The Hip Hop African

Angell Mutoni is a Rwandan female rapper/MC who has always been passionate for music. Born to an artistic family she began pursuing spoken word pieces and poetry at an early age. In 2011 she signed to a company and released her first song. Since then she’s continued to grow and release multiple EPs with inspiration coming from artists like Lauryn Hill and Missy Elliot. 

In Rwanda, hip hop is still very male-dominated and Angell is hoping and is changing that. People often say she isn’t from Rwanda because she is a rapper and she also raps in English. There’s still a negative stigma around rapping and she wants to prove everyone wrong by showing that rapping doesn’t make you a “street kid”. She hopes to uplift girls and women in Rwanda through her music, with messages ranging from self-love and letting them know that nothing is impossible if they put their mind to it.  

Her music video Let Loose starts with a few words from her to her audience, specifically black women letting them know she understands they’re tired but it’s time to “let loose” and relax. The message we can convey from this song is that she encourages people to be free and who they are without worrying about what the general public may say. This song is a perfect showcase of chaos and peace at the same time due to the elements that the artist incorporated into her artwork. In her music video, her background dancers are all young black women which is on theme for this message. Having them in the background, dancing, having a good time, and just having a go-with-the-flow attitude can send a message that it’s okay to have fun as well. The setting of this video is covered in graffiti which can be interpreted as rebellious and different goes well with this concept.