EMMANUEL KARANGWA, best known as Kemg Kingface is a 22-year-old upcoming artiste doing Hip Hop style. The rapper said that he is growing in the industry and is planning what he hopes will be his biggest achievement, an Extended Play(EP) dubbed ‘Ibisazi’ which contains four tracks, that features two other upcoming rappers RexB22 and Offsmoke. Kemg Kingface added that ‘Ibisazi’ (which means madness) is a combination of Trap and Drill style. “I wanted to create something which is not normal, or not for normal people. I believe that every creative person is not leaving a normal life, that pushed my mind to space and I did my EP. I was trying not to filter any idea that came in,” he highlights. His first EP contains four tracks dubbed ‘Hejuru’ featured by Rex_B22, and Offsmoke, ‘Beatbox’, ‘Untitled DNA’ and Ibisazi which he released on August 1, with both visuals and audio. The video was shot in Kigali and directed by Anick Didier a Rwandan filmmaker. Kemg Kingface launched his career at the end of 2020, and he so far he released three singles before, dubbed ‘No promise’, ‘Covid21’, and ‘Up to me’ Asked about his future in the industry and how he makes a living out of it, the artist told this paper that it is not quite simple to make a living in the career but passionately believes that after the pandemic eases, their future will shine brighter. “I make a little penny of course. In fact, in this pandemic, everyone is looking at their income on streams and downloads and thats not enough. I do music because I’m passionate about it and I hope that after the pandemic things will get to be better, he told The New Times. The singer added that he wants to bring Rwandan music to an international level by teaming up with other African and American rappers. Challenges Like all other careers, Karangwa also revealed that in his journey he has encountered different challenges, such as the Hip Hop style being underrated by many Rwandans and for him that is the biggest challenge that he is trying to overcome. He added that other challenges include inadequate sources of collecting capital as youth and people who discourage sometimes. “We are struggling to produce standard quality music because both audio and visuals are too costly,’’ Karangwa added. The singer fell in love with Hip Hop music at a tender age, writing songs and singing at small parties with friends as he was inspired by many of known rappers.
