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With more than 25.3K followers on Instagram, 35.7K on TikTok and 11.7million likes NSUBUGA ELIJAH commonly known as PRIME UG is famous for his Luganda versions of hit songs such as My Love and Fool Again by West life, and We Got Love by Don Williams.
His famous parody of the Chinese song Jin Sheng Yuan propelled him to fame in the world of social media. He recently talked to Quick Talk about the story behind his music.
Hello Prime! Interesting name choice…
Prime is a brand name that makes money, but my real name is Nsubuga Elijah. I came up with the name Prime back when I was still in school around 2015. I thought it was cool, and I adopted it from the comics I used to watch back then.
To me, Prime represents greatness and reflects a greater version of myself. You are known for your Luganda parodies of country music.
What inspired this hobby?
It has always been my habit to give famous country songs a Luganda parody. It started way back in my school days. I remember being in class with my friends, and we always found it funny to turn famous English songs into Luganda.
With time, what started as something we did for fun turned into a hobby. Growing up at home with my mum, I used to watch a lot of international music on TV. My mum would ask me, “What are you watching? Do you even understand what they’re saying?” That pushed me to become more interested in what I was watching, so I could explain to her what was being sung by translating the songs into Luganda.
Did you expect those videos to get such traction on social media?
When I started, I just loved doing it. When I began posting on social media, I was doing my normal TikTok content. I wasn’t really famous then, but I kept posting. At the time, there was a Chinese song that was trending.
It wasn’t gospel, just a heart-touching song in Chinese called Jin Sheng Yuan (Affinities of This Life). I didn’t know the lyrics or understand what they were saying, but the Chinese words sounded similar to some Luganda words.
So, I arranged those words and sang them. That was my first video to really blow up on TikTok in 2022.
Did it get many views?
Yes. I had just started my TikTok account mainly to promote my music, as advised by my mum. Before that, I had been posting my music but wasn’t getting many views.
When I posted the Affinities of This Life parody, my phone started blowing up with notifications. It shocked me. The video had about 5,000 likes in the morning, and when I reposted it in the evening, it reached 10,000 likes.
I was amazed. I decided to do more Luganda parodies of well- known songs like We Got Love by Don Williams, Mistletoe by Justin Bieber, and Perfect by Ed Sheeran.
Take Quick Talk through your content creation process.
I don’t do random songs. I do songs I genuinely like, because that’s me being myself. I believe if I love it, people will love it too. I keep a list of my favourite songs. When I pick one, I find a way to mix it into Luganda.
Do you have anyone who inspires you?
For the Luganda parody thing, I don’t really have anyone who inspires me, because I feel like I’m the only one doing it in my own unique way. Others do it, yes, but I see myself as both a music writer and a wannabe musician doing something different.
For my own music, I grew up listening to Maurice Kirya, Eli Wamala, Kenneth Mugabi… [great taste!] I admire their pen work and storytelling. I also grew up listening to GNL Zamba, who is a great storyteller.
All these artists inspire me, and I hope to reach their level one day.
How do you balance everything?
I don’t really balance it. I look at everything as content. Some people like my skits, some like my parodies, some like my music, and some just like Prime as a brand. I just decide what type of content I want to create on a given day.
The hardest part is balancing being a full-time musician and a content creator. Content creation started as a way to promote my music. After lockdown, my mum told me she had seen many artists blow up on TikTok, so I used skits to attract people first before showing them I could sing.
I was inspired by Ota Brian, one Ugandan creator whose content I really enjoyed. Over time, content creation grew, and that’s how I ended up where I am today.
How was it, growing up?
I grew up with a hardworking single mum. My parents separated when I was still young. During school terms, I stayed with my mum, and during holidays, I would sometimes stay with my dad or my grandmother. I moved around a lot, but mainly it was my mum who raised me.
What’s your best childhood memory?
Honestly, I don’t think I ever had one clear “best” memory. We didn’t have much at home, and life wasn’t easy. Sometimes at school, I’d be chased for requirements.
Because of that, my goal has always been to fix the home and make things better. Maybe one day, when I feel I’ve fixed home, that will be my best childhood memory. The best memories I had were promises telling my mum that one day I’d build her a house or buy her a car. I’m still chasing those dreams.
Where do you see yourself in the next five to ten years?
I don’t even know about tomorrow. But I know where I want to be. I want my name mentioned among the greatest. I want Prime as a brand to grow internationally. I also want life to be better. Maybe I’ll have a nice car, whatever a nice car will be by then. I don’t know much about cars; I just know big cars, small cars, white cars, and red cars.
How do you spend your free time?
I’m an introvert. I enjoy watching movies at home and rarely go to the cinema. I also spend time watching other content creators to study trends and get ideas. I’m always thinking about how to improve my content.
I don’t drink alcohol. I prefer juices, sodas, water, and snacks. My free time may seem quiet or boring to some, but that’s when most of my thinking and creativity happens.
ebenezernsubuga405@gmail.com
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