• TOP NEW SKOOL-RAPPERS 2014

    By Byaruhanga Felix (@TheNinjaFelix) If you’ve clicked that link thanks and if you don’t see your name or your favorite new skool rapper’s name below don’t catch feelings just share your thoughts with us via twitter @TheNinjaFelix or @TheTribe_UG.

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  • KEKO ON HER MIXTAPE AND UG HIP-HOP [Interview]

    By Byaruhanga Felix (@TheNinjaFelix) As we wait for 13th December for the official release of Keko Town's upcoming P.A.R.A.N.O.I.D mixtape (which we shall be hosting on our blog) I caught up with

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  • NEW DAY - ATLAS ft. Lillian Mbabazi [Behind The Scenes]

    By Byaruhanga Felix (@TheNinjaFelix) New Day is one of the singles of Atlas Da African's upcoming album 'Loyalty Before Royalty' and it features the talented Lillian Mbabazi who;

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Friday, July 31, 2015

UG Cypher 2 Behind The Scenes [VIDEO + PICS]



It's no doubt that the UG Cypher 2 is one of the most anticipated UG Hip-Hop projects this year. Talent Africa again put together an incredible artist line-up with some changes from the last year's cypher. Yesterday the video for the cypher was shot and we were on set to bring you what took place behind the scenes. A special thanks to Talent Africa, check out the video below.





















Sunday, July 19, 2015

Kamikaze - Ajo [Download + Review]

Download Kamikaze - Ajo (4.65MB)

"Kamikaze" is Ajo's first single off his upcoming EP titled "No Apologies" that's slated to drop this later year. The EP will be a follow up to his mixtape "Rap Music I Sing" that was released this year. kamikaze is produced by Nase from Portbell Drive and Martin from urban Aksent. In case you're wondering, Kamikaze were suicide attacks by Japan military aviators against naval vessels during world war II which is depicted in the artwork of the song.

Ajo he says he chose a wordplay where he uses artist's names what they are associated with to come up with his bars considering it a suicide mission since the song may cause retaliations from the different artists he name drops hence calling the "kamikaze".

Depending on the listener of the song one may consider the song as shots taken at the different rappers or shade, but we don't want to create biased listeners so download the song here and let us know what you think via twitter @TheTribe_UG & on Facebook "The Tribe UG".

Friday, July 17, 2015

RUDEBOY MUSIC THE ALBUM [Sound Trailer + Update]

Download RudeBoy Music Album Sound Trailer


By Byaruhanga Felix (@TheNinjaFelix)

"RUDEBOY MUSIC ALBUM THE ALBUM"  is one of the hip-hop projects that I'm personally interested in. For those of you just coming across or hearing about RUDEBOY MUSIC THE ALBUM for the first time let me break it down for you. This project is Mckenzie's way of celebrating 10 years in the radio and the hip-hop industry put together. One of the reasons I have a huge nterest in this album is I want to hear what Mckenzie has to offer after 10years in the industry. I remember the tracks he did back in the day like All about me with HarrisTook me a While" with Lyrikal Proof , Cover the town, which I still bump on my laptop once in a while but they never materialized into an album or a mixtape.

He later went on to create the "Rudeboy Music'" imprint through which he released songs like Inside My Heart that features Ruyonga, Straka Money featuring BigTril. Although Mckenzie doesn't rap on these songs like on the previous ones back in 2009, he always has a way of getting the artist he's featuring on the beat to get his message across which makes his songs/projects different and dope. Back to the current album, Mckenzie recruited Baru, Aethan & Samurae for it's production.

