Tanzanian rapper, author & poet, Master Manondo, better known as Fredrick Mulla (né F. Albert Komba) has been tweaking his various musical iterations since his early teenage years, though he dropped the first (unofficial) entry into his catalog in the late 2000’s. That was before he’d re-immerse himself in his academic journey, only to resurface a decade later in 2017, with his more consequential early single “Juma Mosso”. It’d prove to be the beginning of some pretty adventurous output later.
Fredrick’s wider vision has seen him collab with a number of equally ambitious acts across borders, most prominently with innovative production outfit Umoja Sounds in the 254. Whether as primary artist too or a support feature, he’s rolled with the crew on projects like standout EPs “Emotional Attachment” & “Out of the Comfort Zone”, & additionally last year’s buzz-heavy single “Alright”.
A more unique aspect to his artistry is how he’s serialized portions of his musical output and cultural musings into an engaging format on his YouTube channel. The setup’s equal parts musical material & commentary. He also delves into his creative process. For the non-Swahili speaking bulk of our readership, here’s an initial disclaimer about incoming language barrier. But the point about including it is to showcase the format, which is sufficiently observable minus linguistic limitations. Peep below:
Fredrick’s latest single “Yanga Mango”, a familiar collab with aforementioned Umoja Sounds, dropped just 2 weeks ago.
We’re curious about the possibility of him seeking out more Kenyan synergies, even better in a genre-agnostic format beyond his current scope. His catalogue bears subtle signs of more versatility than he’s letting on. Nonetheless, we’re pretty psyched to trail him on his current trajectory.
