A few years ago, renowned Rwandan rapper Danny Nanone took a short break from music to pursue his studies. After earning his career-related degree, he decided to invest in the music business and is now here to stay. In an interview with The New Times, Nanone, real name Danny Ntakirutimana said that for him music is a business like any other. “I am a musician and this is the only thing I know how to do best. I can’t go anywhere and this is my comfort zone which I love so much. This (music) is what I am here to do,” said Danny. The rapper discovered his talent back in 2009, when he was a student in senior four and determined to unleash his talent in Hip Hop. “I didn’t know that I was a rapper because I didn’t know what I wanted when I started doing music. I wanted to express myself and when I tried to sing, I couldn’t, but the rap was perfect and I decided that I was a rapper then.” In 2012, Danny joined Kina Music label management before he left for Incredible Record label in 2014. After seven years of experience doing music, partaking in the Primus Guma Guma Super Star competitions, doing some big performances, Danny Nanone decided to go for further studies at Nyundo School of Arts and Music. “I have always wanted to be a good artiste and I wanted to upgrade myself in regards to my career. I wanted to learn a lot and do music way more different than how I used to do it.” The now Nyundo School of Music alumni said that he now has the talent, experience, professional skills, the degree and is able to do music business which is what he majored in alongside music production and that he can now be considered a “true musician.” Based on the skills he acquired, Danny believes that it is the right time to unleash his music skills and earn a lot in music, “This is the time for me and other Rwandan artists to be more professional. This is the right time for us to earn enough money from music.” He has so far already began investing in the music business via his company dubbed O’CLOCK which is a music-related company that deals with audio and video music production, music promotion, event planning and management and hopes to provide music training for both children and adults in the future. He recently released ‘Iminsi Myinshi’ which means ‘Long Time’, which he says is inspired by his story when he got arrested in September 2022 and was jailed for some time. Read also: ‘Rapper Danny Nanone arrested’ “There have been some ups and downs in his journey, the rapper shared that one of the most challenging things he had ever encountered was faking his life to impress people since society expects celebrities to have money. “I tried to pretend and live like the guy who had money, and not living my life to impress people and convince them that I had money which I really didn’t have,” he said. He also shared that he used to take loans from banks to buy a car so that people could think that he is rich. The good part is, he managed to overcome that pressure and live the reality which he wishes for every local celebrity in Rwanda to live by.
