles of rap rely on wordplay to sway a crowd in their direction.
