Phenomenal Goodlyfe
LET us face it. Nowadays, it seems that every Tom, Dick, Harry is making music in Uganda. Some of it is good. Plenty of it is just depressingly crap. Step forward Mozey Radio and Weasel. <br>
By Joseph Batte
LET us face it. Nowadays, it seems that every Tom, Dick, Harry is making music in Uganda. Some of it is good. Plenty of it is just depressingly crap. Step forward Mozey Radio and Weasel.
Consensus runs some of the songs that have brought smiles on our faces are by this dynamic duo. Of course some critics view them with scorn, seeing limited talents who have thrived occasionally on other people’s sweat far beyond their true music worth.
I agree.
Some of their songs like Bread and Butter don’t earn points for originality. It is alleged that they pinched it right under the nose of Arafat, the original composer, on a flash disk!
Yes, some of their other tracks suspiciously sound like they were washed out of other songs from as far away as America and Nigeria!
From grass to grace
For now, let us give them a break. Human beings will never be perfect. And, Goodlyfe are no exception. However, it is preposterous to suggest that they cannot write their own songs or come up with any original material.
Honestly speaking, I have to take the hat off my rapidly balding head and salute them for the way they have managed to rise to the top and become the toast of the country in only two years! It has been phenomenal.
You just have to marvel at the speed with which they have managed to move from relative unknowns lurking in the shadows of Jose Chameleone until that Thursday evening, in June 2008, when they decided to turn their back on Leone Island.
Most unfortunate artistes who walk out of these music crews often tend to disappear into a Bermuda Triangle of our local music scene, never to be seen again. Mozey Radio and Weasel hit the road running with Nakudata, their ground-breaking hit and they have never stopped.
Secret of their success
There are many reasons. For starters, leaving Jose Chameleone’s Leone Island Crew is probably the best decision they have ever made in their lives.
Young artistes join these music ‘crews’ with forlorn hope that the ‘presidents’ who run them will help launch their careers. Actually, it is quite the contrary as Eighton and Rain (formerly of Bebe Cool’s Gagamel and Buchaman (former vice president of Bobi Wine’s Fire Base Crew) recently discovered.
Young artistes are instead recklessly exploited (paid peanuts) and not allowed to thrive for fear they might ‘topple’ their celebrity bosses.
Goodlyfe’s rise to the top has not been by accident.
They have worked their backsides off to get where they are. So far they have released 37 songs, including their latest, Talk, since they breezed on the scene.
The rate at which they have released these songs is abnormal, but the most interesting thing is that most of these songs have somehow shaped into hits.
Musically, Goodlyfe’s success can also be attributed to the template that was laid by Chaka Demus and Pliers, one of the biggest dancehall crossover acts of all time. Actually, they are prototypes of the dynamic duo DJ and singer format of the 1990s.
What was, for instance, so appealing about Chaka Demus and Pliers was their vocal chemistry. Pliers sang while Chaka Demus toasted over the crooning with his chanting in Jamaican patois.
Likewise, much of the appeal of Goodlyfe’s music lies in the interplay between Mozey Radio and Weasel. It is just plain enjoyable to hear Weasel, like Chaka Demus, offer the contrast with his gruff half-chatting, half-singing style to Mozey Radio’s singing and voice.
Oh Boy! Mozey packs as much emotion into a note that when he sings about heartache, like he did in Taxi Money, it is with the conviction of an old widow who has just lost her husband.
He literally makes a bad song with very simple lyrics sound very good.
Mozey Radio and Weasel also make a very good song-writing team. Not that all their music is solidly written, but some of it makes you want to lie on your back squinting into the sun or close your eyes and watch those weird blotchy bits of red light dance under your eyelids.
Thanks to their producers, Benon Mugumbya and Washington Ebangit, their songs are often made up of meat-and-matooke tunes.
These producers help them slide comfortably down our throats straight onto any Ugandan radio play-list with the brilliant use of the simple, yet utterly infectious beats.
Also, the rhythms are generally all minimal, yet effective, allowing the duo to flex their vocal muscles. Actually, all their songs have a youthful exuberance and essential warmth about them which is hard to resist. This has helped win them an army of fans, young and old alike.
Perhaps Goodlyfe’s secret formula has been to try to spread their appeal to everyone.
They have recorded songs exuding positive, mellow, reggae-soaked vibes like Lwaki Onumya, Ngamba and Sitani for reggae fans. Nyumbani was for Zouk fans while bass-driven, urbanised neo-Soukous Bread and Butter was for the Afro-pop fans. Taxi Money is for the hardcore dancehall fans. RnB (Where You Are) and hip-hop have also been thrown in the mix.
Music, their weapon
Goodlyfe have refused to be bullied by the big boys like Bebe Cool and Jose Chameleone, often fighting back with fist but song. When Bebe Cool slapped Mozey in Club Silk, the latter, who holds an upper-second degree in Community Psychology from Makerere University, tore into him the only way he knows how — with his brain and pen.
He wrote the song Zuena and shot a cheeky video clip that left Bebe Cool seething with murderous rage, he responded with Cartoon and Baboon, a masked reference to Weasel’s broad face and Mozey’s rail-thin fame. They fired back with Mr. Ability.
When their misdemeanors forced Ange Noir management to ban them from performing in the club, they dished out their own form of hospitality with the ridiculously childish Kiduula Kyo. They called Jose Chameleone ‘Satan’ and have taunted him with songs such as Camilla and Football.
Crowning moment
All said, we should not forget that in the fleeting world of music, Goodlyfe have displayed remarkable resilience; maintaining their stature as one of the best groups in the country and, as evidenced by their recent MTV Africa Music Awards (MAMA) nomination for Best Group, on the continent.
