By Dennis Asiimwe
Kiti Kya Muwogo is taken off Jacob ‘Play One’ Kisubi’s latest album, AURA.
Jacob has made an interesting habit of coming up with some nifty names for his albums – his last album was Jinja Bred Man, a bit of crafty word play on his home town of Jinja. AURA is actually an acronym for A Ugandan Rap Album – told you it was a nifty name.
The track seems to sample a bit of music from Kenneth Mugabi, and features him as well. More importantly, it attempts to continue an organic relationship that Ugandan hip hop has sought to have with various musical genres in Uganda.
Kenneth is a wonderful singer, and the sampled hook makes for an excellent bit of audio, with its regal undertones.
It makes for an appropriate track to examine what Jacob has had up his sleeve for a while – AURA has been one of the most anticipated albums of the last two years, with folks hounding the talented rapper about when the album would finally drop.
Jacob is often involved in his own productions and engineering, and his finger prints are all over this, especially in the arrangement.
What makes Kiti Kya Muwogo such a rewarding experience is how comfortable Jacob is sharing the stage with Kenneth – he knows what he wants from him, and Kenneth brings it, letting those authoritative vocals that act as the engine for what is such a powerful nit of music.
I don’t know if I am biased by the times or whether it was a deliberate effort by Jacob, but these are echoes of Kanye West on this track that I can’t seem to shake off, or maybe it’s just the arrangement.
