Ten years ago, two of Rwanda's rap titans, Emery Gatsinzi a.k.a Riderman and Bertrand Ndayishimiye, widely known as Bulldog, teamed up and blessed the Rwandan music community with Mfite Isoni, a masterclass record that united fans of Ibisumuzi, Riderman's record label, and those of Tuff Gang, a hip hop crew that nurtured some of Rwanda's biggest rappers, including Bulldog himself.
On Friday, 31 May, the two most active rappers of the generation that pioneered hip-hop in Rwanda, surprised rap community once again with a joint EP, 'Icyumba Cyamategeko.'
Bulldog jumps on the second verse, also joining Riderman in dissing most of today’s deeds that are beating African cultures. A lot was riding on his verse, and he delivered, using his unique ability to take songs into his own world and utilizing the beat switch perfectly to deliver deep prophecy.
At this point, any hip hop fan, or just a random music listener, can’t stop or leave the EP’s streaming platform. The third track captures the attention of everyone, influencing them to keep listening or restart the whole tape.
Bulldog takes over again on the fourth track, ‘Nkubona Fo’, but this time, the rappers have switched beats, flowing on trap beats, a move that also attracts the gen-z who are not familiar with 90s and early 2000s hip hop, to vibe the EP.
Both track four and five are very groovy, almost club-like songs that fans of the two rappers haven't listened to for a long time. The two raps effortlessly over the beats and once again shows their versatility and talent as rappers who can jump on different genres.
On the last track, ‘Bakunda Abapfu,’ the rappers return to their oldies hip hop zone, flowing on a hip hop jazz sampled beat, going hard on people that never give flowers to people once they are still alive but praise them once dead.
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Knoxbeat handled recording and mastering of the album through Ibisumizi records, while the entire project was composed by Riderman and Bulldog.
This album will likely be seen as a landmark achievement for the two artists and will definitely be remembered as a showcase rich rap talent that the two of the biggest names in Rwandan music right nowadays possess.