The End Of Weak MC Challenge 29 December was an absolute success! Amy met DJ
Apeman at 3 at Feathers to ensure the sound was on point. The manager
of Feathers, Michael, helped her gather supplies and create a stage with
candles and lanterns…..the guy who was going to bring lights never
showed up so we had to be constructive with our resources. As darkness
set, people arrived, slowly but surely. As soon as we had all the
Challengers and judges, we started with the Ship Cru, 4 boys aged 5-11
who are prolific rappers thanks to the guidance and teachings of
Babaluku and the Bavubuka All*Starz. A few more people rapped their
way across the pavement stage while some guy who I just met, ran to get
a flood light to assist with the ambience. She was thankful he did, as the
judges would not have been able to see the judging form if not. She was
able to get the top Hip Hop artist in Uganda, GNL Zamba to come judge.
A lot of people think he is fake, a lot of people love him and tear up
the dance floor to his music, and some people are just jealous that he
has money. Ahh!, commercial success.
He is a humble man and made a
comment that he’s never seen anything like the EOW MC Challenge.
Another judge was Lady Slyke, a well known female MC who is part Lauryn
Hill, part Erykah
Badu. She came to me after the show with sheer joy
of being involved with EOW. The third judge was Benon, one of the top
producers in Uganda. He approached me after the show and said he should
be paying me as he was entertained. MC Twigy and Gold Street Studios
producer Vince hosted the Challenge smoothly (relatively) and kept the
masses peaceful. Her rival and enemy, Ugly, who appeared in her previous
blog for trying to take her for money then threatening her, was there to
support his friend Jungle, who was in the competition. Ugly has issues
with GNL and so as soon as the show started he started to talk shit.
Babaluku approached him and asked him to be respectful, Ugly became
more aggressive, and so Amy had the bouncer (and one of my bodyguards)
Frank from DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo) and her boxer friend (and
bodyguard) Amigo, escort Ugly and his crew off the premises. Ugly was
refusing to leave but my special forces cleaned up the situation real
quick. Amy is lucky to have very large, very strong, and very kind
boxers, bodybuilders and bouncers on her side in K'la city 256. With the foundation she has
built and the success she created in the month she has been here in Kampla, people
have labeled her “untouchable, gangster and a superhero.” Oh, and
Princess. Ha.
Roshan [KANVAS] photographed the event, Brian Mugagga did video, and
major station NBS covered the event as they are big supporters of Hip
Hop in UG. Burney MC kept the show running.
Amy Hume was
all over every where socializing, organizing, and peacekeeping. At
some point, a large, jovial man from London (Ugandan-born but UK-raised
as is common here) shook her hand and told her how impressed he was with
the MC Challenge from an onlooker’s perspective. The encouragement,
support and admiration continued through the show and into much of the
night.
EOW is so different from what people have seen here that they
were mostly all just highly impressed. Lady Slyke, GNL and Babaluku
personally and publicly thanked her for providing a platform to
strengthen the Hip Hop community in UG. Now she must personally thank Big
Zoo, Vice Verses and ProPayne from EOW NYC for creating the MC
Challenge but for also believing in her and allowing her to bring the
idea to Africa. Since having a major television station and Hip Hop
celebrity involved this time, the next Challenge in February is bound
to bring more attention. She have many people interested in getting on
board the EOW-ship, so she have much work ahead of her. The international
bridge uniting people through Hip Hop is officially built and the
traffic begins to flow.
The best part of the story is that Cyno from Bavubuka All*Stars won
the Challenge. "I knew the competition would come down to Jungle and
Cyno, and Cyno proved to be a more versatile and prolific emcee".Amy said. For
the prize, she gave $100 USD and studio time. Cyno and friends
immediately left for town with his “Obama money” to go eat at a local
market/mall/restaurant Nakumatt. The following day, Cyno purchased a
goat to grill for everyone involved in EOW and the Bavubuka House. The
goat, big, black and male, had calls of distress through the night and
so in the morning I fed him some greens grass and apologized that his life
would soon be over but thanked him for providing nourishment and
satisfaction to many people. She was pleasantly surprised that Cyno used
his money to give back to his family and friends. She was at a soccer
tournament the morning of the BBQ (31 Dec), so she missed the
slaughtering and skinning of our friend Billy, but arrived in time to
find 3 people working at the grill covered in goat parts (with Billy’s
head underneath on the sidewalk), a few people talking and a group of
people shouting and laughing.
The group conversation was about 2 girls
that came by the house, one of them being involved with my housemate
Blue Banton, but she left him for Cyno because he won the MC
Challlenge. Despite not understanding the language, the gestures,
laughter and reactions tell enough of the story. It was the first day
since my arrival that the energy and spirits of the Bavubuka compound
were high and the laughter infectious to everyone. It was a truly
peaceful and fulfilling family gathering. Once again, End of the Weak
has proven to bring together people from different walks of life but
all fighting for the same cause- unity within the Hip Hop community.
For New Year’s Eve, she puts on a tiny black dress, put Stacy in a
small green dress of mine and watched Roshan push up her cleavage in
her short black dress and we headed to Feathers. Rosh’s brother, Salim,
runs Feathers and so it is somewhat of a second home. It’s somewhere we
can go alone and know we will find friends there and will spend time
safely and peacefully. And eat delicious food (pork)! We ate, drank,
had jello shots and watched fireworks from the parking lot. We made
the mistake of going into town (Kampala City) where the streets were
crowded and the invitations to hang out were abundant. We decided to
go back to Feathers where our safety net and our friends were
collecting. She have some really good people on
my side and she's proud to say, she made the right decision in coming back to
Uganda to work, play and dream.As her friend Rosh told her after the MC Challenge, “You should be
proud of yourself. With an open spirit and a blessed heart success is
always achievable and deserved. Learn the lessons of the night and know
that every hardship is a future medal aspiring to bigger and beta
things.”
inset From right: Amy, Roshan & Stacy
Increasing numbers of parents and teenagers feel that entrepreneurship is a suitable career choice
