Black Vinyl
Born Yallah Gudencia Mbidde in Kenya and raised in Uganda, MC Yallah has been involved in East Africa's rap scene since 1999. Alternating rhymes in Luganda, Luo, Kiswahili and English, her conscious, poetic and experimental style was slow to creep into Uganda's mainstream. Following a brief but necessary hiatus, she returned to the stage in 2018 with a new lease of life accepting her role as a central component of the Nyege Nyege/Hakuna Kulala family. Yallah Beibe is the fiery follow-up to Yallah and Berlin-based producer Debmaster's acclaimed 2019 debut Kubali. After her tour plans were cut short as COVID-19 broke out in 2020, Yallah returned to Kampala and started work on her sophomore album at Nyege Nyege's villa. The process was more complicated this time around, developing pointedly from an initial back-and-forth with Debmaster and flourishing as beats appeared from Japanese producer Scotch Rolex and Congolese club maestro Chrisman. The finished aloum is an international patchwork of futuristic cyber-rap experiments fastened together by Yallah's unforgettable personality and elastic flow. More charged than its predecessor, Yallah Beibe is an apt soundtrack to a challenging era.