From ‘Daddy’ to ‘Bebbo’: The songs tracing Blockboy’s journey in music promotion 

What you need to know:

Blockboy’s work in music has mainly involved promoting releases online, although his wider work includes radio and television airplay. His involvement has varied from one release to another, including online promotion for Daddy and Finally, and online promotion and airplay work on King Zale’s Bebbo.

When a new song is released, the artist usually gets the attention.

The producer may get a mention, the songwriter a credit and the music video director a few seconds of recognition. But behind the release is another layer of work getting people to notice the song, share it and keep talking about it.

It is in this space that Nyanzi Martin Luther, better known as Blockboy, began finding his place.

At 16, his entry into Uganda’s music business has not been through recording music himself. Instead, he has worked around releases, particularly on the online promotion side, helping artists push their music to audiences on digital platforms.

His journey became more deliberate in 2025, after spending time the previous year learning about the industry and building relationships with artists and people working in music and media.

(Nyanzi Martin Luther is a Ugandan businessman and music mogul)

Among the songs that mark that early period are Da Agent’s Daddy, Victor Ruz and Gloria Bugie’s Finally, and King Zale’s Bebbo.

They are different releases, involving different artists and different promotional needs. They also show that Blockboy’s role has not been exactly the same on every project.

Starting with the online audience

With Daddy, his work was mainly online promotion.

The song gave Blockboy an opportunity to work around a release and understand how digital attention can be built around an artist’s music.

But he does not attribute the song’s reception to promotion alone.

Blockboy has previously pointed to Da Agent’s own energy as an important factor in the song’s performance.

For Da Agent, the assessment of Blockboy’s work was brief: “fit”.

That response is perhaps useful in understanding the relationship. Blockboy was not the artist and did not make the song. His role was to help with the work around the release.

That distinction has remained important as he has taken on more music projects.

‘Finally’ and the digital side of promotion

Victor Ruz and Gloria Bugie’s Finally provided another opportunity to work on the online side of a release.

For Blockboy, digital promotion has become an increasingly important part of how he approaches music.

The growth of social platforms has changed how Ugandan artists introduce songs to listeners. A release no longer depends entirely on traditional media to find an audience. Artists can build attention through online platforms, where a song can be shared repeatedly and reach listeners beyond the people who first encounter it.

Blockboy’s work has largely been within that space.

His wider experience in media has also given him an understanding of how content moves between audiences and platforms.

Before becoming involved in music promotion, he had already been building experience through his media business, Apex Media Services.

That background provided a starting point, but music presented its own learning curve.

When promotion moved beyond the phone

King Zale’s Bebbo marked another side of the work.

On this release, Blockboy was involved in online promotion as well as airplay.

The distinction is important because while much of his early music work centred on digital promotion, his work has not been limited to social media. Airplay remains part of the wider promotion business, particularly for artists seeking to take a release beyond online audiences.

Bebbo, therefore, became one of the projects through which he worked across both spaces.

It also illustrates the practical reality of music promotion: different songs require different approaches, and a promoter's contribution depends on what has been agreed with the artist.

Learning from established artists

Blockboy’s work has also brought him into contact with more established musicians.

One of them is Jose Chameleone.

Their relationship began remotely, with communication taking place online before their professional dealings developed further. Blockboy later worked on music distribution connected to Chameleone and his media activities.

For someone still in his teens, the experience offered an opportunity to see how an established musician approaches the industry.

Blockboy has described Chameleone as welcoming and calm, qualities he believes have helped the veteran musician maintain relationships within Uganda’s music industry.

The relationship also illustrates something else about Blockboy’s path: his entry into music has been built partly through contacts made through media and digital platforms.

From business to music

Music promotion came after Blockboy had already started building a name in the media business.

He was involved in Apex Media Services, where he served as chief executive before stepping down in August 2026 to concentrate on his education.

The decision came as his interests were spreading across business, media, music and youth civic activities.

But the music work had already given him a different understanding of the industry.

Rather than being defined by one song or one artist, his early portfolio is made up of releases that required different forms of support.

1. Daddy was largely an online promotion assignment.

1. Finally similarly placed him on the digital side of music promotion.

1. With Bebbo, the work extended to airplay.

That progression is perhaps more revealing than simply listing the artists he has worked with.

It shows a young person learning the mechanics of an industry in which the public usually sees the finished product, not the work that happens before and after a song reaches its audience.

For Blockboy, there is still plenty to learn.

At his age, his education remains a priority, even as music continues to provide another area in which he is gaining experience.

The songs may eventually be remembered for the artists who made them.

For Blockboy, however, they represent something different: early lessons in how Uganda’s music business works, and the gradual process of finding a role behind the music.