Ugandan singer Ras Dee says his early 2000s hit Musege was inspired by an embarrassing confrontation at Lido Beach that ended with him being slapped while he was still trying to establish himself in the music industry.
The former musician recalled how the incident gave him the idea for the song, turning an unpleasant personal experience into one of the memorable tracks associated with his career.
At the time, Ras Dee was performing karaoke at music bars and hoping to break through. He said he had promised his baby mama that he would eventually have his photograph published in a newspaper, something he viewed as a sign that he was making progress as a musician.
“I had a baby mama and had promised her that one time I would get a photo moment in the newspapers,” he recalled.
That ambition appeared to be within reach during an encounter at Lido Beach. Ras Dee said a prominent Rastafarian figure asked him to approach a woman and tell her that the man wanted to speak to her.
The singer said he delivered the message, but the woman reportedly declined the man’s request. Ras Dee believed the man may have wanted the woman to appear in a video shoot because of her appearance.
The situation then took a turn. According to Ras Dee, the man returned and questioned him about whether he considered every woman at the beach to be his. The confrontation escalated, and the aspiring singer was chased away.
When Ras Dee noticed cameras pointed in their direction, he thought the moment might finally give him the newspaper exposure he had been hoping for. Instead, he was slapped.
But the incident did not end there.
Ras Dee said the experience immediately gave him lyrics for Musege. He recorded the idea on his phone because he did not want to forget it, turning the moment into the foundation of a song.
“When he slapped me, I got lyrics out of the incident, humming that when a babe declines you, you call her a ‘Musege’. I had a phone and recorded the lyrics since I didn’t want them to evaporate from my head,” he said.
Initially, the singer wanted to record a track directly attacking the man who had slapped him. However, the cost of recording music in Kampala at the time made it difficult for him to move forward.
His fortunes changed after he travelled to Mbarara and met Don Balaam, the musician known for Sirikyusa. Ras Dee said Balaam advised him to remove the lyrics that directly insulted the man and focus instead on the central idea behind the song.
He followed the advice, helping shape the track that would become known as Musege.
Despite stepping away from active music, Ras Dee says he still has unreleased songs that audiences have yet to hear. He now leads a quieter life, working at a shop dealing in mobile phones and spare parts.
His account offers a reminder that the inspiration behind a song can come from an unexpected place—even a humiliating encounter that an aspiring musician initially hoped would bring him fame for an entirely different reason.