Gravity Omutujju: I invented danceable hip hop in Uganda

Singer Gravity Omutujju has claimed that he invented the danceable hip hop that critics have for a long time argued has nothing to do with the genre. He said he does not qualify to be called a hip hop artiste.

Gravity told Urban Television he drifted from the standard sonic configuration that earlier hip hop artistes embraced and became the force behind a danceable local sub-genre through which he has inspired a number of artistes.

“I invented this danceable hip hop, not the oldskool the Navios and the Zambas (GNL) used to do. This one with a danceable beat. I invented it and to every artiste doing the same, I am the inspiration. That puts me ahead of them. I have filled up Lugogo (Cricket Oval) five times,” he said.

In 2023, rapper Recho Rey responded to critics that have for years taunted her and Fik Fameica to stop calling themselves rappers because their style of music carry nothing with hip hop in common.

She argued that they fuse styles to make their music danceable to be able to earn from it.

“Critics say Fik Fameica and I don’t do hip hop, but you have to break your songs into danceable beats if you have to make money and do concerts. Ugandans love to dance. So, you will have to fuse hip-hop with dancehall, hip-hop with afrobeats,” Recho Ray explained while appearing on a local TV station.

 However, globally dance got infused into the genre in the 1960s and 1970s in the US. with the streets as the turf for the new style of dance that was born out of tap and swing. The East Coast birthed the smooth rhythmic dances that got to the West Coast with a new dance style; breaking, locking and popping, creating an opportunity for the two to merge.

In Uganda, rapping aside, break-dancing is the other most common hip-hop aspect.

Break Dance Project Uganda started by hip-hop artiste Abraham Tekya in 2006 is one such initiative that has nurtured talents in break dancing, beatboxing and rapping.

Break-Fast Jam Break, an annual hip-hop festival of break dance, art and urban culture featuring acts from across East Africa was also born shortly. In 2022, they received the Special Recognition award at the Uganda HipHop Awards for their contribution to hip-hop.

Nsambya Sharing Hall and YMCA Wandegeya are the two prominent places consistently associated with Uganda’s break-dance culture.

Break-dance in Uganda has been reported on by the BBC, DW and The Washington Post between 2015 and 2023.