REVIEW: Sincerely AfriKane The EP

By The Count Markula (@TheCountMarkula)

As a heavy music consumer, and a serial listener, it takes a lot for me to be excited about a new body of work. Often times, we already know what to expect, and we just hope for great execution with a pleasant surprise here and there.
From the Ugandan industry perspective, the first quarter of the 2026 was a bit slow (for various reasons), but it seems like the music is finally flowing.

One of the first pleasant surprises of the year was a song called “Freeze Out”. This was the debut single from singer/song-writer, AfriKane. This gentleman has been a part of the game for almost 10 years now, but this is the first time he’s stepped out of the shadows to the forefront as an artist, and what a way to do it!! From the moment I pressed play, I was slapped in the face with musicality, vocal range, style, penmanship and so many different shades of artistry.

This May, he followed up his debut single with the announcement and release of his debut project: Sincerely AfriKane, The EP. The build up to the release included several well-curated social media posts and teasers, as well as an epic Listening party at Somewhere Else in Naguru, where we were served with an early peek into the project, as well as some live performances that have us looking forward to watching AfriKane perform on more stages. It was also amazing to see the overwhelming support from all over the industry – Singers, Rappers, DJs, MCs, Radio presenters, and more importantly, The Fans!

The EP has a fitting start with the voices of his children on a song called “Legacy”. After one week of streaming the project, the intro still brings a smile to my face and reminds me that we are diving into something personal and sincere as the title suggests. One of the first lines he sang on this song was “..and home ain’t a place, it’s a feeling..” and that got my RnB senses tingling in all the right ways. I knew we were in for a beautiful musical journey.

At the listening party, the term Melancholic Deep Pop came up a couple of times. I like the terminology because some of the writing and delivery is reminiscent of artists like JP Saxe, Lewis Capaldi and Ed Sheeran, all of whom have music that fits into the sub-genre. It is exactly what I feel as I listen to most of this project, sailing from My City, on to the familiar Freeze Out, all the way to I’m yours which kind of felt like an Interlude, probably because it is the shortest song on the project.

The next song, Pleasure, is definitely the most colorful song on the project. It is fun and vibrant and has such a happy-go-lucky feel to it. It also has such a nice worldly touch, which I predict will go down well as he performs it during his upcoming Euro-tour.
It is also the perfect way to ease us into the final song on the project, Breathe. This song is deep and heavy, but the execution is beautiful and refreshing. From the writing, to the singing, all the way to the perfectly suited production.

As usual, you don’t have to take my word for it. Stream The EP HERE