Rosary Robert Iwole, widely known as Rosa Ree, is a Tanzanian rapper and songwriter known for her conscious lyrics and strong presence in the East-African hip hop community. Born in Moshi, Tanzania, she spent part of her childhood moving between Kenya and Tanzania before moving to America to continue her education, then returning to East Africa to build her music career. Her music blends modern-day hip hop with Afrobeats and Bongo Flava, a Tanzanian music genre that blends American and Tanzanian hip hop styles. Her style of rap includes an aggressive delivery with empowering themes, usually relating to women’s empowerment and independence.

She joined the music scene in the mid 2010s and was quickly noticed due to her bold westernized style of rap, as well as her strong visuals and branding that brought in new fans. Additionally, since she was a woman in the industry, that stood out due to women rappers being rare not only in the hip hop scene, but especially in the Tanzanian hip hop scene. Rosa Ree also constantly aimed for international recognition, often trying to insert herself into the global hip hop market. Because of this, her tracks tended to veer toward English-heavy tracks despite most Tanzanian artists rapping prominently in Swahili.

One of her most recent songs, “God’s Calling”, is an example of one of her songs that is rapped in English, but also has conscious topics discussed in it. The overall theme of this song is spiritual discernment in a world that is morally confused. The song uses lyrics to infer that god is speaking to Rosa, and this is proven in the line “A gentle voice is calling on my name.” Additionally, there are biblical references mentioned that further align with the theme of the song. As the song progresses, the song poses the idea of who is trying to actually speak to Rosa, whether it is really God’s voice, or if it’s something more mortal like cultural influence or internal fear. This song balances the idea of biblical imagery and meshes that with social commentary and collective repentance, as Rosa realizes in this song that nobody is perfect, but we reach this so-called ‘God’s Calling’ if one believes they are fulfilling their proper purpose.

Here is a link to this song – https://youtu.be/u2WqhTCKHnc?si=FefdfBzV5Rq57p4k