Lual D'Awol

Lual D'Awol is a Southern Sudanese hip hop artist on a mission of taking the South Sudanese music industry by storm. His stage name L-U-A-L, stands for Lyrically Untouchable African Legend. His single Dawla Jadeed – which means New State in Arabic – captures much of the disillusionment that has crept in since South Sudan declared independence in 2011. Lual’s lyrics deal with the pangs of statehood, and detail how corruption, tribalism and nepotism have stymied the fledgling nation’s progress and made life even more difficult for its citizens.

D’Awol learned to rap while living in Baltimore in the US. He returned to South Sudan four years ago as his home country moved towards freedom. He remembers the January 2011 referendum in which South Sudanese voted to sever ties with Khartoum after decades of war and the days-long celebrations when South Sudan officially became the world’s newest country later that year.