He shot to fame since he released his debut EP Pandemic, under the name Ruger, the coolest kid to watch out for with a remarkable talent. Ruger was once known as Mikkie Drey before his manager D’Prince renamed him.
It is on this EP (Pandemic) that the hit song Bounce appears, which debuted on the charts and became a major hit. Ruger follows his EP with an extended play titled The Second Wave, proving, once again, that Ruger is a hitmaker. We can witness this with another chart-topping single, Dior. Dior topped charts on Apple Music in Nigeria, Kenya and Uganda.
“Dior is about lifestyle. The girls, the cars, the money, the enjoyment and all. Talking about how we live now, how things are brighter now, how we are enjoying ourselves, showing off whatever we have. It’s an enjoyment song,” said Ruger.
While Dior is about a good lifestyle, Champion, which is the opening song of his second project, relays the struggles Ruger has endured to get to where he is – and he has come out a winner, a champion.
“Champion is about my struggles, where I was before all of this. It’s not easy to come into the limelight, not easy to believe in yourself. Believing in yourself is the first thing you do before you even ask people to believe in you. That’s what helped me go and everything has been good. We are just getting started. We are still on to that global domination. It’s about winning. I tell myself that as long as I put in the hard work and believe in myself, I am winning.”
Ruger took time out of 2019 to polish his talent to give his fans solid hits. He started working underground recording and this is when he learned more about the industry.
“My music journey began in 2019. I started working underground recording, started understanding the industry from behind the scenes, gave myself a chance to improve and make my sound evolve.
“2021 January, that’s when the real journey started, that’s when I started putting my music out, my EP Pandemic came out, and it was a massive success, then my 2nd project came out – Second Wave. I am very happy about everything that’s been happening and I hope to give more of myself musically,” said Ruger.
Ruger is as original as they come and he hopes listeners experience his originality in his music.
“Originality. Everything I put in there is based on experience. It’s how I feel, so it makes it easier for people to relate to most of the things there. That’s me putting myself out there and I won’t stop,” said Ruger.
When Ruger is not getting high on his own supply, he is shuffling a very colourful playlist.
“Most of the time I don’t even know because I put my phone on shuffle. I listen to dance music, Amapiano, R&B. I listen to Brandy, Big Sean, Sho Majozi, DJ Maphorisa, etc. I listen to energetic music.”
Not quite the answer you would expect to get, but Ruger finds the pressure of fame interesting – which is interesting on its own.
“I find it interesting. It’s fun. I have learned to enjoy my hustle rather than see it as work. It might be stressful, but I enjoy it as it comes, so it’s my life now. I have to understand it and live it. No pressure at all. We work according to our time,” he said.
Work hard, play hard – Ruger is in the studio and he already has songs up his sleeves ready to drop.
“There are songs in the archives ready to release. I have songs already so when it’s time to release I will. I am out and about this year, going to different countries. Making sure my fans get a physical part of me, appearances, get to see me, and I am shooting the video for Dior in Cape Town,” he said.
We look forward to more releases from Ruger. His EP, Pandemic and The Second Wave are available to stream on all digital platforms.
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