“Call the police” is the latest single off Davy Rank’s yet-to-be-titled upcoming debut album. The dancehall artiste hopes to drop the 12-15 track album later in the year. And Ranks, real name David Kamurasi, hopes to use this latest project to officially launch his musical comeback. Produced by Pacento, “Call the police” is a groovy mid tempo track delivered in a mixture of Kinyarwanda and patois. The artiste sings about a woman, whose “love is criminal”, and asks somebody to call the police. The upcoming album is the first musical project by Davy Ranks under his new management label, Tyco Music Promo. Previously, he had been signed to Narrow Road Productions, where he worked with other dancehall artistes like Syntex Kabera, Gabiro Guitar, TBB, and City Yankees. He recorded a handful of collaborations while at Narrow Road, including Fantastic with TBB, Amahirwe with Gabiro Guitar, and Ndabikunda, featuring Sparks, City Yankees, and Vaga Vybz. After completing high school, Davy Ranks teamed up with a few friends to form a Dancehall collective called Demolition Base, in 2002. After recording a few songs together, the three member group went separate ways, all in pursuit of their education. Ranks headed off to the School of Finance and Banking (SFB), graduating later with a bachelor’s in Business Administration. Upon graduation, he took a decision to embark on a solo career. This necessitated having a day time job and income of his own to fund his musical ventures. “Back in the day the greatest challenge was money. That is when I decided to put it (music) aside, look for a job, get money, and then come back in the business.” Today, the decision has paid off, as the artist now juggles corporate employment and music. Ranks presently works as Operations Manager at Sky Net, a local courier company based in Kacyiru, Kigali. In an earlier interview with this newspaper he explained; “I believe in doing everything in its right time. When it comes to my corporate job, that’s the personality I will come out with, and when on stage I will come out with a different personality as well. If I can win on both sides, the better for me.” Owing to this background, Davy Ranks is trying to curve out an artistic image that is a marked departure from the stereotypical image of a dancehall artiste. Ultimately, he would want to see wider acceptance and airplay accorded to the genre of dancehall music, which he says is still underrated in Rwanda. “What people expect from a Dancehall artist is message and dancing. But if you come up with vulgar words and naked women in the video, that is not what people expect from me. They look at me as someone who is respectable, corporate, and sharp. I always want to come out with something good because that is what people expect from me.” editorial@newtimes.co.rw.
