Adam Mandela a.k.a Freeboy who also calls himself the true African boy was born in 1988 to Hajj Adam Angua and Mrs Peace Mbabazi in Yumbe district. Freeboy is the last born of four children.
At age of three, Freeboy’s parents had a misunderstanding which resulted into the mother relocating to Kisenyi, a suburb of Kampala with him.
While in Kisenyi, Freeboy grew up miming songs of popular Afrigo Band, Zambian Artiste Oliver Mutukuzi, Lucky Dube, Philly Collins, and Chris the Back which his mother loved listening to.
In 2002, his mother to West Nile and this time she stayed in Arua operating a small business to sustain her family.
In 2004 while at Arua public secondary school, Freeboy composed his first song ‘Sita Badilika’ (I won’t change), a love song. It was hard for him to have the song recorded but aware of his passion for music; Freeboy’s elder brother gave him Shs50, 000 to go to a recording studio.
“At that time, there were few recording studios in Arua Town of which Audio Wave was the first with a standard recording charging Shs100, 000 per song,” Freeboy said.
He decided to approach DJ Ronnie, the Audio Wave studio director and pleaded to pay Shs50000 which Ronnie allowed. ‘Sita Badilika’ later turned out to be a hit on local Fm stations in Arua and that marked the turning point in his life.
The song gave Freeboy courage to move from club to club to perform for people for free, an idea that marketed him more.
“It was from one of the clubs that Mr. Mickdad Totia, a.k.a Papa Paps of Jomic studio spotted me and gave me a chance to record three songs in his studio for free. The songs are; ‘meant to be,’ ‘Kwanini,’ collaboration with Mr. Blue, a Tanzanian Artiste, and ‘Corruption,’ he said.
The songs equally received massive airplay pushing Freeboy to go and face the World. Freeboy left Arua for Kampala with the aim of looking forward to being signed by a recognized Record Label. As he kept on having free shows even in Kampala, he met with Ugandan Hip Hop star, GNL Zamba, CEO of Baboon Forest Entertainment who immediately signed him.
Freeboy contributed to GNL Zamba’s ‘speaking vernacular’ album which massively sold out in 2011.
GNL continued mentoring him in the music business and as a result, Freeboy got the opportunity to perform during many big events in Kampala with various Artistes like Navio, Mun G, Big Trill, and Nava Grey among others.
It was until 2012 when his pursuit for a Diploma in Sales and Marketing at Makerere Business Institute (MBI) fell through due to a lack of tuition fees that he returned to Arua to fully join the music industry.
This time around he went to F Records, a recording studio in Awindiri, a suburb of Arua town where he recorded ‘Off and On,’ a song produced by Producer Don. The song didn’t do well prompting Freeboy to immediately record a club banger titled ‘Magic.’
Magic sold Freeboy not only in Arua but in the whole of Northern Uganda as it got airplay on different radio and Television stations.
The song won Freeboy an award of the best West Nile RnB Artiste of the year 2015 by West Nile Entertainment Awards. Freeboy recorded more songs like Letaa, Alemi, Kiwewe and Blind which are still hitting up to date in Northern Uganda.
Late last year, Freeboy recorded a single “KwataEssimu,’ A song which many established musicians picked interest in, some wanting to buy it off while others wanting to do the remix. But Freeboy and his management were not any inches desperate until Swangz Avenue won the race by offering a better deal.
Freeboy teamed up with Winnie Nwagi for the remix which has turned out to a massive tune amidst corona disruption.
Freeboy wants to be a musical Ambassador who will make West Nile music to sale globally.