It started with a ranking. In the rivalry between Ivory Coast's Himra and his compatriot Didi B, Tenor took a public stance: he preferred the latter, and needled the former on one specific point — his originality, going as far as comparing his lyrics to a ChatGPT output. Nothing unusual in principle: MC hierarchies, the 'top fives', have always been argued in song and reversed from one album to the next.
It was the reply that changed ground. Himra didn't answer on a beat — he hit back on Snapchat, with an allusion to Tenor's private life and to an old episode. The artistic disagreement then turned into a personal attack, a register with nothing to win and where rap no longer has a say.
Hip-hop culture, though, allows no exception: a clash is settled on the mic, not in a story that vanishes in 24 hours. Tenor made that point his own way, by taking the dispute back to the studio.
His answer is called 'Rahim' — an anagram of Himra — an explicit, unfiltered track released on 26 March 2026. It passed a million views on YouTube, a first for this duel. The diss track is no minor outlet: it is a discipline of world rap in its own right, judged on writing, punchlines, technique and the ability to sway public opinion.
The exchange eventually returned to where the logic of a clash demands: Himra answered in turn with a track of his own, defending his view on the mic rather than in comments. That is exactly what the release of 'Rahim' had forced back into place.
What remains is the weight of the man who threw the first jab. Tenor, born Thierry Mengoumou Ayia, was born on 11 April 1998 in Yaoundé. Revealed as a teenager with 'Do le Dab' in 2016, his most viral moment came the following year, when First Lady Chantal Biya recreated the song's dance move on stage at the 2017 Canal 2'Or, on camera.
That fame came with professional recognition. In November 2017, Tenor became the first Central African artist signed to Universal Music Africa, before joining Def Jam Africa in May 2020. That same year, 2017, Maître Gims named him, alongside Maahlox le Vibeur, the best rapper of his generation — a verdict delivered during a joint concert in Douala and Yaoundé, not from the stands.
This time, the irony came from within: rather than closing ranks behind their compatriot in a cross-border duel, several voices from the Cameroonian scene chose to take shots at Tenor online, never on a verse. He answered only through his music.
The contrast sums up the whole clash: on one side, a Snapchat story, ephemeral content by design; on the other, a track that has already passed a million views and is still being talked about months after its release. Between the two formats, rap settled the question long ago — and 'Rahim' has just confirmed it once more.
