BIG-EYE
Big Eye surely got it wrong on this one. It is true you can create suave local swag without sounding sophisticated and modern. Big Eye has done it before, with songs like Suula Indicator. But my word, you should at least have some class while you are it. I’m Already Booked is an example of many things that can go wrong with a Ugandan song. You have Big Eye, a musician very comfortable in his own skin, and native tongue for that matter, undoing a rather good rhyme by attempting to sing in English and in the process, distorting its rhythm and flow, using ill-fitting animations to wrap up probably the worst effort he has come up with in a while.
He starts nicely, with a Ragga jingle setting the wheels in motion, and then he joins in with his hoarse voice, which is more a trademark, than a weakness. It all sounds fine, you even get your head bobbing along to some form of downtown swag or other. You are enjoying your Big Eye music like usual. That is until his train misses its rails and veers off into some damning wilderness when he sings out that he is “already booked,” in an assault to English pronunciation and the institution of rhyme. It feels like that moment when as you enjoy a plate of rice, your teeth crash a stone. You do not want to eat any more.