Mmaso

Ecko Bazz’s 2018 track “Tuli Banyo” was a breakout one for the newly founded Hakuna Kulala, and helped put both the label and the Ugandan MC on the map. On his excellent 2022 full length album Mmaso his gruff, urgent voice is as powerful as ever as he displays his vocal acrobatics in a thick fog of industrial, grimey noise that’s impossible to pin down to any specific genre. Whether you understand the Luganda lyrics or not, the anger and emotion that Ecko Bazz feels about police violence, drug abuse, and poverty in his country come across in his frantic, impassioned delivery. With production by Nyege Nyege pillars Debmaster and Slikback as well as DJ Die Soon and DJ Scotch Rolex, Mmaso is a paradigmatic Nyege Nyege/Hakuna Kulala release.