Flo - NAKATO (2026)

Versatile DJ, producer and multi-instrumentalist Florence Lugemwa, aka Flo, steps into the dazzling sunlight on her debut album. Up until this point she's been a somewhat mysterious character, operating as one third of HYY & The Kampala Unit, but she's got far more to offer. A keen trumpet player, Flo cut her teeth working as an activist in Kampala where she grew up, teaching local kids and founding a brass band with them. And during the COVID-19 lockdown, she took the bonus free time to hone her DJ skills, emerging from the shadows live on Ugandan national TV channel NBS in 2020 for a special Nyege Nyege takeover and wowing onlookers with her eclectic selections and fiery improvised live vocals. She teams up with HHY's Jonathan Saldanha on 'NAKATO', harnessing her diverse array of influences and skills to power a sprawling wirework of jerky, hyperactive beats, soundsystem-ready basslines and pliable incantations.

Flo's voice is sliced into ribbons on the weighty '20' and mutated into pitchy squeals that decorate the gaps between the clattering cybernetic rhythms. Her whispery saturated raps and unforgettable operatic coos only seal the deal - it's a track that assures her ambition, falling outside of genre boundaries with its dramatic muddle of gqom, hyperpop and, most astonishingly, grungy electro-metal. 'STICKIT' is completely different, a sensual R&B banger led by Flo's brassy harmonies that's stimulated by chattering trap trills, bouncy TR-808 subs and Timbaland-esque neon synths. Flo gives a wink to the camera on 'AUDI', bolting together an AutoTuned peak-time anthem from her luxury fantasies; "I need an Audi, a big fat Audi" she quips, while revving engines growl beneath undulating ballroom rolls.

And she slows the pulse down to a casual, eroticized crawl on 'EUPHORIA', addressing Usher, Lil Jon and Ludacris's iconic 'Yeah!' with choppy syncopated beats and floodlight-drenched trance stabs. But Flo pluckily pulls away from convention, layering the sinewy rhythm with a hypnagogic lullaby that's split with hoarse raps and urgent dancehall calls. That dancehall influence is even stronger on the serrated 'BURN THEM'; toasting playfully, Flo brings theatrical energy to the machine-strength steps and dreamy blips. On closing track 'FIRE' meanwhile, she eyes the dancefloor once more, turning a mischievous EDM backdrop into a flamboyant choral aria, sounding something Kelis's 'Flesh Tone' reworked by Hannah Diamond. Daring, belligerent and convention-breaking, Flo's first album is a fresh examination of pop that drags familiar forms towards the club's most outer recesses.