Navio (rapper)

Daniel Lubwama Kigozi (popularly known as Navio, born 18 October 1983^[3]) is a Ugandan rapper. Starting off his career, he was part of the award-winning Hip hop group Klear Kut that introduced the term Ugaflow, to describe Uganda's hip hop scene. Navio is currently best known for his successful solo career with hits such as "Ngalo", "Bugumu", "One & Only" and "On and On" (with American R&B legend Keith Sweat).^[4][5] Since 2010, Navio has been a part of the African supergroup One8. Other members include 2Face (Nigeria), Fally Ipupa (D.R. Congo), 4x4 (Ghana), Movaizhaleine (Gabon), JK (Zambia) and fellow East Africans Amani (Kenya) and Ali Kiba (Tanzania). The first release from the group is "Hands Across the World" written and produced by R. Kelly. In 2014, he was one of the featured artists in the second season of "Coke Studio Africa".^[6][7]

Early Life and Career Beginnings

Childhood

Navio was born to Engineer Daniel Serwano Kigozi and Dr.Maggie Kigozi (née Blick). He is the youngest of three children; with an elder brother and sister.^[8] He went to Entebbe Church Nursery for infant school and St. Andrews in Kenya for his primary school. The recording artist then joined Aga Khan Secondary school and ISSA (International school of South Africa) for secondary education. Navio was enrolled at Monash University where he studied International Relations and Media Studies.^[9]

Career Beginnings

While growing up, Navio listened to a lot of music including his elder brother's huge collection of rap music from artists such as Run–D.M.C., MC Hammer, Vanilla Ice and the Beastie boys and would try to mimic them.^[9] When he was about 10 years old, his mother heard him rapping in the living room, and came over and asked whether it was Vanilla Ice rapping. She was so excited that she took him to Baava studio, owned by Hope Mukasa to record a song.^[10] It was at the studio that he met producers Franco and Steve Jean.

Klear kut

Aged 16, Navio formed the hip hop group, Klear Kut with his four closest friends: Tom “Tha Mith” Mayanja, Jonathan “J-Baller” Leslie, Abba “Langman” Lang and Habib Abdul Hussein aka Papito. The group’s debut album, “Mind, Body and Soul” (2000) was a huge success and generated the several hit singles including “All I Wanna Know” (with Juliana), “Remember” and “Let’s Get It on”. The group helped stir the popularity of the Hip hop genre in Uganda.^[11]

In 2002, Klear Kut became the first group to receive a Kora award nomination where they were nominated for “Most Promising Newcomer” and “Revelation of the Year”. The following year, the group released K2, their second album. Although it wasn’t as big as its predecessor, it produced the major hits “Mon Coeur ‘Murder of Crows’” featuring Rania and the fan favorite remix “Superstar” featuring Bebe Cool. They later received the PAM Award for Best Hip hop Group in 2004.^[12] Around the same time, the group decided to take a break and complete their studies; with Langman going to Germany, J-Baller to the U.S., Tha Mith to India, Papito to Rwanda and Navio to South Africa.

Later career

Before leaving for South Africa, Navio wrote and recorded a song, “Rukus” with Ugandan recording artiste Peter Miles. The song went on become one of the most popular records of his career. It was featured in the season finale of Big Brother Africa 3 in 2008, four years after its release. During his hiatus, he was occasionally featured on other artistes’ recordings such as the all-girl group, Blu*3’s single “Burn” in 2007.

Navio officially returned to the music scene in 2008 after graduating with a degree in communications from Monash University’s South African branch. His debut solo album, “Half the Legend” was released in 2009 and generated positive reviews from critics and the audience and generated the singles “Bugumu”, “Salooni” featuring GNL Zamba, “Ngalo” and “Respect” with the Kenyan artiste Jua Kali. He was also featured on Bobi Wine’s “Badman from Kamwokya”. The album earned him the Best Hip hop Artist award at the Pearl of Africa Music Awards and nominations at Kenya’s Kisima Music Awards for Best Male Artist, Best Music Video and Best Hip hop Artist.^[13]

The rapper has performed internationally in Ghana, Belgium, South Africa, Rwanda, Burkina Faso, Kenya, Tanzania, UK, Zanzibar, Germany, Benin, Burundi, and Nigeria. He has performed with local African stars as above, and with internationally famous stars such as Shaggy, P-Square, Sean Paul, Tevin Campbell, KCi & Jojo, Montell Jordan, Beenie Man and R. Kelly.

Musical Style

Music critics have described Navio’s sound and style as unique. "He strikes the balance between an African sound and a contemporary and international flavor that means he appeals to a wide demographic locally and internationally".^[14]

Discography

• Half the legend (2009)
• Africkan Hustler Musik (2010)
• Pride (2014)

References