Questions will always be asked: for how long will they be able to keep the fire burning? Who can say? My response to that is, let us cross our fingers and wait and see. But for now, these are the glory days for Goodlyfe Crew. And nobody can take that away from them.
LET us face it. Nowadays, it seems that every Tom, Dick, Harry is making music in Uganda. Some of it is good. Plenty of it is just depressingly crap. Step forward Mozey Radio and Weasel.
Consensus runs some of the songs that have brought smiles on our faces are by this dynamic duo. Of course some critics view them with scorn, seeing limited talents who have thrived occasionally on other people’s sweat far beyond their true music worth.
I agree.
Some of their songs like Bread and Butter don’t earn points for originality. It is alleged that they pinched it right under the nose of Arafat, the original composer, on a flash disk!
Yes, some of their other tracks suspiciously sound like they were washed out of other songs from as far away as America and Nigeria!
From grass to grace
For now, let us give them a break. Human beings will never be perfect. And, Goodlyfe are no exception. However, it is preposterous to suggest that they cannot write their own songs or come up with any original material.
Honestly speaking, I have to take the hat off my rapidly balding head and salute them for the way they have managed to rise to the top and become the toast of the country in only two years! It has been phenomenal.
You just have to marvel at the speed with which they have managed to move from relative unknowns lurking in the shadows of Jose Chameleone until that Thursday evening, in June 2008, when they decided to turn their back on Leone Island.
Most unfortunate artistes who walk out of these music crews often tend to disappear into a Bermuda Triangle of our local music scene, never to be seen again. Mozey Radio and Weasel hit the road running with Nakudata, their ground-breaking hit and they have never stopped.
Secret of their success
There are many reasons. For starters, leaving Jose Chameleone’s Leone Island Crew is probably the best decision they have ever made in their lives.
Young artistes join these music ‘crews’ with forlorn hope that the ‘presidents’ who run them will help launch their careers. Actually, it is quite the contrary as Eighton and Rain (formerly of Bebe Cool’s Gagamel and Buchaman (former vice president of Bobi Wine’s Fire Base Crew) recently discovered.
Young artistes are instead recklessly exploited (paid peanuts) and not allowed to thrive for fear they might ‘topple’ their celebrity bosses.
Goodlyfe’s rise to the top has not been by accident.
They have worked their backsides off to get where they are. So far they have released 37 songs, including their latest, Talk, since they breezed on the scene.
The rate at which they have released these songs is abnormal, but the most interesting thing is that most of these songs have somehow shaped into hits.
Musically, Goodlyfe’s success can also be attributed to the template that was laid by Chaka Demus and Pliers, one of the biggest dancehall crossover acts of all time. Actually, they are prototypes of the dynamic duo DJ and singer format of the 1990s.
What was, for instance, so appealing about Chaka Demus and Pliers was their vocal chemistry. Pliers sang while Chaka Demus toasted over the crooning with his chanting in Jamaican patois.
Likewise, much of the appeal of Goodlyfe’s music lies in the interplay between Mozey Radio and Weasel. It is just plain enjoyable to hear Weasel, like Chaka Demus, offer the contrast with his gruff half-chatting, half-singing style to Mozey Radio’s singing and voice.
Oh Boy! Mozey packs as much emotion into a note that when he sings about heartache, like he did in Taxi Money, it is with the conviction of an old widow who has just lost her husband.
He literally makes a bad song with very simple lyrics sound very good.
Mozey Radio and Weasel also make a very good song-writing team. Not that all their music is solidly written, but some of it makes you want to lie on your back squinting into the sun or close your eyes and watch those weird blotchy bits of red light dance under your eyelids.
Thanks to their producers, Benon Mugumbya and Washington Ebangit, their songs are often made up of meat-and-matooke tunes.
These producers help them slide comfortably down our throats straight onto any Ugandan radio play-list with the brilliant use of the simple, yet utterly infectious beats.
Also, the rhythms are generally all minimal, yet effective, allowing the duo to flex their vocal muscles. Actually, all their songs have a youthful exuberance and essential warmth about them which is hard to resist. This has helped win them an army of fans, young and old alike.
Perhaps Goodlyfe’s secret formula has been to try to spread their appeal to everyone.
They have recorded songs exuding positive, mellow, reggae-soaked vibes like Lwaki Onumya, Ngamba and Sitani for reggae fans. Nyumbani was for Zouk fans while bass-driven, urbanised neo-Soukous Bread and Butter was for the Afro-pop fans. Taxi Money is for the hardcore dancehall fans. RnB (Where You Are) and hip-hop have also been thrown in the mix.
Music, their weapon
Goodlyfe have refused to be bullied by the big boys like Bebe Cool and Jose Chameleone, often fighting back with fist but song. When Bebe Cool slapped Mozey in Club Silk, the latter, who holds an upper-second degree in Community Psychology from Makerere University, tore into him the only way he knows how — with his brain and pen.
He wrote the song Zuena and shot a cheeky video clip that left Bebe Cool seething with murderous rage, he responded with Cartoon and Baboon, a masked reference to Weasel’s broad face and Mozey’s rail-thin fame. They fired back with Mr. Ability.
When their misdemeanors forced Ange Noir management to ban them from performing in the club, they dished out their own form of hospitality with the ridiculously childish Kiduula Kyo. They called Jose Chameleone ‘Satan’ and have taunted him with songs such as Camilla and Football.
Crowning moment
All said, we should not forget that in the fleeting world of music, Goodlyfe have displayed remarkable resilience; maintaining their stature as one of the best groups in the country and, as evidenced by their recent MTV Africa Music Awards (MAMA) nomination for Best Group, on the continent.
Questions will always be asked: for how long will they be able to keep the fire burning? Who can say? My response to that is, let us cross our fingers and wait and see. But for now, these are the glory days for Goodlyfe Crew. And nobody can take that away from them.