{"id":15612,"date":"2024-02-16T00:46:49","date_gmt":"2024-02-16T00:46:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/2024\/02\/16\/i-wanted-to-choose-to-be-better-not-bitter-how-ugandas-eddy-kenzo-went-from-sleeping-in-the-street-to-historic-grammy-nomination\/"},"modified":"2024-02-16T00:46:49","modified_gmt":"2024-02-16T00:46:49","slug":"i-wanted-to-choose-to-be-better-not-bitter-how-ugandas-eddy-kenzo-went-from-sleeping-in-the-street-to-historic-grammy-nomination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/2024\/02\/16\/i-wanted-to-choose-to-be-better-not-bitter-how-ugandas-eddy-kenzo-went-from-sleeping-in-the-street-to-historic-grammy-nomination\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I wanted to choose to be better, not bitter\u2019: How Uganda\u2019s Eddy Kenzo went from sleeping in the street to historic Grammy nomination"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

On February 4, the Grammy awards announced the first-ever winner of the new <\/strong>\ufeffBest African Music Performance, with South Africa\u2019s Tyla taking home the title for her hit \u201cWater.\u201d <\/p>\n

Yet African artists have been honored at the Grammys since fellow South African Miriam Makeba won for Best Folk Record in 1966. And even being nominated can be a life-changing experience. <\/p>\n

No one knows that better than Eddy Kenzo. Last year, the 34-year-old singer and music executive became Uganda\u2019s first-ever Grammy-nominated musician, for his collaboration with US artist Matt B on the song \u201cGimme Love.\u201d <\/p>\n

Born Edrisah Kenzo Musuuza, he spent 13 years of his early life sleeping on the streets, finding solace in music and football. It was sport that eventually <\/strong>served as his way out, but it would be music that became his lifeline. <\/p>\n

Today, Kenzo promotes upcoming Ugandan artists through his Big Talent Entertainment record label, and advocates for fair royalties and digital copyright as the interim president\u202fof the Uganda National Musicians Federation. <\/p>\n

The following interview was edited and condensed for clarity.<\/em> <\/p>\n

Eddy K<\/strong>enzo:<\/strong> No. I\u2019ve always known that I\u2019ll make it in music because I could feel the creativity in me. I\u2019ve always had music. The only thing I didn\u2019t have was the support, the studio. But I knew that one day if I ever went into a studio, I would produce good music. I used to compose music even without instruments and stuff. I used to sing on beats, so by the time I went to the studio, I would already have my songs composed on other people\u2019s beats. I hear the beat; I start composing my own. <\/p>\n

So, by the time I go into the studio, I start doing great music for me. I started in 2007, I made it in 2008. And I made it so big in 2010 (when)\u202fI made a song called \u201cStamina.\u201d It was a very big song in the country. It trended for over two years. It was even the theme song during the campaign for the 2011 elections. <\/p>\n

LM: How did that song change your life?\u202f<\/strong> <\/p>\n

EK:<\/strong> \u201cStamina\u201d was my official breakthrough. It changed my story. That\u2019s when I started receiving a little money. I was able to rent a better house and then I got more friends, more experience. I started jumping on flights for the first time. <\/p>\n

LM: Why is dance such a key part of your act?<\/strong> <\/p>\n

EK:<\/strong> I used to dance a lot on the street, and I love dancing. My music is for joy. What I bring out is based on my story. I suffered a lot when I was a kid. So, whenever I go to the studio, I think about being happy. <\/p>\n

I want to make people happy because I know someone somewhere is sad about the different things they go through. When I come to the studio, I want to heal that person because I went through the same thing for a long time. That\u2019s why I do happy music. <\/p>\n

LM: <\/strong>It\u2019s so powerful that you make music for joy when it comes from a place of pain and all the suffering that you experienced growing up.<\/strong> <\/p>\n

EK:<\/strong>\u202fI just wanted to choose to be better, not bitter. I went through a lot, but it does not mean that someone else should go through the same. So, it is my job to heal somebody going through that and I\u2019m grateful it\u2019s working. <\/p>\n

When you go to the comment section of my music, people say, \u2018I was going through depression, this song is changing my life.\u2019 I\u2019ve been living in the US for 20 years. When I look at this video, I remember my childhood. It\u2019s so great. <\/p>\n

LM: Your biggest award was the Grammy nomination. How did that feel?<\/strong> <\/p>\n

EK: <\/strong>I couldn\u2019t believe it. I can\u2019t even imagine how I felt. If I start telling you where I come from, what I\u2019ve gone through as a child who did not have anyone to take care of me. At that young age, I was the boss of my own life. Today to be here, to be in the Grammys! I couldn\u2019t stop crying when I was seated at the Grammys, seeing all these guys perform, Beyonce, all these greats of all time. I cried the whole show. <\/p>\n

LM: Tell me about \u201cGimme Love\u201d and that collaboration with Matt B, which led to the nomination.<\/strong> <\/p>\n

EK:<\/strong> I met [American musician] Matt B through a man called Greg. Greg loved my music online when he saw kids dancing. And then he texted me. He wanted to remix one of my songs to\u202fput it on his kids\u2019 album. I gave him permission.\u202fWhen I went to the US for some shows, he introduced me to the Grammys people. He invited me to one of those parties where I met Matt B, who told me how he drove from Chicago to Los Angeles with his kids in the car, to look for opportunities. I felt touched. <\/p>\n

I played one of the beats I had on my phone. He picked one. We then composed and did the song. I\u2019m so grateful that at least it changed our story. A Grammy nominee is a Grammy nominee. I thank God for that. <\/p>\n

LM: What do you still hope to achieve?<\/strong> <\/p>\n

EK: <\/strong>We want to achieve different things on different stages. I just want to keep representing my people and inspiring. I want to see a generation that is going to do way better than me after seeing what I\u2019ve done, and they don\u2019t make the mistakes I\u2019ve made. That will make me so proud. I really want to\u202fpromote an artist. <\/p>\n\n

This post appeared first on cnn.com<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On February 4, the Grammy awards announced the first-ever winner of the new \ufeffBest African Music Performance, with South Africa\u2019s Tyla taking home the title for her hit \u201cWater.\u201d Yet African artists have been honored at the Grammys since fellow South African Miriam Makeba won for Best Folk Record in 1966. And even being nominated <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":15613,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-15612","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15612","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15612"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15612\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15613"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}