Ghetto Palms 73: Broadcasting Live from Uganda / Firebase Crew / Exclusive Bobi Wine Interview
- story Eddie "Stats" Houghton
Like a lot of Ghetto Palms columns, this one actually started back in 2007 when I was putting in legwork for the FADER Africa Issue. I originally got put up on Ugandan singjay Bobi Wine by South Africa promoter/producer/kingpin Nic Regisford when my dude Anaele sat me down with him at some dimly lit LES spot (could have been Spur Tree—it’s all kind of a blur now) to get his input on what at that point was just supposed to be a summer music feature rounding up the biggest emcees in African rap. A little YouTube ethnomusicology later and I was neck-deep in the homegrown version of dancehall reggae that Bobi steady churns out with contemporaries like Zigi Dee—dancehall drum patterns overlaid with conscious lyrics in English and Luganda and injected with so many layers of hypermelodic afropop that it becomes something totally different. Ultimately, getting a FADER correspondent to Uganda wasn’t in the cards for that issue but when I heard that globetrotting FADER intern and gal about town Cassi Amanda Gibson was passing through Kampala I knew it was time for Afrohall Part 2. Cassi’s exclusive video interview is below, along with her notes and impressions on the meeting.
