You may have seen a video of a young vocalist free-styling the viral song, ‘Finesse’ by Pheels that made rounds on all social media platforms and attracted renowned musicians including Buju, Pheels himself, and many others to hunt down the young kid in the video.

The 60-second clip was a cover snippet by 18-year-old, Theecember, singing his verse to the popular song with his friends as backup performers. The video gained much attention on social media and made the young artiste appear on Finesse East Africa remix featuring former Wasafi star, Rayvanny.

A few days later, the same name appeared on Ish Kevin’s second mixtape as one of the producers behind two tracks dubbed 'Game Changers' and 'My Year' which are still bangers up to date.

Within less than a year, Theecember appeared on the same stage with South African piano star Costa Titch, and became the most streamed musician on Spotify both in Rwanda and Burundi, with over 100, 000 monthly streams.

Who is Theecember?

Born in Kinindo, Burundi, David Rufyikiri a.k. a Theecember, is the last born in a family of four who started singing at a tender age in his home church choir. He relocated to Rwanda in 2015, to pursue his studies at St Marie Reine where he started performing during different talent shows held at the Catholic Church based in the southern province of Rwanda.

"It was my first time attending a boarding school and I enjoyed every second of it. I started jamming and performing on different occasions, that's how I fell in love with the art of music,” The young musician told The New Times on Tuesday during his month-long visit in Rwanda.

In 2018, Theecember changed schools but never got the same chance to perform in talent shows.

This, he said, made him search for new hobbies other than just singing or performing in talent shows.

"The new school was not dope like the first one, which is why I had to search for new hobbies,” Theecember says, adding that his friend Armel introduced him to Fruity Loops Studio, a software that changed his life.

Ever since then, the young vocalist started working on his production skills until he met the legendary Burundian producer, KDagreat, who worked with the likes of Kranium, Rema of Nigeria, Kelp Vibes and many other top musicians.

"With only a few sessions with KDagreat, I learnt the mathematics of music production and finally understood the whole music production thing. By then, I knew I had something that I could share with the world,” recalls Theecember.

With the help of KDagreat, the 18-year-old producer added more layers of emotion and fused a range of sounds to his music, reaching into the depths of RnB, Trap, and Afro pop to create a signature that’s uniquely his.

KDagreat took him under his wing and taught him the tricks of the trade in music production. This brought Theecember to the Youth Records family where Dollarbeats is an in-house producer, ultimately leading to his big break in the industry.

Road to Finesse’s remix

At the Youth Record Studio, Theecember spent most of his time recording and jamming with Dollarbeats who is also with him on his month-long visit to Rwanda.

Overstaying in the studio is what Theecember believes to have taught him how to record and use auto tune, "we spent most of the time exchanging beats, recording, sampling, mixing and teaching each other how to make bangers. It is where I grew as a producer”.

The young producer also told The New Times that Ish Kevin, who is one of the best rappers in Rwanda, approached him for beats and sent him a sample beat which resulted to Game Changers, one of the tracks on Trappish mixtape2.

"We later linked and recorded ‘My Year’ and the track introduced my name to Rwanda’s music industry. It is still a hit, both in Burundi and Rwanda,” he says.

Asked about the inspiration behind remixing Finesse, Theecember said that he used to record different remixes but was not ready to post them until his manager, D.J MBTIOUS, helped him finish finesse and shoot a cover video for it. The young artiste had already posted the first cover without his face and it went viral.

A week after ‘Finesse’ premiered on YouTube, Theecember cut the verse of Buju on the song and transferred the sample to FL studio to add his vocals.

"After recording my vocals on the song, I made my brother Dollarbeat listen to it and he did final touches for the remix. We later recorded the video singing the remix alongside my manager and posted it on social media,” said Theecember.

According to the young artiste, the song didn't go viral until its second day on Instagram when celebrities started reposting and making challenges on TikTok.

"I woke up one day and my name was trending everywhere, from Rwanda, Burundi to Nigeria and the world, everything was Theecember’s Finesse. Some Nigerian guy posted the clip on Twitter and top stars including Buju started following me. The love was crazy!” Theecember narrates.

The short clip got over 500,000 views within less than three days, and later became Finesse’s East African remix featuring Rayvanny. On the back of the record’s chart success, Theecember released the visuals of his verse and has toured massively ever since, a move that made him the first upcoming artiste in Burundi to go as far as he is.

Future plans

The musician is currently shooting his first official single ‘Gumako’ with Cedrick Dric, one of the finest video directors in Rwanda.

Theecember told The New Times that he is currently working on his sound and recording some of the greatest hits that Africa will witness in the future.

"I'm in talks with different top musicians on the continent and we are cooking something big. I might drop my singles before 2022 ends, but next year we have a big EP coming. Stay tuned”.

With the mentions of Ish Kevin and Nillan, Theecember notes an underlying love for Rwandan music and promises to keep working with the young generation based in Rwanda. He is set to perform in Kigali for the first time on Saturday, September 10, at Gilt Club, Kibagabaga.

Theecember is currently signed under Dtethelabel Inc, a music house co-owned by his manager and working with NWE and Sony Music.

From Finesses’s remix and now taking over Spotify, Theecember has the potential to become Africa’s biggest musical export to the rest of the world. He is producing sounds of the future.