Ugandan prez puts on hip-hop hat

Category: International Published on Friday, 19 November 2010 10:32 Written by Associated Press Hits: 1514

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP)—He’s 65, he’s been president for more than two decades, and he’s Uganda’s newest rap star.

Facing a February election, President Yoweri Museveni has released a rap song and video that’s become a sensation in this East African nation, played at dance clubs, on the radio and as a mobile phone ringtone.

Enthusiastic supporters at a rally in northern Uganda last week called for Museveni to perform “U Want Another Rap.”

Museveni chuckled, and obliged.

“You want another rap?” Museveni sang in a gravelly voice as his supporters danced. The lyrics aren’t exactly gangsta—they’re about making something out of nothing and getting ahead in life.

“Harvesters...gave me millet, that I gave to a hen, which gave me an egg, that I gave to children, who gave me a monkey, that I gave to the king, who gave me a cow, that I used to marry my wife,” Museveni raps in a gravelly voice.

“The old man knows how to sing. He has come up with a good strategy to win youths in Uganda,” said Amos Opio, 24.

Museveni, who has been Uganda’s president since 1986 after the overthrow of Milton Obote, is expected to win in February.