MC Yallah, real name Yallah Gaudencia Mbidde, who was born in Kenya and grew up in Uganda, has been in the East African underground hip-hop scene for nearly 20 years. On stage, she delivers a high energy performance and stands out with a bright, colourful aesthetic. As a self-described "conscious rapper," her content draws from real-life experiences and social observations. But she doesn't shy away from calling out the bullshit and asserting her hard-earned position as one of the best in Uganda. However, what really sets MC Yallah apart, and what shines through on her 2019 EP, Kubali, is her signature style: a rapid, tightly controlled flow delivered in one or more of four languages (Kiswahili, Luganda, English and Luo).

When she started out in the late '90s, MC Yallah drew her inspiration from American hip-hop. The industry was young in Uganda and with few resources available, most hip-hop artists were working over instrumentals imported from the U.S. As the Ugandan artists she started out with, like Chameleon, Bebe Cool and Bobi Wine, rose up into the mainstream, MC Yallah took a step back from the scene to focus on herself and her family. She made her comeback in 2008 with her first hit, "Abakyala (Women)." She stuck to her roots in underground and conscious hip-hop, honing her craft. But the music industry in Uganda had rapidly evolved and that, compounded with the challenges of being a female rapper in a male-dominated industry, slowed her progress.

Though I'd heard of MC Yallah, my first interaction with her wasn't as a rapper, but as a presenter on the hip-hop styled news bulletin, NewzBeat, where I was a writer. She started there in 2013 and it was around that time that she met the founders of the Nyege Nyege festival, Derek Debru and Arlen Dilsizian, who took interest in her 2012 release, "Ndeete," a call-and-response audience favourite. MC Yallah performed at the first Nyege Nyege Festival and at every following edition, growing in popularity as she laid out her rapid-fire flow over electronic beats. She released a string of well-received singles, including the 2017 hit "Mpambana" and 2018's "Ting Badi Malo."

A year later, MC Yallah's decade of hard work after returning to the game would culminate in the release of the electrifying Kubali EP, a collaboration with Berlin-based producer Debmaster. 2019 was also the year she performed on international stages off the continent of Africa for her first tour with Nyege Nyege. In October, she took the stage for an impromptu performance during the Venice Biennale in Italy. Without a mic and geared only in headphones, she rapped over the notoriously fast 180-300 BPM of singeli, a Dar Es Salaam special. This was the start of a promising tour that took her to CTM and Unsound, among other festivals, until the threat of COVID-19 brought everything to a lurching halt. This brought her back to Uganda and into a severe lockdown, where returnees were detained at the airport for days and later forced to quarantine in hotels on their own budget.

Unsound Festival

You had to cut your tour short and fly back from Norway. Can you tell us how your lockdown experience has been?

My experience, of course, was not very good because I had a lot of shows this year and then corona came in and I had to come back to Uganda. I had to quarantine for 21 days. It was very frustrating, you know. The first week I had motivation to write music, but after some time I got stressed. I couldn't write music. [We were in a hotel], there were other people in other rooms but we were not allowed to interact. I came out of the lockdown and went back home. I was called to [Nyege Nyege's Kampala studio] The Villa to work on a new album, and of course some online shows. Those are the things that are keeping me going in this lockdown.

And you released something during the lockdown already, an EP?

Yeah there is an EP, I worked on with Phantom Limb records from UK, with the Irish producer, Eomac. We worked on 13 songs and we chose the best two which is "Mama Waliwamanyii" and "Kakana." They are doing quite well and actually they were released on July 3rd.

You've released a number of singles over the years, but when did you release your first album?

My first EP single was released in 2018, that was Ndi Mukazi with Debmaster. In September 2019, we released the Kubali EP with 11 songs. Well, seven were songs and four were tracks.

How long had you been trying to get an album out?

For years. Imagine you started doing music when you were 15, now you're in your 30s and that is when you release an EP that really blows up. It really means a lot to me. And of course with this, I am getting to work on more albums.

You also took a break from music early on in your career. How was your comeback in 2008?

Coming back was a big struggle but later on in 2013, 2014 I met the changing point of everything. That was when I met Derek and Arlen from Nyege Nyege, [which was] formed in 2015. So actually Nyege Nyege was my turning point.

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In that period between 2008 and 2013, What were your challenges? What made it so difficult?

There were new radio presenters, new TV presenters and they didn't know me because they were new. It was a struggle getting your song played on radio. Some DJs want you to pay but you don't have money. It became so frustrating, even performing. I reached the point of giving up.

What pushed you to keep going?

The love. It was the love of hip-hop that I've always had from when I was young that kept me going.

Were there people around you that inspired or influenced you?

I can't say that, in Uganda, any artist inspired me. I'm my own inspiration. Maybe the only inspiration I have is from Young Vibes. They were the first hip-hop artists in Uganda. They started rapping way back in early '90s and their first release was, I think, in 1996, the song called "Wampologoma" by Dlux Ibraw. That is a song that really inspired me from Uganda. These are things that kept me going, plus me, my own inspiration.

What does it mean to be your own inspiration? How do you keep tapping into that and moving yourself forward?

I inspire myself by listening to myself, listening to my flow. I found that it is a strange and rare flow. I listen to myself because I want to make myself better because I believe what I have is unique. When you tend to listen more to music by other rappers it corrupts you a bit. We've seen many artists who end up sounding like other artists.

So what changed for you in 2013 and with Nyege Nyege?

These guys really understood me. Actually, they listened to a song that I did in 2012 which was called "Ndeete" and they thought it had something. They brought in a producer to work with me and this producer was not the like the normal producers. The beats were dope, a bit strange, hip-hop electronic. I thought, this is good, but how do I tackle this? I had to study and listen to the beats more and ask myself, how do I flow, how do I tackle it? That is the challenging bit and I love something that challenges me.

What are you planning for the future?

I've been doing this for years but it was in 2019 when I got a breakthrough and my breakthrough was in Europe, not even in Africa, not even home. However big you are in Africa, if you're not known in Europe, it doesn't make sense, or if you never hit up an international stage, it doesn't make sense. I'm so lucky that it started that way, hitting international stages before local stages. And with time my music is going to be playing down here. I see myself and my music really going places and I see myself becoming one of the best artists.

You're working on this new album with Debmaster as well, how is the working relationship with him?

He is one of the best producers I've worked with. We understand each other so much, and he's a cool guy. I've never recorded a song live with Debmaster, but the way we come up with dope stuff is amazing, even if he's not there. He sends beats, we listen to the beats, we choose, I get to the villa, I record with the producer, they send him stems. That's how we work but people actually think that we work together [in the same physical space]. Now imagine if we were working together.

Can you talk about the project you're working on now with Debmaster?

We are working on an LP and it is gonna be fire, more than Kubali, If people love Kubali, they're gonna love this one.

Can we get details?

No details, just expect fire.