By Dennis Asiimwe
I will never pretend to understand his appeal, but we still have to figure out what it is he does right. Gulu has 37,000 views on YouTube after two days. That is some feat, considering the fact that we are still in the lockdown, a period when people take their data seriously. Feffe Bussi often tags himself as ‘Uganda’s smallest rapper’. Ironically, he hasn’t been doing much singing, if his last two releases are anything to go by.
Gulu has a powerful ‘street anthem’ vibe to it, with a smoldering tone defining the instrumentation that Feffe delivers his line on. He has often prided himself on having the fastest delivery in town, but he changes tack on Gulu, going for a sleek, laid back delivery. I know this comment will probably cause World War III, but he sounds suspiciously like a product of Baboon Forest – GNL Zamba and MUN G come to mind when you listen to Feffe on Gulu.
The song is performed in Luganda, which offers something of a problem because my Luganda is simply awful. However, I was able to gather that the song is about the state of the music industry, especially the copyright law and the disputes around COVID-19 OWC funds.
Gulu as a song works (37,000 views in two days makes this seem obvious) because of its simple, catchy, instrumentation, and that sleek rapping from Feffe. This one is one of those songs that will be with us for a while.
