END OF WEAK - MIC CHALLENGE UGANDA {AMY HUME'S STORY}

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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