KAMPALA – If you have listened to Voltage Music (Kent & Flosso) songs such as Byafaayo, Muzannyo, Squeeze, Pull up, among others, you have probably heard the name Skills on the beat. Born Erisa Mukisa, the producer who had a number of hits to his name in 2018 has been off the entertainment industry for some time battling drug related challenges.
Formerly at Roby Studios, Skills on the beat confesses to having tried drugs to satisfy his ego and what he had heard from peers that drugs can make someone excel in their craft.
What started as a test resulted in the producer losing all his contacts and friends as none of them wanted to associate with him.
“I abused drugs for close to six months while I was testing something which did not turn out as I expected. All along I heard stories of drugs making superstars and I opted to find out how it works but I eventually did not see anything in that line,” he explains.
According to Mukisa, when most of his friends noticed that he was doing drugs, they abandoned him, branding him to be insane which depressed him in the process thus losing out on his talent of music production.
“My biggest issue was people judging me during that time. Taking drugs made me happy all the time and kept me stress free. I was never violent while using drugs, I kept calm most of the time,” he recalls.
Quitting
After his career and image was tainted, Mukisa decided to quit drugs to patch up his life for a better one. He shares that the situation drugs got him in had him thinking twice about his life and goals.
The soft spoken producer shares that people attach drug abuse to studio life which he says is not true. He attributes his situation to curiosity and peer influence.
“I decided to quit drugs on my own. I did not go to rehab. I did not get what I expected from using them. I realized that each time you use drugs, they drag you far away from your vision and mission in life. If you can fight it, please do,” he says, advising those who have never used drugs not to attempt because drug addiction is not good at all.
Picking up
Mukisa has always nursed the dream of making music and he never allowed any of the above challenges to put him down. He was also challenged by friends who later became debtors and those that thought he had become insane.
He now runs Pendo Entertainment Africa, a new studio in Kyanja where he is set to reclaim his lost glory and further cement his footprints in Uganda’s audio production industry. Pendo is going to bring on board new and fresh talent. It is going to be a record label, studio and events management company whose vision is for Africa as a whole and not Uganda only.
Away from music, the audio producer is also a dedicated farmer with both poultry and goats.
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