In the 2000s, when artistes still sang with their mouths open and music still had a soul, the UK gave us Craig David. Craig David released his debut album, Born To Do It, 25 years ago with songs such as Walking Away, Fill Me In, Rendez-Vous, Can’t be Messin’ Around and Seven Days. At the time, music sounded different, the writing, production and talent. This was the introduction of Craig David, the crooner and a solo artiste. He had been around, however, for sometime, only problem is that, at the time, in 1999 to be specific, he was mainly known for a song he featured in – Artful Dodger’s Re-Rewind.
After a couple of DJ performances and curated performers such as Maurice Kirya, Kenneth Mugabi, Irene Ntale, Benon and Vampos, Laika Music and Aaron X, who did not only perform but left the stage and apologised to Bebe Cool a few moments later. Craig David’s background that most people may not know is that he started out as a DJ, he used to make mixtapes, unofficial remixes of pop songs , chopping and sampling famous songs but somehow, became famous. All these years later, after a tonne of hits, he branched back into what he was doing before, being a performing DJ. On Friday, at the Sheraton Gardens, the man who stepped on stage was one most Ugandans were not fully aware or even ready for; a singer, MC and DJ. With the decks mounted on the stage canopy, he stepped out in large white pants, white shirt and a Canadian tuxedo (the jacket).
Mash-Up
He opened his set with Re-Rewind, a song some people clearly had no idea had his voice on, thus were surprised. Then he proceeded with Fill Me In and Rendez-Vous and moved on to the mixing part of his set; going through classics such as Destiny’s Child’s Bills Bills Bills, TLC’s No Scrubs, Justin Bieber’s Love Yourself and Dr Dre’s Still among others. The fact that Craig David was DJing and singing at the same time, it meant that he gave himself the liberty to mash up songs such as Beyonce’s Break My Soul where he added a verse and a rap verse in the mix, he got to try out versions of his songs in unimaginable genres such as dancehall and reggae, house and bits of dance music. But him being able to DJ and sing at the same time meant that the transitions between songs was seamless and high energy for a supposedly RnB and soul artist. But he would often go between some of his songs and create moments with songs such as Walking Away and Rise and Fall, which he initially recorded alongside Sting.
He knew his audience were in love with the music he released 25 years ago, thus even the choice of music in his mix was a channel of the times, he could at times ask people where they were when these songs came out. Over the past few years, Craig David has been doing more DJing than singing, this is how he created the TS5, which started out as an exclusive pre-party hosted by Craig at his penthouse home in Miami. It is named after the penthouse apartment (Tower Suite 5) where it originated as a house party.
Craig’s set combines massive old skool anthems from R&B to Swing beat, to Garage and Bashment, whilst merging current chart-topping House hits. But he has been in the studio releasing his latest album, Commitment, whose lead single Commitment features Afrobeat queen Tiwa Savage. He paid tribute to her as he performed the song. One of his final songs was Unbelievable, a song he said a female fan had told him she would riot if it was not performed. Unbelievable is off his third album, The Story Goes, which he did after he had moved to the US. He closed his set with Seven Days and Insomnia, leaving a satisfied audience, walking away in awe. This was the second event by World of Sounds, after a successful debut they did with Myko Ouma at Kampala Serena’s Victoria Conference Hall.
