Musician Lil P returns to live the 'Rwandan Dream'

Musician Papius Nduwayo commonly known as Lil P, is set to continue with his music career after returning from the United Kingdom where he successfully completed his studies in music.

Monday, January 25, 2016
Lil P during the interview at The New Times Premises. (Julius Bizimungu)

Musician Papius Nduwayo commonly known as Lil P, is set to continue with his music career after returning from the United Kingdom where he successfully completed his studies in music.

Nduwayo, who is already in Kigali, said he will now focus on promoting his music.

"I have been working and pursuing education in music in the UK, but now I’m back home. I am going to focus on developing and promoting my music. I wasn’t doing music full time because there was school to think about,” he said in an interview with The New Times.

Nduwayo studied music technology at South Birmingham College before enrolling for video production studies at the University of Wolverhampton.

He has featured a number of East African artistes including Tanzanian singer Alikiba, Rwanda’s female artiste Ciney in Ngwino Nkwereke, and his current song-Tsindagira which features Rwanda’s upcoming artiste Davis D.

Like most artistes, Nduwayo started singing at a tender age before making a decision to professionally pursue the art at a later stage.

"I started doing music when I was still in high school, but professionally, I went into it at eighteen when I released my first mix-tape called Musication. I recorded a number of mix-tapes with UK rap artistes between 2008 and 2009,” he recalls.

The 27-year-old artiste is popularly known for his label dubbed Black Monalisa, which was a clothing label that he established when he was trying to market his track which featured Ali Kibba.

"I tried all my best to make my music popular out there in UK, but everyone seems to be so busy with their lives.

People are not into music as much as it is here in Africa. Black Monalisa clothing had at least given me another name; we made a number of different garments and we sold out. However, nothing had yet inspired me more to continue doing my music away from home, I always felt homesick and I was looking forward to coming back and doing something for my country,” he says.

Nduwayo, who raps in English and Kinyarwanda, has released other songs like Nta Bwoba, Ngwino, Salute, Amber, and My Babu among others.

editorial@newtimes.co.rw