The year 2023 shall forever be remembered as the year of Alien Skin. For good or for bad, take it or leave it.
Alien Skin is an artist from Uganda who is known for his work as a singer, songwriter, and rapper who turned the music industry in Uganda upside down.
From the days when Chameleon sung Kipepeo and my then nursery school going children were vigorously dancing to it, I kind of shut down when it came to the music scene. Matters were exacerbated when I ceased being a dancing regular at Jonjwi (Angenoir Discotheque).
The next time I took some keen interest was when an artist who I first heard about when he sung a song whose lyrics that still ring in my mind to-date; Bambara ba mbede, biri biri ba mbobi…. Funtula…. He later metamorphosed into singing society influencing lyrics which even led me to write an article in that regard to that titled,Time Bomb. This artist is called Bobi Wine. While I was not his fan, I could resonate with the message in some of his songs.
Excerpts from his song, Time Bomb;
“I would like to communicate
About tings (things) de we have fi (to) eliminate
Ignorance and poverty, eradicate
And de wholla ghetto yhut dem fi educate (Educate the whole Ghetto) …
Kati temudawo mwelimbe [Stop lying to yourselves]
Ngamuwooza tusaaba government etuyambe [Asking the Government to help you]
Opposition gyetusuubira etuyambe [The opposition we expect to help us]
Mpulira nabo batukolamu musimbi [I hear, are just making money]
For anyone who has the public interest at heart as well as a desire to uplift the under privileged, you couldn’t help but get touched by the message therein. Unfortunately, I am not sure whether he too was swallowed up by some of these accusations he fired at the opposition then, like;
Opposition gyetusuubira etuyambe [The opposition we expect to help us]
Mpulira nabo batukolamu musimbi [I hear, are just making money]
After a lengthy hiatus, I came across the song Sitya Danger that seemed to reignite a certain badass youthful nature in me. Even without knowing who had sung it, I went straight down memory lane.
You know me, sitya […I don’t fear]
You know me, sitya danger (eh)
You know me, sitya (eh)
You know me, sitya danger (eh)
So ne bwonkanga, ne bwotiisa [Even when you scare me]
You know me sitya danger
Ne bwokanga, ne bwotiisa [Whether you scare me, or cause fear}
You know me sitya danger
They took me down memory lane to the time when as a student in High School me and my homies were the so-called bad guys. Always daring to do things that left many in awe. People like Timo, Munya, Otim (RIP), Bobby (RIP), a current top Gov official whose name I will spare for now, among others. We never feared and always took daring trips out of the school to go indulge in the titration of locally and internationally distilled spirits.
Before I could process that song, hit after hit begun flooding the airwaves from a singer who I got to know is called Alien Skin. Yasamira Muli, Can Did it, Tulabise (aimed at haters), Tonkaka, Twayiseko Dda, Born Unruly (In the same league with Sitya Danger), Tokolima, Vako (Whatever this means), Mitwe (the tune that energized me upon being arrested in Butaleja District while fighting corrupt officials), Enfuna yo, Ensaalwa, Twanywede dda, Twende and he crowned 2023 with the banger Ready fi War. On my list, the brother has put out at least 40 songs in a span of less than 18 months. What a feat, never heard of before on the Ugandan music scene (I stand to be corrected).
As an avid amateur astronomer who believes in the existence of Aliens, I have known them to be beings from other worlds outside ours that have super normal attributes. To-date I still have no clue how he came up with that name and that will be the first question I ask him the day we meet.
This young man gate crashed a party that many thought he was ill suited for. They expected him to play second fiddle to the already established music maestros and promoters. With his crude and in your face approach towards handling his business, the boy wrote his own script.
This ruffled many feathers including those that had taken the music industry hostage for sometime claiming to be the passwords to the music scene. Foot soldiers that had gotten into a drunken stupor after silencing any dissenting artist to the status quo were caught flat footed when Alien Skin came up with a new style and approach.
They say, when engaged in a war, never battle according to pre-set rules if you want success. Define yours.
The noisy status-quo foot soldiers desperately came out to demonise this guy. We begun hearing ultimatums;
We’ve given him two weeks to fail – They passed by, NOTHING!
We’ve given him one month to fail – It passed by, NOTHING!
We’ve given him six months to fail – Those also passed, NOTHING!
He needs to come to Kamwokya for a blessing – He ignored
He needs to pay loyalty to the Principal – He responded with the banger Can Did it (…if Barack Obama can did it why can’t I did it. If Bobbi Wine can did it too, why can’t I did too….)
He cannot succeed without promoters like Bajjo. – He went ahead in one TikTok live to tell Abitex that he would chase him (Unfortunately the latter thought it was a joke only for it to happen a short while later)
He needs to behave like this and like that – Another Banger, The Real Me was his response (…This is me, the real me, I don’t pretend, the real me and I am a very big man inside…)
He only appeals to villagers and illiterates – His music is the in thing in all spheres of society. Priests have sung it in church, weddings are full of his vibes, school kids go crazy and have turned the Party Party song into a national anthem.
He is not a good musician
He appeals to kids
New vibes (hits) kept rolling in on a daily. He may not be the best musician talent-wise but he sure knows what it takes to get the audience. Many elite that chastise him in public continue to have a crush on his music secretly. In the confines of their cars and homes, they wiggle to his provocative lyrics while gyrating like wounded buffalos dancing to (….gwe gwe tulag’enfuna yo, naye totunula mu sowani ya Bossi wo…).
His mission from the start as he came onto the music scene was To Give us a Headache (Yajja kubalumya mitwe). Something he has achieved based on how many people he has disoriented while gaining a following at a rate unknown before.
He was the most talked about musician on social media especially TikTok during the year 2023. Many are the times that foot soldiers in support of the status-quo were silenced by Team Alien in online rants and bashings to the extent that previously injured artists like Mayinja came out to openly welcome the arrival of Alien Skin.
What personal and environmental attributes could have led Alien Skin to achieve all this runaway success in so short a period of time?
Let us delve into this in part 2.
James Wire
X (Twitter) – @wirejames
Threads – @wire_james
The Wire Perspective 