Famed for putting East Africa’s DJ scene on the map by providing a wide range of specialties towards their craft, whether it is mixing the hottest tracks out, making their own remixes and edits, or providing the visuals for a unique music video sets, popularizing the mixtape release and one of the most uptown spin masters Deejay duo made up of Stuart Kavuma (Slick Stuart) and Rogers Kitaka (DJ Roja) on the 27th of August 2020, having released several mixtapes, the pair bow braced and released their debut album titled “Very Wellooo”.
Starting out as friends in the year 2014, Slick Stuart and Roja decided to do a mixtape together which got great reception and thereby holding their first ever Mixtape Party at Venom. They have since made a name for themselves not only as disk jockeys but music makers as well, with an unmistakable style and unforgettable turntable flair, whose successful annual concerts attract mammoth crowds.
Looking at DJ Slick Stuart & Roja’s music making side, the duo has been releasing music since 2017, and their very song was ‘Eva’ on which they featured Ykee Benda, which they later followed up with ‘Up in the Air’ featuring Cindy and Kemishan and then ‘Pon Mi” in the same year. Fast forward to 2018, we saw them collaborate with King Saha on “Very Well” and Rema Namakula on steamy track “More of this” and many other tracks, most of which have topped charts both in Uganda and continent wide.
Having staged a successful album listening party in London earlier this year, the dynamic duo decided that they would compile all these and many other unreleased and never heard before songs from the past two years on one mega compilation that they would call the “Very Wellooo” album and would make it available on digital streaming and downloading sites.
“This Project Has Been a Labour Of Love for Me, We’ve Spent About Two Years Conceiving & Creating. I Have Poured My Heart & Soul into These Sounds and Collaborated with Some Amazing Incredibly Gifted Co-Writers, Producers & The Vocalists (Musicians). I Hope This New Album Can Get You Lifted Again, Fill Your Hearts with Love & Inspiration, Give You Something to Dance To, Something to Hold Hands To, Something to Make Love To.”, shared Slick Stuart.
By way of their social media channels, the album was being teased, with screenshots of their former features playing, and eventually revealed that they would drop their album on the 27th of August this year hence sharing track list and the official elaborate album cover artwork as created by celebrated artist Kwiz-era:
It was in this post that we saw that “Very Wellooo” was to consist of 20 tracks, that is; – it was to have 14 musicians like King Saha, Winnie Nwagi, A Pass among others, 2 instrumentalists, 1 Deejay (DJ Ciza), and 1 producer (Nessim). Among the guest vocalists is on the LP are: King Saha, Rema, Allan Toniks, Winnie Nwagi, Lilian Mbabazi, Cindy & Daddy Andre, among others. Additionally, veterans like Bebe Cool and Jose Chameleon will spice things up with their legendary twist, plus a touch of instrumentalists by Joseph Sax and Myco Ouma not forgetting the inclusion of fresh talents with the likes of Lyto Boss, Kojjo Derrick and VIP Jemo to add that flair, as revealed on the track list shared on 13th August by DJ Roja:
Being an A Pass guy, it had hit me that it did not seem like he had an appearance on the entire album. 🙄😒 Till I peeped and saw he is featured on track No. 17 (Mutuwulira). 😍
Album review summary:
The album opens with the title track ‘Very Wellooo’; the song whose actual title is ‘Very Well’ but known to most as ‘Very Wellooo’ because of the way King Saha voices it, serves as a gateway to open the multi genre LP and take a look at what’s on offer in the album comprising 20 strong tracks with some surprises on too, as it is no visitor to our ears. The song although categorized by the producers as RnB/ Soul, has a unique blend of Afro-Pop sound with pumping danceable beats that rocked many hangouts and homes across the land.
We are then transitioned to ‘More of this’ where the duo features Rema Namakula. Just like most of the songs on this album, it’s also arranged and produced by Nessim Pan Production and has that RnB feel to it which is so relaxing just like that of track No.4; Winnie Nwagi’s feature ‘Sumn U Neva Had’ (Refix).
One of the recent success stories of the duo in this album has been the song ‘Sunday’ in which they feature Allan Toniks. It has been one of the biggest hits since last year winning awards not only for its soothing sound, but also the colorful visuals created with very invigorating artistic effects by Swangz Avenue’s Marvin Musoke which also in other related news amassed over a million views on YouTube early this year.
There is a lot generally to consume in the album as it cuts across different genres for different generations with a host of top song-writers like Sheena Skies, Yese Oman, Daddy Andre, Dokta Brain, A Pass, putting in their creative juices while inking the different lyrics and Producers: The Weezy, Nessim, DJ Slick Stuart and Roja.
There is much for the 1Hour and 04 Minutes and 30seconds album has to offer; and now that “Very Wellooo” is out now and available on most music streaming platforms like Spotify, Tidal, YouTube, iTunes, Amazon Music and Deezer, as announced by Slick Stuart:
With pre-orders that started as early as Thursday 21st 2020, the LP is expected to spawn some great numbers digitally, now that more and more Ugandans are embracing the culture of streaming music online: Stream it here:
