The iconic Shalom Rapperz. Wordz; Anthony Woods

Stories never cease to amaze on how various successful artists started out their musical journeys to stardom. Stories are told about how many started out performing around Sunday school church choirs while others got inspiration from different performing artists that they often admired. Others are self taught musicians who master their art when much older .However another start out amazing story is that of the Shalom rappers a six member gospel hip hop outfit comprising of four males and two females, all brothers and sisters from the one family, same Dad and mum, amazing isn’t it?

Meeting Julius, Irene and Pamela part of the   Shalom Rapperz for the very first time, you can’t help but notice that the group is effortlessly so down to earth whilst perhaps basking in the fact that they’ve definitely stood the test of time including the trials and tribulations that come with the test. Because of the type of music they do (gospel rap and/or hip hop) you’ll have hard pressed to find their records playing on many of Uganda’s secular radio stations, so their music has been limited to a gospel audience and thus many of their hit tracks have been well received especially on different gospel radio stations around the East African region. ‘We’ve always been focused because we knew where we were headed” explains Sigyi-O the brain behind many of the group’s hits and beats. As the sun sets Sigyi-O gives off a stern look that’s perhaps representative of his hands on character. Faced with the responsibility of directing the group’s future through intense ventures that in more than ways should seldom seek for a third eye such as video editing ,sound perfection, video locations, graphics etc, its  not surprising that whenever you find him Sigyi-O is involved in one of the group’s assignments. Serving Christ is also a thing that S-O says is calling especially if it involves changing a life positively, born of true staunch parents; the group grew up serving the lord. This they explain, happened while the group lived in TZ .Julio aka Sagyi-0 has made videos for various Ugandan artists who often seek his expertise with the visual world.

Naturally their musical career that spans over a decade since the group’s inception in 1997 has mainly come with the challenge of the elderly community not quite relating to their music thanks to their thunderous beats and dance moves that often go down well with the younger generation and indeed this has gotten them performing at various youth conferences and churches all around the East African region. The group comprises of Nathan a.k.a Zion Prince, Julius a.k.a Sigyi-O, Steven a.k.a MC Andy, Pamela a.k.a Gospel Rhymma, Ivan a.k.a Bro-Kim and Irene a high note back up vocalist.

The group is grateful to their parents Mr. and Mrs. Mukotani Rugyendo who have always been supportive and helpful to their endeavors over the years. Between 1989 and 1992 the group lived in Tanzania where their father was residing for diplomatic reasons and thus explains their fluency in the regional Kiswahili lingo. It is in Tanzania that the group also accepted Christ as savoir and became born again. In 1992 the group relocated to Uganda and in 1998 while living in the Eastern District of Jinja, they started writing gospel lyrics because of their passion for both music and Christ and in that same year Sigyi-O (Julius) the group’s leader and coordinator composed the group’s first hit single Buffalo.

To date the group has compiled an eleven track album that boasts of the ground breaking hit Unilipenda and the monstrous gospel hit Yasinga which is already receiving massive airplay on television. The group has already recorded six videos so far which are quite a hit especially in the Kenyan metropolis of Nairobi. The Shalom Rapperz got their inspiration from a holy hip-hop CD done by a group called Grits and also Cross movement all from the USA. The group has also gone ahead to spread the gospel through Holy hip-hop and by reaching places such as clubs, Bars and the streets   where they believe many potential believers hang and the message is clearly being passed on, thanks to their multi-lingo versatility. They sing in languages such as Kiswahili, English, Luganda, Kinya-rwanda and also heading towards French. The group has also penetrated TV station rotation schedules and is already featuring on stations such as Top TV, Record TV, WBS, NTV, and UBC TV, only to mention. The group’s latest projects include two new singles, Down for Christ a  gospel hip-hop track and Holy Ghost party a danceable reggae tone track which intends to cater for the group’s fans that wouldn’t mind a lil’ groovy touch. The group’s track Unilipenda has enjoyed number one status (gospel) before on the much respected Nairobi based kiss fm which has since made them a house hold name in Kenya. With the group now setting their eyes on a possible album launch in the first quarter of the year 2009, it is then perhaps safe to assume that with the gospel hip-hop as their art form to change lives to Christ they have delivered a Compact Disc you should place on your shelf for this Christ’s season. ‘God bless’, Summarizes Julio as I like to call him.

Any fans, supporters and well-wishers can reach the Shalom Rapperz on their contacts below;

SHALOM RAPPERZ
C/o CRYSTAL CODE LTD
P O BOX 31178 KAMPALA
Call mob +256782737033 or
              +256712181760
Email:shalomrapperz@yahoo.com