P. Black is eyeing the prize

Alpha Niyibizi got his stage name (P. Black) before the music. He says: “P. Black comes from my friends in school. They used to call me rukara (black) because of my dark skin. I chose to go with that as a stage name because my friends already knew it. P. Black means Power of Black.” That was in primary school. In secondary, he fell in love with singing, and started writing some songs in a big black book. That was in 2006. “I was afraid of publically singing what I wrote because I lacked confidence,” he confesses. While still in secondary school, he had a chance meeting with one of his current producers, Holy X. “He (X) introduced me to Super System studios, where we recorded a collabo called Amarira. He soon followed this with subsequent collabos with more up-and-coming artistes like Frezzo, and another collabo with Holy X. His association with Super System studio made sure that P. Black would meet more established artistes and producers still. One of these was Mako Nikoshwa, with whom he has just released a single, Ndakumbura, an afro-beat joint. A video clip to accompany the song will drop soon. His mission is to release and promote enough songs to gain the much-needed visibility that all underground artistes crave. One this comes through, he believes it will be time for him to join the big time league of singers, the likes of some of who are currently tussling it out at the on-going Primus Guma Guma Superstar road shows across the country. For an artiste who needs the exposure and visibility as much as the money, P. Black has his eyes set on the next season of the talent search. “I want to see how I can compete with the other artistes in Rwanda. I believe there are artistes in the competition who are at the same level as me, from the first Guma Guma competition to the current one. Besides, he says, the competition will make it easy for him to introduce himself and his music to the national audience.