According to Mckenzie, the album is not apologetic, it's not a thank you but it celebrates and represents Ugandan hip-hop. As far as it's release, the album is 80%, done its release date and other details like features will be announced as time goes on but for now here's a sound trailer of the album that should give you an insight of what the album is about.(Download sound trailer)

Connect with Mckenzie
Facebook: 
Bryan Kella McKenzie
Twitter:  @RudeboyKella1
Soundcloud: www.soundcloud.com/rudeboymusic256/


Contact writer;
Facebook: Byaruhanga Felix FeliFed
Twitter: @TheNinjaFelix
Email: theninjafelix@gmail.com

NAVIO POPS KLEAR KUT REUNION NEWS AT COKE STUDIO



By Anyiko Owoko

One of Uganda’s most celebrated artists – Navio – returns to Coke Studio Africa for a second time. He will be featured in the new season of the show, set to premiere in the coming few months. While speaking at an exclusive media connect session at Coke Studio Africa set in Nairobi, Navio
revealed that together with The Mith, fellow Ugandan rapper – he has been planning a major comeback of their former hip hip duo: Klear Kut. The music group came to life in 2000. After famous karaokes around Kampala, they quickly gained reputation for original compositions and performances.

“Klear Kut is a legendary group and still in the top of East African groups. We made a lot of firsts in Uganda, reason why we created a big brand. Now we can’t just tease the public as we have the whole group to consider. Expect a proper comeback with an album dropping in 2015 and an upcoming single “Let it rain” to be released in two months,” said Navio alongside The Mith, who accompanied him to Nairobi.

Navio has recently released music videos with Tanzanian rapper Mr. Blue "Ayaya" and the steamy "Ndi Mukodo" with Uganda's Cindy, former Blue 3 Member. In the new season of Coke Studio Africa, Navio is paired with Mozambican R&B singer G2. The two are collaborating in the show’s new mash-up style format and being produced by Kenyan producer Jaaz Odongo. Of what's not to miss about their collabo, Navio said, “It’s really cool working with an R&B guy. We can make R&B and hip hop song intricate and you will hear it on the show.”

Navio went on gushing about his love for Kenya - his birth country. He said, “I was born out here in Kenya because my family was involved in some revolutionary activities here.” Navio credits his high profile status to talent and a wealth of experience. “I keep up with trends, change flows and experiment many times coming up with new material on the spot.”

In the new season of Coke Studio Africa, Navio joins more than twenty music stars from Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Nigeria and Mozambique - all have made a mark in their local music scene. They include Jose Chameleone, Juliana Kanyamozi, Elani, Neyma, Alikiba, Vanessa Mdee, Yemi
Alade, 2Face Idibia, Ice Prince and Eva Alordia. I**n this third and most exciting season of Coke Studio Africa, the musicians have been paired with visionary music producers and South African Grammy Award-winning music expert Zwai Bala, the show’s music director. The team will steer phenomenal music production. New season premieres soon!

Wednesday, July 1, 2015

NEXT LEVEL USA: A Chat With MADlines About Ugandan Hip-Hop. [Interview]


By Byaruhanga Felix (@TheNinjaFelix)

The past week Uganda hosted a team of hip-hop acts from the U.S who were running different workshops focusing on different hip-hop elements. The workshops were came to an end with a concert at theater were La Bonita where people who attended the workshop showcased & performed what the workshop was all about.

Amidst the preparation of the concert I managed to have a quick Chat with MADlines who was handling the emceeing workshops throughout the program. We talked about the program "Next Level', entrepreneurship with hip-hop and her thoughts about Ugandan hip-hop among other things as you can read below.

QN: Thanks for doing this with me on short notice & amidst the organization of your concert. First let’s start from what’s Next Level is all about & how it came about?

Sure, so next level is a project of the U.S department of state and the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. They wanted to use hip-hop as a tool for cultural diplomacy, so what they do is that they bring four different artists from United States that specialize in hip-hop elements, emceeing, deejaying, break-dancing, rapping and beat Making. They send them all over the world to teach free classes in the community to the kids that want them the most.

So, the whole idea isn’t to teach them hip-hop but is to learn about the communities about there and to build with the young people in the country so that we can help promote peace and understanding different goals that they have for that country. For example here two of the goals that we had were entrepreneurship and women’s empowerment.

