Silas aka Babaluku is one of the founders of Uganda’s pioneering hip hop group Bataka Squad. Born in the Kampala, Uganda, Silas immigrated to Ontario when he was 12 years old, and his rhymes often capture that experience of being caught between two different cultures, what it was like to be a young African growing up in small-town Canada. As a show of solidarity with his homeland, Babaluku raps in his mother tongue, Luganda, and is one of the originators of the Luga Flow Movement, a native blend of African rhythms, soul, and hip-hop.

Silas is one of those guys with the gift, he speaks from the heart and with so much passion and energy behind what’s he’s doing. He’s dedicated his career to promoting artists who rap in their native tongues in Uganda through his Bavubaka Foundation with the aim of helping the young Ugandans gain confidence in promoting their culture and making changes in their society. His goal with Bavubaka is to build a state of the art youth center in Kampala to teach youth how to express themselves through various art forms like music and film so that the next generation of Ugandans will be able to shape their society in positive ways. Silas’s story is told in an amazing documentary “Diamonds in the Rough” from our friends Brett Mazurek and Matthew Forrest, check it out if you get a chance, truly inspirational: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvRXmm6ZNxk.

For this episode, we had actually just missed Silas in Brooklyn so we hopped in the car and drove upstate to the home of Angela Robinson and her husband John where he was staying for a couple days. The beads Silas wears come from Mushana, their company which sells beads made by women in Uganda. Many thanks to Silas, Angela and John…and Bridget from Edun for the lift.