Three months ago, Rwandan rapper Ish Kevin, alongside his generation of trappers and drillers, who are credited for transforming Rwanda’s music industry with new waves of sounds, declared a move to save hip-hop genre in the country. And, three months later, the young men and women seem to be reaching their target goal. By then, old school hip hop had started returning to the mainstream, with the likes of Pro Zed, Ish Kevin, producer Juni Quicky, and Bruce the 1st at the forefront of the movement determined to not only bring the hip hop style of the 90s and early 2000s back on top of the charts but to also inspire new kids on the block to jump on the style which had disappeared from the limelight since the fall of MC Mahoniboni and the Tough Gang. On June 13, just a few days after the release of Riderman-Bulldog’s ‘Icyumba Cy’Amategeko’ EP, Ish Kevin dropped ‘Semana’, his third EP, named after himself, which many linked to nothing but a response to Zeo Trap’s diss track ‘Sinabyaye’. It is rather a project about the rapper’s music journey and his desires in the industry, as he recently announced on national broadcaster. ALSO READ: Album review: Alyn Sano's debut album 'Rumuri' “’Semana’ is a music project that primarily focuses on me and where I want to be as a visionary musician,” Ish Kevin said during Versus TV show which airs on Rwanda Television. The Rwandan music community has, since Ish Kevin’s EP release, flocked social media to proclaim their favourite track on the tape, with the majority picking ‘Iki?’, the intro track of the EP. Others chose ‘Bezos’, and I believe they are both right and wrong not to pick the remaining tracks on the project. The whole EP is as ambitious, technical, and deeply felt as Trappish Mixtape 2, one of the best projects the Ish Kevin has produced in his music career. Just like the rapper’s previous works, ‘Semana’ begins with a melodic drill beat, accompanied by meaningful bars with the word ‘Iki’ at the center of almost every verse, reminding rival musicians that he is only competing against himself in the game. In the track’s introduction, the musician flexes about setting the bar high, killing most of the beats he has ever freestyled on, and being mature enough to distance himself from feuds. ALSO READ: Album review: Tom Close’s ‘Essence’ The 2:49 minute track is the most streamed on the EP so far, a result of many snippets of the song that were posted by different media houses and Ish Kevin himself prior to the release date of the whole project. The advance publicity of the song began back in March, during Ish Kevin’s interview on Power FM that many of his fans followed. After the smooth intro, the rapper becomes harsher on the second track ‘Praying For My Downfall’rapping, “nobody bigger than me fam, you use my name for clout because I’m a public figure. Ish is heavy, even the media and attention seekers on twitter can’t lower me.” In these lines, the rapper hits back at media personalities, especially YouTubers, and upcoming rappers, who feuds with him for views and clout. On the hook, Ish indulges in a vast amount of hugely entertaining flexing and announces that there hasn’t been another bigger brand in Rwanda’s hip hop industry than his own Trappish music “even if I could be a thug, I wouldn’t be stealing phones” – a line that sounds like a reaction to previous reports that connected the rapper to some city thugs allegedly accused of stealing phones and cars. On the third track ‘Bizima’, Ish returns in his zone of rapping on drill beats, but this time, it’s more than a drill beat – but a sample of an old Rwandan traditional instrument (Inanga) on a modern drill beat produced by Cracs Got Real. With its gentle keyboards, ghostly vocal samples and sparse, ‘Bizima’ sounds like club banger on which the rapper flexed about his music reaching international markets and attracting listeners from almost every continent. “Its hard to find me at Kiss Summer (Awards). There is a whole criminal organization that follow me in Nairobi. My headquarters are based in Montreal and my whole squad in Toronto,” Ish spits on ‘Bizima’s beat, slamming Kiss Summer Awards, a Kiss FM-owned music awarding ceremony which he accuses of being biased and corrupt. It is in the track that the rapper also takes the occasion to remind fellow artistes that most of his fans reside in Nairobi and Canada. The last, but not least, song on Ish Kevin’s EP, in ‘Bezos.’ It is produced in the old-school hip-hop style by Juni Quickly, a producer signed under his label. The song showcases a different version of Ish Kevin that Rwandans know. On the track, the rapper points again on how he is bigger than the ‘system’, portraying illegal businesses as the only path to success. “Clean money can’t buy a mansion; monthly salary can’t give you a platform,” Ish Kevin raps. Semana remains one of the best works to come out of Trappish music.
