Crescent Baguma, alias Beenie Gunter is one of Uganda’s dancehall artistes. Beenie, a connotation of ‘Young’ in Jamaica and Gunter means creative. With a number of big songs in his catalogue, Beenie got what he perhaps refers to as the biggest test of his career last year after he was jailed in Dubai. He shares this experience.
Beenie Gunter says he was inspired by his late brother Beenie Venture who made him fall in love with Jamaican music at an early age. He is one of the few lucky artistes who managed to have a hit song when he had just started out. His breakthrough song was the No Offence remix in which he featured Sheebah Karungi upon request from her.
“When I released the first version of No Offence, I had no intention of doiing a remix but Sheebah approached me and talked me into doing one. I could not refuse because she was on top of her game at the time,” he said.
No looking back
The success of No Offence opened doors for Beenie Gunter, including a lucrative deal with Perfect Play, an international label that was affiliated to big brands such as Sony Music and Warner music. He says he was the first artiste to be signed from Africa and with this signature, he had hoped his artistic talent was going to reach a vast audience across the world but that did not go as planned as he ended up being signed to Jahlovd Label in 2014 before joining Savvy Music two years later. Along the way, he went independent, creating his own label called Guntalk City Movement. The artiste also has a good working relationship with Talent Africa.
“It is part of growth and you get to explore different working communities and learn different things from different companies,” he said about signing for different labels.
The long career
From No Offence, Beenie Gunter’s career has seen him release bangers such as Tubayo, Olina Work, Pon Mi, Sekkle Down, No Letting Go and Giddem, among others which earned him Buzz Teenz awards in 2017. He won the Buzz Teenz Awards for Teeniez Dancehall Artiste of the Year and Teeniez Hottest Dancehall Song (Pon Mi)……CONTINUE READING……
