When it comes to Navio, there is always one question that pops up, why he has been persistent in doing Hip Hop for twenty years?
A style of music that is not popular in Uganda and then going ahead to sing in English, which many Ugandans do not associate with.
But the former Klear Kut artiste says that maybe it is the stubbornness that he inherited from his parents is the reason why he is still doing the same style of music despite its hardships.
“In the village, my mother was called the ‘stubborn one’ and my father had a good dose of it so even though we are chilled and well respected, that stubbornness keeps us pushing, it’s inherited,” he said.
Navio asserted that in their family they see a way through everything, they see a path and they welcome the challenges.
“So for me, I don’t mind a little pain, I don’t mind the discomfort because I have people looking at me and asking themselves what I am doing believing that I have to be in an office and I have people telling me I have to rap in Luganda to be relevant while I have others who are appreciating and pushing me to rap in English. So I get those mixed messages daily so if I didn’t have my own course that I see myself going to, I would have given up already. I try it my way,” he said.
20 years ago, Navio started his career in Klear Kut which introduced the term “Ugaflow” to describe Uganda’s hip-hop scene then went on to release hits like Naglo, Bugumu, Bad from Kamwokya and Nawuliranga among others from his twenty-year music journey.
He will be celebrating this milestone2 next month on the 2nd of September at Sheraton Hotel Kampala.
Who is Navio?
Navio whose birth name is Daniel Lubwama Kigozi was born on 18th October 1983 to engineer Daniel Serwano Kigozi and physician Dr. Maggie Kigozi (née Blick). Navio is the youngest of three children; with an elder brother and sister.
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. He was later enrolled at Monash University where he studied International Relations and Media Studies.
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.
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.
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 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.
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 was not as big as its predecessor, it produced the major hits “Mon Coeur ‘Murder of Crows'”, featuring Rania, and the fan favourite remix “Superstar” featuring Bebe Cool.
They later received the PAM Award for Best Hip Hop Group in 2004.
Best hits
Rukus is a song he recorded with Peter Miles. Rukus became one of the most popular records in Navio’s career. And it was featured in the season finale of Big Brother Africa 3 in 2008, four years after its release.
In 2008 after University Navio officially returned to the music scene His debut solo album, Half the Legend was released in 2009 and generated positive. Also 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.
In 2014, he was one of the featured artists in the second season of “Coke Studio Africa.
Since 2010, Navio has been a part of the African supergroup One8. Other members include 2Face (Nigeria), Fally Ipupa (Democratic Republic of the Congo), 4×4 (Ghana), Movaizhaleine (Gabon), JK (Zambia), and fellow East Africans Amani (Kenya) and Ali Kiba (Tanzania). The first release from the group was “Hands Across the World”, written and produced by R. Kelly.
One would be correct to say Navio is the face of Ugaflow Uganda’s Hip Hop.
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