MC Yallah will release her sophomore album, ‘Yallah Beibe’ on 14th April on vinyl & digital via Hakuna Kulala, Nyege Nyege’s dance focused sister label. Born as Yallah Gaudencia Mbidde in Kenya and raised in Uganda, MC Yalla has been an active member of East Africa’s rap scene since 1999. Her style is a blend of conscious, poetic, and experimental rhymes in Luganda, Luo, Kiswahili, and English. Despite her contributions to the rap scene, her music took a while to gain mainstream attention in Uganda.
After taking a break, MC Yallah returned to the music industry in 2018 and embraced her role as a critical part of the Nyege Nyege/Hakuna Kulala family. In 2019, she released her first album, “Kubali,” with Berlin-based producer Debmaster. However, the COVID-19 pandemic cut short her tour plans, and she returned to Kampala, where she began working on her sophomore album, “Yallah Beibe,” at Nyege Nyege’s villa.
This work was more complicated to produce this time, with input from Debmaster, Japanese producer Scotch Rolex, and Congolese club maestro Chrisman. The MC Yallah album’s finished product is an international patchwork of futuristic cyber-rap experiments that reflects Yallah’s distinctive personality and elastic flow.”Yallah Beibe” features 12 tracks that skate through various genres, including trap, dancehall, club, and industrial styles.
The album’s charged nature is fitting for the challenging era in which it was created. Yallah’s experience and versatility as an MC are evident in the album, with tracks like “No One Seems To Bother,” a collaboration with Lord Spikeheart from Duma, where they both trade bars over Debmaster’s slippery, bass-heavy rhythm.The album is a call to action and a loud siren meant to educate the world about East Africa’s rich history and bright future. The collaboration between Yallah and rising star Rati Gan on “Bigbung Song” is an excellent example of this, with the two artists using a twisted bass-heavy beat from Chrisman to create a track that bridges Uganda, the DRC, and the wider diaspora.
Tracks like “Baliwa” and “HERA” showcase Yallah’s signature lyrical dexterity, with her tongue-twisting raps paired with Scotch Rolex’s pan-global foley-trap splatter. The sounds on “Yallah Beibe” feel like they are from another planet entirely, a fourth world rooted in collaboration rather than appropriation.If “Kubali” established Yallah as a force to be reckoned with, “Yallah Beibe” cements Yallah’s status as one of the world’s most exciting MCs, both on record and on stage. Yalla music is unique and unparalleled, making her an artist to watch in the future.
