‘There’s commercial music; then there is mine’ – Sqoop

In one of his songs, Ugandan hip-hop artiste Daniel Lubwama Kigozi, better known as Navio, refers to himself as ‘the son of a refugee’.

The line is more than clever wordplay. It is a reflection of his life and perhaps explains why his countless visits to Kenya go beyond promoting his music in East Africa’s biggest music market.

“I call myself that because there was a civil war in Uganda. My mother was pregnant with me at the time, and we fled to Kenya, where I was born and schooled,” he says.

Since launching his career in 2001, the 43-year-old has built a name through socially conscious rap, a genre many believe struggles to compete with the commercial appeal of love songs.

Yet Navio has never abandoned his message. While many assume romance dominates the charts, he insists there is a large and loyal audience for hip-hop …Continue Reading…