Daniel Lubwama Kigozi (popularly known as Navio, born 18 October 1983) is a

Ugandan }), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The sou ...

rapper and record producer. Starting off his career, he was part of the award-winning hip hop group

Klear Kut Klear Kut is a five-member Ugandan ensemble consisting of Navio, Papito, Abba Lang, JB, and The mith. History Klear Kut was formed in August 2000. The group started by performing at karaokes around Kampala and quickly gained a reputation for th ...

that introduced the term "Ugaflow" to describe Uganda's hip hop scene. Navio is best known for his successful solo career with hits such as "Ngalo", "Bugumu", "One & Only", and "On and On" (with American R&B singer Keith Sweat). Since 2010, Navio has been a part of the African supergroup One8. Other members include 2Face (Nigeria),

Fally Ipupa Fally Ipupa N'simba (born December 14, 1977), known by his stage name Fally Ipupa, is a Congolese singer-songwriter, dancer, philanthropist, guitarist and producer. From 1999 until 2006, he was a member of Quartier Latin International, the music ...

(Democratic Republic of the Congo), 4x4 (Ghana), Movaizhaleine (Gabon), JK (Zambia), and fellow East Africans Amani (Kenya) and

Ali Kiba Ali Saleh Kiba (born 1986), best known as Ali Kiba or sometimes King Kiba, is a Tanzanian singer and songwriter. He is from Kigoma and the owner of Kings Music label. Ali Kiba released his album ''Cinderella'' which broke record as the best- ...

(Tanzania). The first release from the group was "Hands Across the World", written and produced by

R. Kelly Robert Sylvester Kelly (born January 8, 1967) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and sex offender convicted of racketeering and multiple sex offenses. During his recording career, Kelly sold over 75 million records worldwi ...

. In 2014, he was one of the featured artists in the second season of "Coke Studio Africa".

Early life and career beginnings

Childhood

Navio was born to engineer Daniel Serwano Kigozi and physician Dr.

Maggie Kigozi Margaret Blick Kigozi, commonly known as Maggie Kigozi, is a Ugandan medical doctor, business consultant, educator, and sportswoman. She is a consultant at the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). She formerly served as ...

(née Blick). He is the youngest of three children; with an elder brother and sister. He went to Entebbe Church Nursery for infant school and St. Andrews in Kenya for his primary school. The recording artist then joined Aga Khan Secondary school and ISSA (International school of South Africa) for secondary education. Navio was enrolled at

Monash University Monash University () is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Named for prominent World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. The university h ...

where he studied International Relations and Media Studies.

Career beginnings

While growing up, Navio listened to a lot of music including his elder brother's huge collection of rap music from artists such as Run–D.M.C.,

MC Hammer Stanley Kirk Burrell (born March 30, 1962), better known by his stage name MC Hammer (or simply Hammer), is an American rapper, dancer, record producer and entrepreneur. He is known for hit songs such as " U Can't Touch This", "2 Legit 2 Quit" ...

Vanilla Ice Robert Matthew Van Winkle (born October 31, 1967), known professionally as Vanilla Ice, is an American rapper, actor, and television host. Born in South Dallas, and raised in Texas and South Florida, Ice released his debut album, ''Hooked'', ...

, and the Beastie boys and would try to mimic them. When he was about 10 years old, his mother heard him rapping in the living room, and came over and asked whether it was Vanilla Ice rapping. She was so excited that she took him to Baava studio, owned by Hope Mukasa, to record a song.

Klear kut

Aged 16, Navio formed the hip hop group,

with his four closest friends: Tom "Tha Mith" Mayanja, Jonathan "J-Baller" Leslie, Abba "Langman" Lang, and Habib Abdul Hussein aka Papito. The group's debut album, "Mind, Body and Soul" (2000), was a huge success and generated the several hit singles including "All I Wanna Know" (with

Juliana Juliana (variants Julianna, Giuliana, Iuliana, Yuliana, etc) is a feminine given name which is the feminine version of the Roman name Julianus. Juliana or Giuliana was the name of a number of early saints, notably Saint Julian the Hospitaller, wh ...

), "Remember", and "Let's Get It on". The group helped stir the popularity of the hip hop genre in Uganda. In 2002, Klear Kut became the first group to receive a Kora award nomination where they were nominated for "Most Promising Newcomer" and 'Revelation of the Year". The following year, the group released ''K2'', their second album. Although it was not as big as its predecessor, it produced the major hits "Mon Coeur 'Murder of Crows'", featuring Rania, and the fan favorite remix "Superstar" featuring Bebe Cool. They later received the PAM Award for Best Hip hop Group in 2004.

Later career

Before leaving for South Africa, Navio wrote and recorded a song, "Rukus" with Ugandan recording artiste Peter Miles. The song went on become one of the most popular records of his career. It was featured in the season finale of Big Brother Africa 3 in 2008, four years after its release. During his hiatus, he was occasionally featured on other artistes' recordings such as the all-girl group,

Blu*3 Blu 3 was a Ugandan all-female band formed in April 2004 after winning the TV show Coca Cola ''Popstars''. The name is contrived to mean 3 Beautiful (or Black) Ladies from Uganda. Original members were Jackie Chandiru, Lilian Mbabazi and Cindere ...

's single "Burn" in 2007, Jemimah Sanyu's "Amaaso go googera" in 2011 and many more Navio officially returned to the music scene in 2008 after graduating with a degree in communications from

's South African branch. His debut solo album, ''Half the Legend'' was released in 2009 and generated positive reviews from critics and the audience and generated the singles "Bugumu", "Salooni" featuring GNL Zamba, "Ngalo", and "Respect" with the Kenyan artiste Jua Kali. He was also featured on

Bobi Wine Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, known by his stage name Bobi Wine, is a Ugandan politician, singer, and actor. He is a former Member of Parliament for Kyadondo County East constituency in Wakiso District, in Uganda's Central Region. He also lead ...

's "Badman from Kamwokya". The album earned him the Best Hip hop Artist award at the Pearl of Africa Music Awards and nominations at Kenya's

Kisima Music Awards The Kisima Music Awards is an annual awards program that recognises musical talent in East Africa. Despite being Kenyan-based the scheme awards artists from a variety of countries, predominantly Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, and incorporates a ran ...

for Best Male Artist, Best Music Video, and Best Hip hop Artist.

Musical style

Music critics have described Navio's sound and style as unique:

Awards and nominations

Discography

*''Half A Legend'' (2009) *''AFRICAN Hustler Music'' (2010) *''Pride'' (2014) *''The Chosen'' (2015) *''Strength In Numbers'' (2020)

Videography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Navio 1983 births Living people People from Kampala Hip hop singers Ugandan rappers Ugandan musicians