Cool’s new album offers hot variety
Jul 10, 2008
IS he trying to be an R. Kelly of sorts by releasing song after song and videos too? Singer Bebe Cool is set to launch a 16-track, yet to be titled album, at the end of August. Slated to perform at its launch show is new American singing sensation Sean Kingston.
By Jude Katende
IS he trying to be an R. Kelly of sorts by releasing song after song and videos too? Singer Bebe Cool is set to launch a 16-track, yet to be titled album, at the end of August. Slated to perform at its launch show is new American singing sensation Sean Kingston.
Kingston is expected to come with a crew of six for the August 29 show, while Cool will be backed up by UK-based Ugandans Michael Chris, Kucklee and Chizo.
Cool’s music dominates his new album perhaps to counter pundits’ allegations that he usually rides on the popularity of collaborations with other artistes. The album features Obsessions, Kid Fox, Tickie Tah and Necessary Noise’s Nazizi.
The opening track, Kapere, stands out and promises to be a club banger. The dancehall track, which features Kid Fox, is a social commentary in which Cool takes a stab at people who pretend to be what they are not.
Cool goes as far as clustering the artistes who challenge him and false pastors in the Kapere (odd people) definition.
The video of the song was shot before Cool flew out for Mandela’s 90th birthday celebrations in London and will soon be relayed on local TV stations. Cool’s only undoing here is that the subject has been overdone.
Gwe Mukyala Wange, a song in praise of a wife, is arguably one of the best songs on the album. Cool admits so.
Before performing it for the first time at the former Uganda Breweries managing director Baker Magunda’s farewell party at Kampala Serena Hotel recently, Cool intimated that he opted for song with a live studio sound to appeal to his mature fans.
Cool did not go wrong. The song starts with a laidback soft guitar and links to a beat that borders between zouk and soft Afro pop. The instrumentation is engaging.
The album also consists of Cool’s rendition of the late Philly Lutaaya’s Born in Africa. The song was released last year and received mixed reviews with many pointing out that Cool did not do it justice.
It was rather hurried and lacked the depth the original had. Puss Puss , another single off the album, has already been getting heavy rotation on local FM airwaves and in some clubs.
The “Problem-solving†Ebizibu song has received moderate airplay and Boom Shaka Tak, featuring Nazizi, takes on stingy men who do not want to spend on their women. Nsonyiwa Mukwano calls for understanding in a relationship during troubled times.
If you are a music fan and watch local TV, you should have watched the video for Temptation, another song on the album, by now. The song, done in English, is potential award-winning material.
This is not far fetched since last year, the East African Bashment Crew, of which Cool is part, scooped Channel O’s Spirit of Africa music video awards for both best director and video of the year for the Kube song.
Cool’s new album is done in varied styles; reggae, dancehall, Afro beat/pop and other fusions and shows off the artiste’s ever increasing versatility in style.
Will it bear fruit, especially at international level, his main quest?
IS he trying to be an R. Kelly of sorts by releasing song after song and videos too? Singer Bebe Cool is set to launch a 16-track, yet to be titled album, at the end of August. Slated to perform at its launch show is new American singing sensation Sean Kingston.
Kingston is expected to come with a crew of six for the August 29 show, while Cool will be backed up by UK-based Ugandans Michael Chris, Kucklee and Chizo.
Cool’s music dominates his new album perhaps to counter pundits’ allegations that he usually rides on the popularity of collaborations with other artistes. The album features Obsessions, Kid Fox, Tickie Tah and Necessary Noise’s Nazizi.
The opening track, Kapere, stands out and promises to be a club banger. The dancehall track, which features Kid Fox, is a social commentary in which Cool takes a stab at people who pretend to be what they are not.
Cool goes as far as clustering the artistes who challenge him and false pastors in the Kapere (odd people) definition.
The video of the song was shot before Cool flew out for Mandela’s 90th birthday celebrations in London and will soon be relayed on local TV stations. Cool’s only undoing here is that the subject has been overdone.
Gwe Mukyala Wange, a song in praise of a wife, is arguably one of the best songs on the album. Cool admits so.
Before performing it for the first time at the former Uganda Breweries managing director Baker Magunda’s farewell party at Kampala Serena Hotel recently, Cool intimated that he opted for song with a live studio sound to appeal to his mature fans.
Cool did not go wrong. The song starts with a laidback soft guitar and links to a beat that borders between zouk and soft Afro pop. The instrumentation is engaging.
The album also consists of Cool’s rendition of the late Philly Lutaaya’s Born in Africa. The song was released last year and received mixed reviews with many pointing out that Cool did not do it justice.
It was rather hurried and lacked the depth the original had. Puss Puss , another single off the album, has already been getting heavy rotation on local FM airwaves and in some clubs.
The “Problem-solving†Ebizibu song has received moderate airplay and Boom Shaka Tak, featuring Nazizi, takes on stingy men who do not want to spend on their women. Nsonyiwa Mukwano calls for understanding in a relationship during troubled times.
If you are a music fan and watch local TV, you should have watched the video for Temptation, another song on the album, by now. The song, done in English, is potential award-winning material.
This is not far fetched since last year, the East African Bashment Crew, of which Cool is part, scooped Channel O’s Spirit of Africa music video awards for both best director and video of the year for the Kube song.
Cool’s new album is done in varied styles; reggae, dancehall, Afro beat/pop and other fusions and shows off the artiste’s ever increasing versatility in style.
Will it bear fruit, especially at international level, his main quest?