Buti Knight

Butika Ian is my name. I'm also known as Buti Knight. I was born in Uganda, Kampala in 1980 to Mr. and Mrs. Butika. My family is not big; Josephine and I are the only children to our parents.

My childhood days were spent playing and praying due to a strong Catholic background, as my parents were very firm in my spiritual upbringing. At the age of four, I joined a nursery school in Mbarara town and later attended primary level at Namilyango Primary. The school was liberal when it came to musical subjects, unlike other schools. I had the opportunity to join the Drama club and took on singing. I then became the best performer as well as the crowd's favorite in creative dancing. My talent propelled my music teacher, to give me extra coaching on the subject.

I joined Old Kampala Secondary in '95 but the only problem was that it lacked music in its syllabus. So I took Catering instead of music since it was the next best option and started a drama club as well. This club didn't last for long though since we were all young and restless; we never agreed on anything at all. As a result I decided to leave the school since it was not having any positive influence on my musical goals.

The next school I joined was Kigezi College Butebere. It was really wonderful. The school provided unlimited opportunities in terms of performing arts and it had music in its syllabus as well. My music teacher, a lady called Ms. Heather gave me a very good start in my career by introducing me to the world of professional music. Through her, I joined the U.K. school of Music where I learnt music theory, music composition and instruments and sat for the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music exams (A.B.R.S.M).

In 2000, I represented Kenya Music Academy at the All Africa Music Gala (A.A.M.G.) in Birmingham U.K. That was when opportunity knocked; an advertising company spotted me and I landed a deal to make a Coca-Cola jingle that included creating a rap slogan for the soft drink. I returned to Uganda and continued with other projects, mainly jingles and adverts.

I released my first single in 2001 at Josh-Gen studios. It however did not do well as the production was not good enough for East African standards. After this I began concentrating on composing and singing hip-hop music at international level. I've been able to do this due to the strong support and hard work of my promoter, Mrs. C. A. Mancino in California, U.S.A. I'm really thankful for her support.

I'm planning for my next album that is going to be produced by No End records, in Kampala. Hopefully it will be reproduced in California.