Troy Elimu is a continental name in the fashion business and was recently selected as one of only two African fashion designers alongside Nigeria’s Waffles and Cream for the Make It Yours campaign, powered by Guinness Smooth. He appealed to the global brand because he collects discarded denim clothes and repurposes them into fashion wear under his Denim Cartel brand. With such an endorsement, many would stick to fashion designing but not Elimu. He believes the chains he broke in the fashion industry can also be broken in the music industry. A few days back, he held an album listening party for his recently released EP (Extended Play) called ‘Cartel Bizness’ at Silo 15, in Bugolobi, where Kampala’s culture shapers gathered for an exclusive moment that blurred the lines between music, fashion and identity.
The Cartel Bizness Listening Party delivered a genre-defying celebration of sound, collaboration and self-expression. From the moment guests stepped into the industrial warehouse venue, they were immersed in a multisensory experience, surrounded by Denim Cartel’s fashion-forward aesthetic, rich soundscapes, and the energy of a crowd that knew they were part of something rare. The EP features a heavyweight lineup of East African collaborators: A Pass, Mike Kayihura, Elijah Kitaka, Bensoul, BigTril, Tai Dai, Kamanzi, Tungi, Herbert Ssensamba, Jokwiz Klean, and SoundlykBB, with production by Axon, a fellow Make it Yours Campaign face and sonic architect behind many of the EP’s standout tracks.
The night hit several peaks, including live sets from Mike Kayihura and Bensoul, who brought a soulful intensity to the room. In between tracks, Troy shared the backstory of the project, his motivation and what this EP means to him. “Every track, every collabo, every sound represents a different part of my creative identity,” Elimu says. “Working with amazing talents pushed me to think differently. That’s what the Make It Yours campaign stands for, and that’s what I’ve done with this EP.”
