YOU HAVE CERTAINLY seen the words, "Directed by Eazy Cuts” in many Rwandan videos released in recent years.
Eloi Ihirwe best known as Eazy Cuts is one of the top video directors, and his music speaks for itself.
He is the founder of Big Team Production having studied multimedia production at IPRC where he met some of the team members.
Eazy Cuts has directed numerous music video hits from various artistes including ‘Away’ by Kivumbi King which was shot in Tanzania, and others such as ‘Dokima’ by EMMY, ‘Away’ by Ariel Ways and Juno Kizigenza, ‘Go low’ by Babo Ft The Ben, ‘Hono’ by Alyn Sano, Amakosi and 'No Cap' by Ish Kevin.
In an interview with The New Times he traced his journey to the videography industry.
"At age of 13, I got a chance to attend a music video Set. Since then I made up my mind and chose to start my journey in this sector but it couldn’t work until I finished high school in 2014. I jumped into the industry in 2015,” he said.
"As a kid I always wondered how an artist can change clothes within a second in a video, that's what caught my attention to start my career” he added.
Easy Cuts also shared that some video directors inspired him up to date.
"During my journey, I was inspired by many video directors. Locally, I was highly inspired by Meddy Saleh till now, and globally I get so much inspiration from a YouTuber and music video director YC Imaging, and other international video directors like Benny Boom, Director X and Colin Tilley” he said.
He shared some of his favourite videos that he produced since he ventured in the production industry.
"I have produced more than 80 videos now, so it’s hard to pick my preferred ones but I have five videos that I like which are ‘Now’ by Kivumbi King ft Prime, ‘Madam’ by Kivumbi King , ‘Ipafu’ by Bushali, ‘Down’ for you Derek Sano ft Linda Montez and ‘No Cap’ by Ish Kevin which is the latest one” said Eazy Cuts.
He gave us a sneak peek on how he directed ‘No Cap’ by Ish Kevin which is currently trending in East Africa.
"It all started when Ish Kevin sang to me the first verse of the song, and I immediately fell in love with the project. After two weeks he sent me a demo. I quickly created ideas in my head, the first thing that came into my mind was a group of young men sitting in a boardroom to show the audience that these guys sometimes sit down and talk about serious things. The second idea I came up with was to include a traditional segment into the video, I told the artiste to bring ‘Intore’ (male traditional dancer)” he said.
The ‘Fever’ video producer wants to take his skills to the film industry in the next three years.
"I did a lot in the music video industry and I want to join film making. I want to see my film on Netflix in the next few years, that’s my target so far” he said.
He calls on investors and big companies to invest in music videos, promising them to get profits in return.
"I would love to see a Rwandan director on an international level”.