US-Rwandan Tumaini Basaninyenzi, locally known as Tuma Basa, the head of Black Music and Culture at YouTube, was spotted in Kigali during Platini’s ‘Baba Experience’ concert held at the Kigali Conference and Exhibition Village on March 30.
SENS understands that the celebrity, who is credited for pushing hip hop and more black-produced music to places, has been in Kigali since Friday at the invitation of business mogul and owner of 1:55AM Entertainment, Gael Karomba aka Coach Gael.
Speaking to the media during Platini’s concert, Coach Gael said that he met Tuma in Washington DC last week and invited him to come and explore Rwanda’s music industry and also help local talents grow.
“I am so happy to be here to support my brother Platini. I traveled all the way from the US with Tuma to show him around and introduce him to our music industry which is on the rise. He is very influential in the world of music globally and I believe he can help take the industry to greater heights,” said Gael.
Tuma Basa also announced that he is excited to be back home and learn more about the Rwandan music industry, which he believes has the potential to grow “bigger and bigger.”
The two, along with Bruce Melodie, are from the US where Bruce Melodie has been on a media tour that reached some of the biggest TV and radio stations in the country, including Good Morning America.
Tuma Basa was last in Rwanda in 2023 where he met President Paul Kagame. His wedding ceremony also took place in Rwanda in 2019.
About Tuma Basa
Born Tumaini Basaninyenzi to Rwandan parents, Tuma Basa moved to the US at the age of 5 and is currently the Director of Black Music & Culture at YouTube, responsible for leading activities that draw on his deep industry connections and expertise in programming to increase YouTube’s engagement with the culture.
He is also focused on helping artists and labels get the full benefit of YouTube’s direct-to-fan tools through product education.
Prior to YouTube, Tuma served as Global Programming Head of hip-hop at Spotify where he was responsible for curating popular playlists for the service including RapCaviar, one of Spotify’s biggest and most popular playlists with over 9 million followers.
Tuma began his career in hip hop with a four-year stint in BET’s Music Programming Department right after college. He then went on to spend ten years at MTV in music programming for channels and franchises such as MTV Jams and Sucker Free.
While at MTV, Tuma earned his MBA from New York University’s Stern School of Business. After MTV, Tuma helped Sean “Puff Daddy” Combs launch REVOLT where he served as Vice President of Music Programming.