Who is DJ Apeman? Flash Uganda Media looks at his biography, age, family, DJ career, silverback DJs, mixtapes, early life and education of Kenneth Kayiwa.
DJ Apeman is the CEO/ founder of Silverback DJs and is among the international DJs Uganda has. He spent most of his time in the United Kingdom and playing in the UK clubs helped him develop his deejaying skills.
Apeman is known for his mixtapes he releases every month which helps in promoting his brand and currently he runs a DJ school.
Silverback has played in many various countries such as Denmark, Germany, and Holland and at events in Kampala, including Billy Ocean, Wyclef Jean concert in Uganda, P square in 2008 and 2013, Mega fest, and weed beat festival in Holland.
Silverback is among the expensive DJs in the industry who believes that the deejaying industry pays a lot of money but one has to first work on his or her brand.
Like any other person, silverback has also his shortcomings which include not being a fan of Ugandan music and most Ugandan musicians complain about his playlists that he only focuses on western music.
Early life and education
DJ Apeman birth name Kenneth Kayiwa is a Muganda by tribe and he was born and raised in Kampala. He later travelled to the United Kingdom and in the way, this was more like an adventure that exposed him to deejaying as a profession.
Work and experience
DJ Career
Apeman started playing when he travelled to the United Kingdom and he started by playing at house parties which gave him a name.
Apeman later upgraded to bars and clubs still in the United Kingdom, in 2008 he returned to Uganda and became a household DJ for club rouge. To brand himself and add value to his work, he started making mixtapes every month as a way of promoting his work.
His first big gig was the P-square concert in Uganda which was at Entebbe resort beach and this was like his breakthrough.
He has managed to play in various countries such as Germany, Holland, Denmark and he also played on concerts in Uganda such as Billy ocean concert in Uganda where he was the opening act, Wyclef Jean concert, P-square concerts in 2008 and 2013, mega fest and the weed beat festival in Holland.
According to Apeman, he does more than 150 gigs in a year.
Apeman rebranded himself and he calls himself silverback but he still opened a group known as silverback DJs where he trains upcoming DJs and he has inspired a lot of the young stars to learn mixing.
In 2019 he celebrated two years of silverback at H2O in a Bugoloobi. This event was sponsored by club beer and it was graced by a lot of Ugandan artistes such as voltage music who showed up in support of the DJ who supports there music.
Silverback is also among the few DJs that can hype the dancing flow while mixing and he can do both at the same time.
One of the people he inspired to join the industry was DJ Nimrod who was once his student and he reached a point of giving him a full night to play to make it to the top.
Controversy
Apeman has been accused of not playing Ugandan music on his nights and shows which made him not to be a darling of most Ugandan musicians.
Apeman says that every DJ should have an identity that makes him stand out but whenever he starts playing. The only local artist he was playing was Jose chameleone and he was his close friend.
At one moment he was playing at cricket oval and MC Kats stepped on his stage but Apeman stopped the music and sent away Kats from his stage and that’s how they fell out with Kats.
Silverback once came out and said that no Ugandan artist can afford him and this statement came after Bebe Cool appeared on spark TV and said that he was paying a few Ugandan DJs to play his music.
Silverback said that the only sections that can afford him are the international promoters. He added that at one moment Rabadaba tipped him one million shillings but he refused the payment because he is beyond that level.
