Revellers appreciating the good vibes. Photos/Courtesy/ Neithan Kuteesa
Zagazillion or Young Zee as he was known then is an artist who seems to have a lot of unfinished business with everyone.
He has unfinished business with hip hop, the genre that Ugandans first knew him for, the music industry and of course Swangz Avenue, the label he was part of as a child rapper.
The label recently re-signed him though, and what he does is as divorced from hip hop and of course he no longer sings about buying his mama a house. But he is still making music, much of it is critically about nothing, although for the fun of it, he sings about having a good time.
When he was a young rapper, rumor was that the artiste is a planned kid doing music for the thrill of it; today, the artiste is no longer young, but if there is one thing to write home about his music, it is the fact that he sings to planned kids.
Uganda currently enjoys vast talent that taps into diverse audiences, for instance there are those that listen to the old high tempo danceable songs who are the majority of the mainstream audience, then the urban audience whose taste is refined and sound is rich and sophisticated.
These will listen to artistes such as Joshua Baraka, Akiene Niwe, Ceee and Elijah Kitaka, among others. Most Ugandans call this music for planned kids.
MC on duty
Many of such artistes are not mainstream and will not be advertised at most of the popular concerts that keep curating artistes. However, they have mastered tricks to keep themselves in front of the right audience that understands that even without support from popular radio stations and TVs, they thrive.
That is the case of Vibez Mzuri, a platform that is geared towards putting on urban Ugandan artistes, DJs, and MCs.
The platform has in the past programmed Elijah Kitaka, Lamu Sounds, and Denesi, among others. The biggest audience are people looking for a different sound and vibe.
On Saturday at Gazebo, a garden in Najjera, another Vibez Nzuri was held with Zagazillion as the main act. Besides him, however, there were other acts such as Denesi, whose rap and energy got the audience moving as well as Soundlykbb and DJ Damze.
Zagazillion closed the night with some of his known songs such as Pull Up, Kafunda, Closer and eventually Nilo.
More DJs played out the night since revellers kept showing up even as it was close to midnight.