When Bebe Cool dared to dream bigger

When musician Bebe Cool released his Go Mama album, a decade ago, it was evident that he was targeting a wider market with the stellar audio and video production, overall sound and promotion of the album.

Many thought that was surely his ceiling, but he had even bigger dreams. Ten years later, at 47, Bebe Cool returned with a body of work titled Break The Chains. The album, produced by Bushington Kagoda, has been the talk of town, with many receiving it with mixed reactions. Bebe released Break The Chains last Thursday at Noni Vie lounge.

From the first track, Boy Like Me, the sound and lyrics speak to the city lover boy whose heart just can’t be messed with because of what he has gone through already. The song opens with the saxophone setting the mood for some good love talk through Afropop.

Bebe resorts to actual singing through the whole album, ditching his signature rough, hard-core voice for smoother vocals as is evidenced in Circumference, which boasts a softer, smoother voice.

The Afrobeats/Afropop song drew inspiration from Nigerian music, especially with production, which caused some backlash on promoting a Nigerian beat as opposed to creating that still elusive, unique Ugandan sound.

Hidden Agendas comes off as the most uniquely produced record on the album, and with that Myko Ouma’s guitar solo, you cannot help but fall in love with it. Bebe Cool switches from Afrobeats to a completely different sound – House/EDM – on the 16-track album, in a song titled Alright.

This speaks to the album’s diversity with sound and production. During the listener’s party at Noni Vie, it was quite obvious that the audience’s favourite collaboration on the album was the one with Joshua Baraka – Cheque.

Baraka is undoubtedly the hottest new kid of the block in Ugandan music, and being on the same wave length with Bebe Cool when it comes to trying out new sounds, it is no surprise that the two worked together on the album. The song is quite short (1.45 minutes), but was well delivered, especially with the vocals.

Even though Baraka has a sharper, higher vocal range than Bebe Cool, the two blended quite well. The beat is also quite groovy. From Cheque, Bebe travels to Nigeria for African Love with Yemi Alade. The song blends pure African sounds with a bit of zouk, producing a rhythm that you would want to listen to in your car or chilling somewhere with your partner.

On Games, Bebe Cool worked with Kenya’s DJ Edu, to produce what promises to be a club banger. The instrumentation on the album is one that will get everyone on their feet.

The album was uploaded on all digital streaming platforms and is doing really well. Bebe Cool now moves on to the promotion phase of Break The Chains, with media tours set for Nigeria, United Kingdom, USA, and beyond.

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