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Entertainment

Rwanda: How Ngabonziza Uses Music to Push Rwandan Culture on the Global Scene

todayJanuary 24, 2024 2

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Walking the streets of Kigali or attending city parties, it’s easy to spot the word ‘Nziza’ on the t-shirts and hoodies worn by the city’s generation Z, and it’s more than just a word, it’s the future of Rwanda’s music industry.

Loosely translated in English as ‘Fine’, Nziza tag represents a unique clothing line, which also dabbles in artist management, spearheaded by Divin Ngabonziza and his colleague Kevin Ishimwe, two US-based Rwandans who share same interests of pushing Rwanda’s pop culture to another level and introduce fashion to music especially hip hop.

The two are the brains behind Green Mountain Entertainment (GME), a record label that is signing young local talents and connecting them with top US artistes, including some signed to Lil Durk’s OTF, a move that is successfully putting the country on the global map.

OTF (read Only the Family in full) is an American hip hop group from Chicago, Illinois, formed by American rapper Lil Durk in 2010. The group is composed of Chicago-drill recording artists, which included late rapper King Von.

The genesis of GME

“At first, I wanted to create a fashion brand that could compete with big luxury products like Chanel and Louis Viton, but also promote Rwandan music and put it on the global stage in the process. And that’s how a clothing line gave birth to GME,” Ngabonziza told The New Times.

Ngabonziza, 28, recalls listening to different genres of music and modeling at school events since he was 12 until he moved to the US in 2014 where he officially initiated a platform that would take home-grown talents to another level.