The 27-year-old artist Kidepo,née Jonah Mutono was born and raised in London, before his parents uprooted stateside to Philadelphia. After attending boarding school in the U.K., he'd move back to his native Uganda and source his stagename from the country's Kidepo Valley National Park.
Kidep's music is marked by these transitions— motifs of movement, displacement, relocation, and return. On his 2017 track, "One" he sings, "I'm never lost, I just lust for the world" off his debut EP Reunion.
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Now, he's back with his latest effort "Be a Man," an iteration of these themes anchored by reunion and rejuvination. Inspired by the likes of the late, great Nina Simone and electronic folk artist Sufjan Stevens, Kidepo's voice, heavy but weightless croons,
In the video, he's contained in a boundless room engrossed by sunlight as he powers through the song. This time, not in search of anything. he's still with a smile.