The eight-year-old rapper making a mark in Uganda

What the world is watching, wearing and drinking


What Ugandans are listening to Nearly half of Ugandans are under the age of 15, so it’s fitting that the country’s latest musical sensation is an eight-year-old rapper. Patrick Ssenyonjo, better known as “Fresh Kid”, burst onto Uganda’s music scene last year, fighting televised rap battles with other young stars and performing as far afield as Dubai. When a Ugandan government minister suggested he spend more time at school, and tabloids gossiped about adults cashing in on his success, Ssenyonjo fired back his reply in song. “Why are you sending me back to the village?” he raps in “Bambi” (Please), describing his ambition to build a house for his parents. On the world’s youngest continent, children are not just seen, but increasingly heard.

How teens are chatting Passing notes in class is rather last century. Teens are now using Airpods, Apple’s wireless earphones, to send covert communications in lessons. If they hide the tiny white earphones under their hair, they can type secret messages into Google Translate – which are then beamed into classmates’ ears via synced-up smartphones. This is the latest example of young people modifying tech to fit their needs: when laptops replaced notebooks, many used Google Docs, a collaborative word processor, to talk to each other in class. Louis Anslow, who shared a video of the Airpod tactic on Twitter, remembers a pupil from his school hacking a Windows PC to send his schoolmates messages back in 2004. Before then, a paper aeroplane sufficed.

What the Chinese are romanticising One of China’s biggest internet stars is a mysterious semi-hermit who lives off the land in the misty hills of northern Sichuan. Li Ziqi shoots immaculate videos of herself picking persimmons and cooking for her grandmother, and shares them with her 22m followers on Weibo, China’s Twitter-like platform. The idealised version of life in the Chinese countryside that she presents is an escape for overworked urbanites. The Chinese government is also a fan: Li was chosen as an ambassador for China’s recent Festival of Intangible Cultural Heritage. She has even penetrated the other side of the Chinese firewall: Li has an adoring following on YouTube, which is blocked in China.

What Russians are wearing Fur has long been fair game in chilly nations like Russia, but a growing number of environmentally conscious young Russians now want animal-friendly alternatives. Enter MATU (tagline: “heart made”), a fashion brand that offers teddy coats, named cheburashka after an iconic cartoon character from the 1960s, and faux shearling coats made mostly out of sheep’s wool. Though many older folk in freezing Siberia still favour real fur, MATU is targeting people under 40 and sells 90% of its products through Instagram.

Where Hong Kongers are eating As anti-government protests raged in Hong Kong in recent months, hungry locals faced a new consideration: is the restaurant “blue” or “yellow”? Restaurants that show support for the city’s protesters, sometimes with posters and ribbons, are known as yellow. Those thought to support the police, or to be owned by people who are pro-Beijing, are blue. Various apps map the outlets by colour, helping peckish protesters support the cause.

What Mexicans are drinking The Tzotzil, an indigenous Mayan people from southern Mexico, have been distilling pox (pronounced “posh”) since ancient times. Made from corn, spring water and sugar cane, the liquor was drunk during rituals. Once rarely found outside the Tzotzil’s homeland, pox is now served at bars in Mexico City, Mérida and across the country. A few brands sell it in America. This rival to tequila is purported to have medicinal qualities – “pox” means “cure” in Tzotzil. At 53% proof alcohol, it won’t do much to help your hangover.

Additional images: getty

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