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Lodged behind large spectacles and a full beard with a few grey smatterings, Sway Dasafo, the celebrated Ghanaian-UK rapper’s face doesn’t reveal much. His hands, though, swathed in a gold-embroidered kaftan, indulge in regular gesticulations that attend his responses. Our interview succeeds an ACCES 2019 discussion in Accra that...
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At a Rapperholic concert, every activity that precedes the SarkCess man’s entrée is merely filler — or so it seems. This pretty much goes for performances too. Therefore, let’s skip the foreplay, shall we? This year, Sarkodie’s apparition occurred twenty-five minutes into Boxing Day. Glistening like a hip-hop Michael...
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If a single image encapsulates last Sunday’s Manifestivities, it is one by Azumi Habib, in which Burna Boy, clothed in a red tracksuit, frolics towards the edge of the stage. Behind him, M.anifest, sharp in a double-breasted suit and hat, smiles contentedly, looking off to the side of the...
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The dynamics of celebrity in the time of Instagram have changed. This province of “viral sensation” — previously the privilege of a select few — now appears obtainable to anyone even slightly open to the sort of eccentricities that, at first, expose one to public ridicule. And no, you...
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Before her show, there existed among Ghanaian music lovers, a seemingly benign doubt in the practicality of a Cardi B stadium concert. The Livespot X Festival’s choice of the American rapper was met with instant skepticism — an unequivocal questioning attitude that bared itself in a barrage of questions:...
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On October 15, 2019, Kelvyn Boy posted a video of himself singing an unreleased song. It was title-less. He teased the over one hundred and forty thousand people on his Facebook page, asking whether he should release it. The response was an emphatic ‘Yes!’ He has. November 22, 2019....
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An artist is constantly in the middle of something. One afternoon in late May, as I am ushered into the hotel suite that serves as lodging for Praiz during his last trip to Accra, the above quote visits my mind, for mid-tempo melody—bereft of verses—rings about tenderly in the...
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My suspicion that his name educes a “poster boy” perception ricochets against a lively chuckle. Joe Mettle, the decorated Ghanaian gospel minister, is reticent about this notion, and dismisses it strictly as that—a vexed perception latched onto by many. “Don’t you think it’s a perception?” he tosses back in...
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In an Abelenkpe-bound Uber cab, rapper Kofi Mole who, due to his bleached dreadlocks and silvery braces, evokes a young Lil Wayne, holds his smartphone to his ear, mumbling half-finished melody over dance-ready instrumentation pouring from the phone’s speaker. Covering his upper body is a Calvin Klein polo shirt,...
Lodged behind large spectacles and a full beard with a few grey smatterings, Sway Dasafo, the celebrated Ghanaian-UK rapper’s face doesn’t reveal much. His hands, though, swathed in a gold-embroidered kaftan, indulge in regular gesticulations that attend his responses. Our interview succeeds an ACCES 2019 discussion in Accra that...
At a Rapperholic concert, every activity that precedes the SarkCess man’s entrée is merely filler — or so it seems. This pretty much goes for performances too. Therefore, let’s skip the foreplay, shall we? This year, Sarkodie’s apparition occurred twenty-five minutes into Boxing Day. Glistening like a hip-hop Michael...
If a single image encapsulates last Sunday’s Manifestivities, it is one by Azumi Habib, in which Burna Boy, clothed in a red tracksuit, frolics towards the edge of the stage. Behind him, M.anifest, sharp in a double-breasted suit and hat, smiles contentedly, looking off to the side of the...
The dynamics of celebrity in the time of Instagram have changed. This province of “viral sensation” — previously the privilege of a select few — now appears obtainable to anyone even slightly open to the sort of eccentricities that, at first, expose one to public ridicule. And no, you...
Before her show, there existed among Ghanaian music lovers, a seemingly benign doubt in the practicality of a Cardi B stadium concert. The Livespot X Festival’s choice of the American rapper was met with instant skepticism — an unequivocal questioning attitude that bared itself in a barrage of questions:...
On October 15, 2019, Kelvyn Boy posted a video of himself singing an unreleased song. It was title-less. He teased the over one hundred and forty thousand people on his Facebook page, asking whether he should release it. The response was an emphatic ‘Yes!’ He has. November 22, 2019....
An artist is constantly in the middle of something. One afternoon in late May, as I am ushered into the hotel suite that serves as lodging for Praiz during his last trip to Accra, the above quote visits my mind, for mid-tempo melody—bereft of verses—rings about tenderly in the...
My suspicion that his name educes a “poster boy” perception ricochets against a lively chuckle. Joe Mettle, the decorated Ghanaian gospel minister, is reticent about this notion, and dismisses it strictly as that—a vexed perception latched onto by many. “Don’t you think it’s a perception?” he tosses back in...
In an Abelenkpe-bound Uber cab, rapper Kofi Mole who, due to his bleached dreadlocks and silvery braces, evokes a young Lil Wayne, holds his smartphone to his ear, mumbling half-finished melody over dance-ready instrumentation pouring from the phone’s speaker. Covering his upper body is a Calvin Klein polo shirt,...