Are Burna Boy and Elephant Man A Menace To Uganda's Teen Society?

In 2011 if memory serves me right, O’Neal Bryan breezed into town with an entourage that included a manager and others. Except, that when he flew in, we didn’t know him as O’Neal Bryan but as Elephant Man, a Jamaican dancehall musician and singer. He was in town to perform at Club Silk’s Street Jam.

O'Neal Bryan - Aka Elephant Man

 I had never heard of Elephant nor had I listened to any of his music but I did attend the concert – not because I wanted to, but to help out as I always did at the jam since its inception. Backstage and hospitality was where I worked with Alan Ntanda.

When the larger than life Elephant walked into his VIP tent – a tent that had been kitted out with everything from mobile air-con units, an impressive buffet spread, drinks - Singleton, JW Blue, Jameson and all, he (Elephant)  took the ‘come-to-daddy for a spanking’ cream sofa while his aides scurried around him.

Drinks poured and Elephant settled, it was time to break out the toilet bag for a pre-smoke before going on stage. Okay, so I’ve been to a couple of places and seen Rasta spark up a ganja joint, but theirs were weenies compared to what Elephant rolled up. His looked more like an exhaust pipe of a Mercedes Benz G-63 Wagon. As he exhaled, in no time and despite the air-con running at full blast, it was not the place to be – if you get my drift...

By the time Elephant and Co took to the stage, they were high – ‘floating’ that what they did on stage – short of being something out of Kamasutra, was alarming and frightening. They plucked Hapless Teen Girl – still in her S3 school braces and stimulated sex with her on stage.

 

Elephant Man Has A Way With The Ladies On Stage

Elephant’s followers, were mostly Teen Girl screaming their pre-pubescent love out to him. As his performance drew to a close, Manager pulled at my arm and his gruff voice was to the point. “We need some backstage entertainment for Elephant.” With that, he scoured the front row picking out half a dozen young girls and took them into the VIP tent. To say Elephant was more than delighted by what Manager had set up, was an understatement.

No need to tell you what went on is there…?         

A few weeks ago, Damini Ogulu was in town – except and like O’Neal Bryan did by jetting in as Elephant Man, Ogulu breezed in as Burna Boy. Burna, so Daughter told me, is a Nigerian Afro-fusion singer who rose to prominence in 2012 after releasing the lead single – ‘Like to Party’.

 

Damini Ogulu Aka Burna Boy

Burna took his gig to Sheraton, and just like at Elephant’s gig, earsplitting hordes of Teen Girl were out in force – out doing those who attended Elephant’s do. First of all, they turned up ‘naked’ in that they wore barely visible clothes. As for the money that mummy and daddy had splashed on them for drinks, an Uber back home and emergency cash, muzinga’s of Coconut Ug Wa were the order of the night that some of them didn’t get to see Burna perform – let alone, make it through the first five minutes of the opening acts for they had passed out somewhere in the gardens and abandoned by their friends.

Is Burna Boy A Menace To Uganda's Teen Society?

But the real horror came when Barely 20-Year-Old-Boy whipped out a bag of pills – ecstasy so he tells me: “For 40k, just pop a couple of them in her drink and she will be too high to know what she’s doing.” If that wasn’t bad enough, just round the corner, a group of teens were doing the ‘lines’. Snorting lines of cocaine off their Samsung S10+ and Apple iPhone XS phones.

Parent, you might just want to pay more attention when Teen goes out at night because it ain’t to the movies.       

Pictures: madroad.com, Daily Monitor, Halleluja, nairobinews.nationco.ke