By Nimusiima
Thursday night, GattoMatto was packed to the rafters as Tom ‘The Mith’ Mayanja released his much-awaited album-Destination Africa. The crowd was the Hip Hop savvy type. Everything reeked Hip Hop; something folks should be proud of. Actually, most upcoming, established and struggling Hip Hop artistes showed solidarity as they tumbled in the GattoMatto to grace The Mith’s big night. Notable faces included: Big Tril, Keko, St. Nelly Sade, Enygma, CODE, Tucker HD, Maurice Kirya, Pl@y, Patrobas, Ruyonga, Navio, Lyrical G et al.
Emcees of the night, Brian McKenzie and Deedan from Radio City, did a brisk job in transition of performances, delivering their two cents of wit and jokes and trying hard not to bore the audience. However, the audience seemed to care less as they engaged in loud banter, drank the evening away and caught up on lost acquaintances. DJ Crisio and Mister Deejay were behind the turn tables as their earworm mixes enchanted the audience when, say, there was no performer on stage.
A handful of Hip Hop artistes that included Abramz from the infamous Sylvester & Abramz duo as he hemorrhaged creative verbal bars in his Luga-Flow freestyle. The godfather of Hip Hop Lyrical G reminded us that, indeed, ‘tewaliamusinga’ with the same titled song. The night also saw performances from Patrobas, Ekky, Ruyonga et al.
The Mith was called on stage later amidst chants from the audience. Clearly, with the horde of people and thunderous roaring pelting from the audience, it mirrored how Hip Hop has long gotten out of its diapers and it has fully grown as an independent genre on its own. The Mith, in a seemingly black suit with a larger than life tee-shirt ambled on the stage armed with Ruyonga. They did what they do best, free-styling and spewing lines and performing most of his songs. His ‘side kick’ Navio, obviously, came through to support a brother he has trudged the tedious journey with throughout the years. They performed the night away.