Who The Hell is Recho Rey?

‘Who The Hell is Recho Rey?’ – That, and many more, were the questions that dominated the room when my colleagues and I chanced upon the hit music video ‘Bwogana’, where Winnie Nwagi and the rapper, an unlikely pair if you can say, put on a sultry show like no other. Women doing rap or hip-hop and ruling airwaves is a rarity, but what’s more uncommon is a female rapper being sexy. Being a male-dominated genre, the space accomodates mostly women who are everything but sexy, wearing sweatpants and buggy clothing (or so it seems). This was so until Recho Rey happened. 

Born 23 years ago as Mirembe Racheal, she is the new rap princess we know we needed. The most remarkable thing about Recho Rey is her captivating rhyme skills, a tool she uses effectively to communicate; whether it’s love, feminism or pain. This, coupled with her unique sex appeal sets her apart, and has indeed catapulted her onto the throne with almost no competition. 

Interestingly, a couple of years ago, she wasn’t the sexy rapper we see now, as you’ll learn in this interview. “We have had a female rapper before, and her kind of style was exactly how I came,” she tells Satisfashion UG. “My team and I agreed to switch it up and carry a bit of sexiness along.”

The rapper talks to us about lots of more  

A couple of years ago, you weren’t the sexy rapper you are now. What inspired this transformation?

My transformation was inspired by the fact that we looked at the industry and thought, what new element could we bring with a new female rapper? We have had a female rapper before, and her kind of style was exactly how I came, so my team and I agreed to switch it up and carry a bit of sexiness along.

That style I’d think comes from within; some people are naturally tomboys, some are naturally sexy, etc.. but for you to transform so drastically, are you comfortable?

Yeah, I’m still a tomboy although lowkey. What I wear doesn’t define me, because even now I can still wear whatever I want. Depends on how comfortable I feel. What I will emphasize is that, whatever I put on doesn’t define me – I know who I am.

This is a ‘looks based’ business. Don’t you worry that you’ll be put in a box as ‘the sexy rapper’ instead of the talented rapper that you are?

No, it doesn’t. I think it is much better to be yourself. It doesn’t help to play by the tunes of other people. I’m doing this for me, I’m being myself. Whenever I try to flow with whatever pressure they try to place on me, they won’t get the real me, I’ll end up being fake. So, I always try to be myself, I don’t mind what people say about me – whether I was a tomboy and now I’m sexy, how are they going to see me? No. Music is also a business, the people that listen to us are different audiences. We have the women and men, and they perceive music differently, so you have to make a decision that benefits you. As an artist, you always have to have a brand that is outstanding. There is always that stiff competition, so what is that new thing you are bringing to the table? You always have to be unique. 

Social media is hard on you almost all the time, how do you deal with that?

In the beginning it used to be very hard, everything was new. I would read comments whenever I would post pictures – remember so many people are going through different things, you don’t know what someone is going through, so they throw an insult to you when in actual sense it isn’t about you. When I learnt that, it doesn’t even bother me anymore. When I post something, I don’t even bother to check the numbers or comments. I like to engage with my fans, so when I post I will engage with them a bit and leave it at that. 

Lockdown has been rough on artists, how are you coping?

Well, I’m blessed to have made so many friends before the pandemic happened. I had so many friends in the industry that deal in different things. I have a makeup artist, stylist, and so many other people. They truly understand what we are going through. I made friends with Djs and radio presenters too. I tried to make sure I have friends all over – and thats where the support comes from during this tough time. 

Where do you see Recho Rey in say 5 years?

God knows where we are going, I cannot for sure say where I will be in the next 5 years but hard work pays so we are trying to work as hard as possible. We are going to keep working and we believe it will pay off some day. 

When you look back, 5-10 years ago, you were probably an aspiring rapper back then… What would you tell that Recho now? 

I’d ask her be patient. Good things are yet to come, don’t put yourself on pressure. Because you know back then, we used to be like, “we need to put this song out” and you are on pressure, but no one knew us. So I would tell myself to be patient and let everything flow as it is supposed to be. 

Your style is unique – it’s hard for one to put out many songs, all getting well received. What is the strategy? 

What we do is, I have a team by the way, I don’t work alone. My boys look at the industry and what is there. Being a female rapper is something I’ve always aspired to be from when I was still in school. I looked up to so many rappers; from Kanye West, Jay Z and so many other rappers. When I got the chance, and the many friends who did the same thing, they’d mentor me. I was in so many cliques with boys who were doing hiphop. By the time I came into the mainstream, I was almost ready for it. We sit back, look at what is going on and work like that. We compose songs, and go to the studio, try them out and weigh them, see what is best and put that out. 

Do you look at Keko as inspiration? 

Of course, I used to love Keko so much, but I do mostly luga-flow. Honestly I’m not good at rapping in English, so I keep it Luganda. I keep it at that.

Photographed by Drimax Photography

Styling by Kai’s Divo Collection

Makeup by Tinah Kyle Makeup

Hair by Natna Natural Hair

This story was produced as a collaboration between Natna Natural Hair, Kai’s Divo Collection, Drimax Photography, Tinah Kyle Makeup & Satisfashion UG.