This list doesn’t imply that any of these acts haven’t seen a rise in their consumer base, or even that they’ve been less successful at their audience infiltration efforts than others who’re not on here. Rather, it’s to simply say that their craft is deserving of more attention than it’s gotten (& that’s to say a lot, since some of them already have a relatively good following & momentum). To be honest, we can easily see the presence of each artist on here being contested on apparently reasonable grounds, but there’s a case why each of them is included. Also vital to note, “slept on” is a passive phrase for a reason. See, whereas some on here haven’t been afforded due attention, others among the mentioned lowkey have themselves to blame, to an extent. They’ve slept on themselves, yup! Let’s wade into it all.
1. Man Lee
Wait, isn’t that the new rapper dude on the scene & all? [Pictured as the face of the piece] And isn’t it only natural for him to still be picking up momentum? Fairs, well, for the most part. Still, in relation to how fire that “Abnormal” EP is, some o’y’all are fast asleep on bro’s arrival. The project warrants more buzz. Good thing is, there’s always a chance to right y’all’s transgressions & pay bro his due attention. Help yourselves to it below.
2. Izabelug
Dang right, we included her! Look, she’s made waves into numerous spaces, featured on cool playlists & had formidable support rosters on a number of her projects. Even then, we can’t bring ourselves to believe that what we see is all there is to her in terms of her craft commanding attention. She’s way more multi-dimensional than her current pull. And this is no indictment on anyone commendably associated with what she’s done so far. Rather, it’s a rousing call & a prediction of much grander things that correlate with Izzy’s artistic worth.
3. Maingi
I’m 110% sure you, trend-entranced reader, don’t know who that heck that is, even! And that’s ok. It’s not on you this time round. Our good bud here is one of those we’d said is lowkey sleeping on themselves. Important intro point, bro’s not Ugandan. So why’s he on the list? ’Cause he’s too good… and also because his base (Kenya) is only a figurative door away from us. Anyways, peep this brief commercial clip & tell us bro doesn’t have the makings of great heights. [It’s him crooning onto the ad—taken from his insta @maingimuzik]
To sink in the point, before making more contextual observations, have a look at a gem of his titled “Milk n Bones”.
Magic, right? You bet! And yet for all its spark, it’s by large not been received by any significant base. Real pity for killer artistry to float in a saturated sea of crap, & not be accorded the attention it deserves. How’d such art end up meeting this fate? An intent look into it reveals a few reasons. For one, Maingi seems detrimentally averse to promoting himself. We may be wrong, but it sure seems so. Lately, his craft has taken on a Christian devotional arc, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. But he could use some contemporary-styled promo & ethos to it all, plus he so badly needs a savvy team behind his brand. That, plus more clarity to his internet presence. Bro has two Spotify profiles, both of which have virtually no stream count…criminal when put against his immense talent.
On top of all that, he has no Twitter presence. And even if he were to work on it, he could still use a shake-up of his artistic strategy to hipify his output, whether devotional or otherwise, it can still keep in sync with what’s making the trends; sonically, visually, on social media & otherwise. Really rooting for bro to grab more visibility with all the right tweaks, ’cause talent-wise, he’s one heck of a gem!
4. The Silent Treatment
So, we’d put Roland Nareba, the man behind The Silent Treatment persona, in the same category as Maingi. But we have the feeling Roland knows better! He seems to intentionally obscure his art, whether he believes this would evoke mystery or because he has personal reasons for putting up some sort of guard, is subject to speculation. Whatever the case, he has no Spotify writeup on his profile. Both his Twitter & Instagram are locked/private. Of course, he’s well within his rights to do so. But what a loss for us! I mean bro’s really good, and one wishes he’d be out of his shell much more. Check out his catalog for a taste.
Roland’s done some less private stuff before. For one, he’s had a Sofar performance some years ago, and even been booked outside Ug. But we don’t know what to make of his trajectory beyond those scattered points of reference. All we know is, he’s good, and we’d give a lot to get some more of him, artistically.
5. Schitzo
Back to a more typical entry, Schitzo is one of those cool producer singer-songwriter types who could use a bigger break from where they find themselves. There’s not a lot to his case, except that we’re snoozing on bro’s higher vision, and we need to wake up to what he’s cooking.
6. Kevin Mawejje
Kev’s good. Like, he is good. As his regular self, within collective iterations like SYFR, and as evidenced in regular collab settings both on studio projects & performance sessions. On the surface, his arc could seem regular. One could even suspect his trajectory is typical of a Ugandan rapper slightly on the fringes, a victim of the pop-rap consumption disequilibrium we have going up in here. And yet we feel, we’re all lowkey sleeping on bro. We have something more to say about this in an upcoming feature. But for now, treat yourself to his sound.
7. Julius Sese
Ok, now this is an interesting one. So, Julius is a bubbly dude, and that of course slips into his music too. But he’s more than just his sound. He has an entrepreneurial side to him, and he seems to be pulling at multiple arcs. Kudos to him. Yet we’re of the view he could be more lethal with a more refined artistic focus. But it’s not just on his end, his craft deserves more attention and we could turn up more for him in that regard.
8. Aethan Music
Alright, it must be mildly confusing to read a producer’s name on this list. But for a while, Aethan Music’s pulled off rather maverick assemblies of talent that he’s helmed to delightful results. He’s a force for that. And we feel he deserves more acclaim, both critical and general, for his artistic feats and ear for magic.
