The Pink: unapologetically hiphop

Over the years, male hiphop artists have been riding high with current artists such as Jay Polly, Riderman, Pacson, Hip Hop Stars and Poppin Chris getting a lot of air play and endorsements.

However, the same cannot be said for female hiphop artists especially those in the gospel scene. Gospel hiphop artist Clarisse Uwineza popularly known as The Pink, who spent eight years making secular hiphop music before joining the gospel industry says, the gospel industry is yet to fully embrace the hiphop genre.

The artist says that the public should embrace this genre and see it as one of the means to help spread the gospel to young people since hiphop is a popular genre amongst the youth.

“We need to figure out how to present God in a way that the young people can receive it,” Uwineza said. “The Gospel community should be supportive towards us because we are using music to spread the gospel. There is a lot of heartbreak and anger in the world, the songs we release now can create a sense of peace that is badly needed at the moment.”

She says gospel hiphop music just like any genre delivers lots of positive messages and advice therefore, Rwandans ought to listen more to the message other than judge the artists.

At the start of her gospel career in 2015, Uwineza was more than once denied the opportunity to perform in church. “Many people associate hiphop music with drugs, alcohol and immoral life style,” she said. “They think that female rappers are drug addicts and such but I ignored all that and focused on my career.”

The biggest highlight of her career came last year when she released, ‘Ikiganza cy'Uwiteka' (the hand of God), alongside Ugandan gospel artist, Gaby Kamanzi. As reported by her, the song solidified her spot as a female hiphop artist.

“The song is the story of my life. It talks about God's power to heal broken hearts and how I was led into salvation but was rejected severally even by my fellow Christians," Uwineza said.

“Rwandans and Ugandans loved the song so much,” she said. “As a result, I was invited to perform in Uganda to a congregation of over 10 000 people. It was great and I was touched to see Ugandans singing along to my song.”

This was in contrary to her first gospel release in 2015 titled, ‘Nongeye Gutakamba’, featuring fellow artist Pachento which was not popular with the public. However she says, “This was how people recognized my talent and began talking about my rap music.”

While owning her trials and tribulations, the singer aims to inspire and uplift the youth. “I want my music to inspire young people and introduce them to salvation,” Uwineza said. “I do not want them to live a life they will regret once they are adults.”

Uwineza says she has no doubt that she will succeed despite the fact that there is a large gap financial gap between gospel and secular hiphop artists. currently.

“Most of us have alternative jobs that support our music because in Rwanda this type of music does not pay as much as secular music,” she said. “But every day I tend to hope that things will work out as the last years’ experiences for me have certainly underlined that belief.”

The rapper is currently working on her first studio album. But until it is done, she says “I will continue to use hiphop in spreading the gospel.”