Erotic lifestyles among the youth calls for change of tact in driving the point home and the Shuga series does just that, writes STEVENS MUENDO
Forget Letâs talk about Sex, the hit 1991 track released by American hip-hop trio Salt-n-Pepa that captured the imagination of every adolescent then.
Closer home, in his Safari album released back in 2005, Tanzaniaâs singer Ferroz Mrisho released the hit single Goodbye, which was later to become one of the most memorable tracks in the region.
Featuring conscious lyrist Professor Jay, Ferroz took the HIV and Aids scourge head-on, with poetically penned Kiswahili lyrics â at a time when most celebrities remained shy about touching the sensitive issue, in their songs.
Starehe nilizifanyia papara, nilibadili mademu kama vidaladala Nikienda hili, nikirudi lile, nilitaka starehe zote nizitawale Ona sasa hata kumkumbuka Mola wangu ilikuwa ndoto, kumbe nilikuwa nakimbilia moto; Ferroz sings and plays a bed-ridden Aids victim. Dala and Leo in a scene in Shuga II. 
In deep despair, as he gasps for his last breath, he mournfully recites:
Sasa Mimi nipo kitandani, starehe zime niweka mashakani Starehe nilizifanyia papara Kupona tena mimi haiwezekani jamani Buriani kwaheri, kwaherini, kwaherini Masela wote wa ghetto kwaherini...
In 2007, the Longombas duo followed up by releasing the award-winning Vuta Pumz hit, a social responsibility edutainment classic aimed at diffusing the HIV and Aids stigma among the youth.
DNG and Alphamatone (featuring Bruno) were to later release Funga Mshipi in 2009 before P-Unit released Usikonde (featuring Gaza), both of which carried a strong warning on multiple-partner relationships and unprotected sex among the youth.
Bitter truth
That year, Shuga, a hard-hitting three-part drama series that followed the lives of a group of cool young college students â whose bright lives and fabulous futures were balanced on a knife edge due to their love of risk and âFriday-nightsâdanger. The love and sex, script explored the issues of sexual recklessness among urban youth against a background of continuing HIV and Aids infections.
