After a golden age of bass music that brought, for about a decade now, all dubstep and its derivatives, there were lessons to be learned. While some producers followed a more predictable path, others took notes to avoid signs of a dead end. Few, however, have opened up other worlds, and in this sense, names like Shackleton, Queen Warrior or The Bug have been able to raise the bar. The global village we live in nowadays has no limits, so it is not surprising that it is from Uganda that we find one of the most vital MCs of the moment. MC Yallah made a splash at the prestigious Unsound Festival and her music made many of last year’s best-of lists. Assertive, hypnotic, and mouth full of freestyles for all the doubters.
Affiliated to Nyege Nyege, a bootleg house that already needs no introduction, it was with French producer Debmaster that she found the shapes and colors for Kubali. Somewhere between rap and dancehall, between Jamaica and London, between paranoia and revolution, a solid record is born, sonic in its own way, challenging as it should be. There is truth and there is urgency throughout these songs, like a current narrative of the troubled times we live in. It sounds venomous at times, and disconcerting at others. MC Yallah seeks a territory free of preconceptions, mixing and shuffling – with fun and irony – the expectations that each one brings before an album that is a living fuse.
In a unique presentation in Lisbon, the duo will transform Aquário into a huge mental soundsystem, one of those that leave us longing and launch myths. Surely we will hear more about it in the near future, but for now this is an open invitation to celebrate the here and now. Lots of warmth. NA