QN: Is it the first time in Africa and are there any other countries taking part in this particular project?

So, this is the second year of Next Level program. Next Level sends different artists to different countries so this is the only country that our team will be in which is really a unique team; shout outs to our team. But Next Level this year is going to Thailand, Tanzania, El Salvador, Honduras. Last year they went to India, Senegal & Serbia. Each country is a different team but they will do the same hip-hop elements.

QN: Earlier you talked about entrepreneurship when you put that in line with hip-hop  means you have to use one of the elements of hip-hop to make money. How did you approach it so that the young people who were in attendance could use it to develop their communities?

Yeah, so we looked at how can you make money off art. You know hip-hop is all about hustling and it seems like there’s no way to make money but there are very many ways & it’s not just about one person making money it’s about everybody contributing to it, everything from fashion to starting your own label because a lot of people think it’s still about getting signed by a major record label but nowadays a lot of hip-hop artists are doing their independent thing because record labels it’s not a guarantee that you’re going to make a lot of money and they own everything you do. So, one thing we talked about was to work independently & to work together as a movement.

QN: In terms of making money off the art are there  any measures that you guys use in the U.S that are relevant or can they be applied to the Ugandan market in any way basing on the interactions you’ve had during the course of tackling entrepreneurship & hip-hop here?

I think every market is different.  In Uganda there’s more of a higher rate of unemployment I know that and so that’s a challenge Uganda faces but I would say hip-hop in general has similar challenges for people involved. 

But it’s easier with strength in numbers and I noticed as an emcee that people think it’s all about one emcee and when they make it that’s all that matters they buy a mansion or a car. Hip-hop in the U.S is going back to having crews so one person does marketing, one person does merchandise, another person makes beats or DJs that keeps everything running so that you can become your own business.



QN: Like you said that the struggles of hip-hop are similar whether it’s in the U.S or here but are there certain things that you’ve picked here that are different from the U.S?

Yeah, I would say the difference in Uganda is that there are so many languages spoken. So I noticed with my emcees they speak a lot of different languages so they don’t always know which one to rap in or sometimes they would rap in Luganda.

So I noticed there’s a division between who raps in English and who raps in luganda. But I think that’s kinda silly because whether you rap in luganda or English you can still be saying good or bad things. So even if you rap in English you can still say good things, also I think it’s good to be multilingual so I suggest emcees should try & learn as many languages as possible and try to communicate in all the languages.

Also I think in Uganda the hip-hop movement is facing the break-dancers more and that’s really unique cause in the U.S emcees get all the light, all the shine but here it’s like the break-dancers are very talented and so are the emcees but Uganda seems to be known for break-dancing specifically.

QN: Generally speaking what’s your overview about the Ugandan hip-hop scene for the short time you’ve been here working on this project? What are some of the good things that you’ve seen about the genre & what’s lacking or what can be improved?

First of all I felt like it was already a very established scene, like people are knowledgeable about the history of hip-hop and I was very happy that we didn’t have to talk about the fundamentals we jumped right in and we talked about pretty much complex stuff like college level.

I also noticed that’s there’s a very high level of skill, the DJ & the beat makers’ workshops were very smaller. I don’t know if that’s an indication that there are not as many DJs and beat makers. One thing that could be better is if more people did beat making as well because I think you can establish a very unique Uganda sound that everybody can figure out and realize across the world. But if everyone is rapping & dancing you’re not going to have that. So you definitely need more DJs & beat makers working together with rappers here so that they can establish a sound unique to Uganda. So, you need to use traditional sound but then make it hip-hop at the same time.

Connect With MADlines;
Twitter: @MAD_lines
Facebook: MADlines Music
Website: www.madlines.info/
Soundcloud:https://soundcloud.com/madlines

Contact writer;
Facebook: Byaruhanga Felix FeliFed
Twitter: @TheNinjaFelix
Email: theninjafelix@gmail.com