On March 3, Ish Kevin, a Rwandan renowned lyricist and rapper, released a snippet of his next big project, produced in the old-school hip-hop style of the 90s and early 2000s, announcing a plan to “save” the genre, which had disappeared from the limelight in the country since the downfall of MC Mahoniboni and Tuff Gang.
The youngster’s announcement came a few days after his longtime collaborator Pro Zed dropped an EP featuring songs like ‘Hano Kuhaguma’, also produced in the old-school hip-hop style, which caught the attention and admiration of local music consumers.
Despite being considered the biggest export of Rwanda’s drill scene for the past three years, with various significant accolades, music listeners across the country are not convinced that Ish Kevin and his generation are capable of saving hip hop, as the artiste recently revealed on his Social media platforms, while many others trust his ability to revive the dead genre.
In his recent interview with The New Times, Ish, real name Kevin Semana, said that his generation is better suited for the task of bringing back old school hip hop than other active generations in Rwanda’s music industry.
The young rapper believes that in the same way his generation came up with Kinyatrap and Kinyarwanda Drill, which revolutionized the entire music industry, more can be achieved with the same brains and that saving hip hop is a must.
“We’ve been called trappers and drillers who can’t rap for so long, but it’s time to show the world that we’re even better at making classic old school hip hop. It’s a movement we recently started and our goal is to integrate old school hip hop into today’s pop culture,” Ish Kevin told The New Times.
