A new podcast series called ‘Messenger’, a story of Bobi Wine’s musical and political endeavors, was released on the streaming platform, Spotify, for listening.
The podcast is hosted by the United States rapper Bas who announced through his social media the essence of the podcast.
“As artists, we often struggle with how to best use our platform. How to effectively play our part in helping society make positive social change. That’s what drew me to this story”
“Bobi Wine has sacrificed all the comforts of a popstar to challenge Uganda’s dictator of over 30 years in January’s election“.
On the podcast Bobi Wine reveals, among other things, that his mother cautioned him never to join politics, but as he would learn, staying neutral just isn’t an option.
Despite the wide critical acclaim the podcast has received regarding its execution and production, several Ugandans have decried the fact that it was aired on Spotify, which is not available in Uganda.
This, they say, takes from it (the podcast), the authenticity of being about a Ugandan-based musician and also alienates the audience that most needs to hear his message.
To access the podcast, many Ugandans have opted to using VPN to change their ‘apparent’ location to countries where the podcast is available on Spotify.
The podcast was written and produced by Dana Ballout, a Lebanese-American documentary producer, released under the US-based company Dreamville Studios, which manages some of the biggest rappers in the world like J Cole.