Personally, I have never been a huge fan of Bebe Cool and it really has nothing to do with his music. It’s just a case of preference and also because of the way he handles things at times. An angry Bebe Cool has proved a not too smart Bebe Cool. His explosive rants on social media have done too little to salvage my love for the man but that doesn’t take away the fact that he has a large following, a following that has been built from a successful music career for the past decade.
You can fault the man for many things but can’t do so for his work ethics. He has been hard at work the past 12 months releasing a chartbuster in the song Love You Everyday. The song and the video have received massive rotation in Uganda and all over Africa and obviously MTV Base Africa was compelled to notice. He will now tussle it out with other African music hotshots for the Video Of The Year in the MTV Africa Music Awards(Mamas).
The video was a good look with Nigerian video god Clarence Peters behind the lens and it’s safe to say Bebe Cool’s chances are as good as anyone’s. The nomination is a victory in itself and it shows how some artistes are willing to push Ugandan music to the rest of the world.
We are always fast to slay our musicians for their personal lives but shy to recognise their efforts in selling Uganda to the world. As painful as this feels to say, a big congratulations is in order for the Gagamel boss.
Enter Eddy Kenzo and you have another musician having a fairytale year. The Sitya Loss sensation has dazzled all year round and travelled around the world doing what he does best and that is entertaining. And not just for your Ugandan Nkuba kyeyos living in Sweden and the like. He has been performing in unfamiliar ground like Burkina Faso, Equatorial Guinea, Ivory Coast and a host of other countries that hardly speak English and Luganda.
If there was ever a herculean task, going International is one but Kenzo has handled it well. He is also nominated for the BET Viewers Choice Best International Act and this can’t come as a surprise. He has comfortably shrugged off the Local artiste tag for a more deserved International artiste tag with so much ease.
It feels great to be Ugandan and surely Ugandan music will scale heights not known to man. Vote for the Ugandan music ambassadors Bebe Cool and Eddy Kenzo by visiting www.mtvbase.com and www.bet.com respectively where you can vote as many times as you can.