“I had to get a job, not just for my family (he has an eight-year-old son), but for my music career, which duly paid off,” he said.
Geezy is his ninth album. The 15 tracks on it are finely produced, ranging from party to Gospel, with distinct fusions of RnB, funk and soul. At 41 and wiser, Lyrical G is an accomplished composer, producer and songwriter. The album took him three months to complete and it is expertise, personified.
“Of course, this is my best album ever. Everything about it, the sound, melody and rhythm are really good,” Lyrical G said.
Listening to it for the first time could indeed leave one doubting that it is work by a Ugandan artiste. Xenson Senkaaba, a hip-hip and visual artist, famous for his Mukube Blow song told The Observer he was so impressed by Geezy.
“The quality of music he has released is top. Lyrical G just proves that he can be as good as any global star, given a platform. He is gifted.”
Right through his school days at St Charles Lwanga, Kasasa in Masaka, Lyrical G used to drum at his desk. His favourite rap song then in the mid 1990s, was Snoop Doggy Dog and Dr Dre’s Nothing But A G Thang.
Still, just a few people seem to appreciate hip hop. Yet, Lyrical G remains upbeat. “Every music genre has its market and selling platforms, and I am happy about the way things are going for hip hop,” he said.
On his latest album, Lyrical G brought on board a number of upcoming stars, to great effect. Names such as Sliq Tec, Ossie Entrance, Oki Forever and a profound lady rapper MC Yallah, did a great job on Never Knew Pain which Lyrical G sang in honour of his late mother.
It is long since Steve Jean gave Lyrical G his breakthrough back in 1998, with his famous Ate Oba Sseseetula single. But he has maintained his love for the poetic genre.
jovi@observer.ug