I have always loved the smell of coffee in an enclosed area and especially if that space is my office which has an orchid emitting neutral plant scent on my table and a small money plant in a pot in the corner. So familiar is the setting that when someone comes in for the first time and complements it I shrug a little. This is coffee that is not brewing for me but I am happy that it exists in the air and it is relaxing my nerves. I am drinking black Lipton and watching my favorite channel on YouTube, NPR Music Tiny Desk Concerts. This is the best way to start my day and if it goes uninterrupted for a while I will become social again and be able to engage my colleague in small talk. Being employed in the creative space comes with its own pecks like permission to have music in the office as a backdrop for the creation process.
Last week we streamed the Lion King Gift album by Beyoncé in the office and gave very diverse opinions about it. We had different favorites off the album which ultimately gave us the chance to appreciate the music based on wholesome criticism by music heads. OTHERSIDE was my favorite with Brown Skin Girls being my take home anthem and on Shatta Wale’s feature, Already, I just think that Beyoncé was fiercer on a sound which was supposed to be Shatta Wale’s comfort zone. No way in hell did I expect the SM King to be that docile on a Korle Gonno beat. Of course there were people who wanted to murder me for even thinking these thoughts about music by their Queen and King. I mean its Shatta Wale and Beyoncé for crying out loud and when BeyHive connects with the SM movement then all opposing opinions would be met with guns. I understood how this was going to go even before it began. All the same it was a great day for Africa and especially the South Africans who did a tremendous job riding on the House beats and giving us the awesomeness that it titled My Power.
The album had representation from four countries which meant that majority of the continent was left out on the 27 song and interlude album which was supposed to be a gift to the motherland. Being that the movie is set in eastern Africa with character names picked from indigenous Kenyan translations it would have been fair to have at least Sauti Sol on the album. But of course I am declaring my interest and telling you straight forward who I wanted on there, I am not trying to sound politically correct. The issue of representation has been touched on a lot and people from parts of the continent that felt left out have voiced out their dissatisfaction. Ghana and Nigeria being the landlords of the African interwebs have responded accordingly and correctly stated that South Africa and Kenya have been considered as the entire continent for a long while and so this is their chance. In my opinion, I have always had a problem with especially South Africa being the only place in Africa that people knew of but as it was wrong then it shall be wrong if another country became the new S.A. and the rest have to go back to being in the shadows forever. Imagine all the countries in southern Africa having their culture completely unheard of or appropriated to a different country because there is one country with the spotlight. We can fight this but the best approach would not be to choose another country to replace South Africa, the truth is that we need equal representation for Africa to be seen as not a country.
As I enjoy the healing grace of the coffee and spare a few moments to converse I absent mindedly mention that I have not heard the day old African Giant album. The conversation is shut down immediately and I get into it with attentive professional listening ears as the faux critic that I am. I remember when I first saw Like to Party and immediately told my mummy that the guy’s voice got me in my feels, I didn’t think this same Aristocrat Records artiste would grow to be the Afro Giant. The Nigerian scene has a really huge acceptance of new talents and every year many new artistes are introduced to us from Naija. The ability to maintain the hype and continue to be at the top in the subsequent years comes with a different story. The song remains a favorite and the artiste, an even bigger favorite. Then I googled the name that popped up on Soundcity with my very poor network service in the valleys of Aburi. Damini Ogulu from the River state of the Federal Republic of Nigeria was the grandson of a music critic and the manager of the late Fela Kuti. He at the time already had his major hit, Tonight, fresh out and on rotation. I was feeling the vibe and tipping him as a man to watch while still holding my breath to see if he can maintain the standard of his obviously high entrance. I am pleased to say that I have now exhaled proudly as this young king, Burna Boy has secured his place among musical greats of our time on the continent. After a stellar performance at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival which was declared one of the most intriguing with the soul of Africa and the voice of the islands, Burna Boy went ahead to feature prominently on the Gift Album by Beyoncé for the Lion King. His feature on the album, Ja Ara E was his own song performed alone with no vocals even from the original album owner. This went to show the power he wielded in the African space and the level of respect his craft has fetched him.
A week after this he decides to drop an 18 track album and one skit expressing self-praise, political critique, history of his West African home country and some vibes for his lover. He did so with the help of artistes like YG, Jeremih, Serani and Future. These songs were written and arranged with so much power and it is no surprise that the final song title captured the essence of the album in one word, Spiritual. Let us not forget that it also came along with the two sentence acceptance speech of his mother and manager about Black people all over the world being African first before anything else. It came with a lot of support and fit directly into the Year of Return game of a certain country. His winning a BET Award for Best African Act 2019 came as no surprise since he had been in the industry consistently since 2013 but it also brought back memories from when he made videos criticizing awards shows in Africa for sidelining him for a very long time. I was therefore expecting that comment he made about Africans only accepting him after the world accepted him. It was not about the fans but the industry that failed to recognize his impressive contribution. Five singles were released off his fourth studio album including Gbona, On the Low, Anybody, Dangote and Killn Dem ft. Zlatan ahead of the album. These were all danceable tunes that gave us life on the dance floor yet igniting African spirituality. Again there are love notes like Gum body which has him asking himself questions like; why did I drink this Hennessey, why did I ever let you leave and concluding that he didn’t know what came over him. This has got to be niggatry 101, right? Singer Jorja Smith was the best person for this drunk ex texting ridiculous promises at 1: 00 am soulful tune with her outstanding cursive vocal performance. On the love side of things there is an ode that fans have attributed to his current girlfriend Stefflon Don. Omo talks about a girl who is fine like Omotola and has money like Otedola and fans immediately went wild repeatedly sharing photos of the couple with the lyrics as caption. It is fun to hear the Burna-Fela / Burna-Lagbaja conversation as to which of these veteran artistes he is embodying truly. Listening to him sing about Alhaji Dangote and depicting him as a hero who the struggling youth should look up to tells me he has no problem with capitalism. I have always said that telling people who are working hard and still barely surviving thanks to capitalist systems to work harder is a form of passive aggression. I don’t think he has half the steam of Fela Kuti. He talks of The Niger Company that sold the vast conglomerate that is today called Nigeria to the British being today’s Unilever. This means the oppressor is still lurking around and making money off the people. His friend and one of my favorites from Ghana, M.anifest topped it with punches about loving a country that does not love you and yet it is difficult to leave it. Lord knows I will leave this country to rot if it came to it especially because the only thing I love here is the arts and that can be monitored anywhere. Who wouldn’t want to sit abroad and make long threads on twitter about how to make the country better? This song was titled Another story and had lyrics about how institutionalized colonization has left the real stories in the dark and told the new generation another story. Collateral damage and Different Lies all fall within the political terrain with Angelique Kidjoe and Damien Marley on the later. But the real winner is track number one which acclaims Burna Boy the African Giant coming from a continent that is tired and worn out. There is also a skit which I look forward to as it has a really good freestyle from the great Blak Ryno.
Overall this album is all sorts of spiritual and it gives you a sense of West African traits of Love, Power and Money. As I write this five days after first hearing the tape I have never skipped a song in all 9 times that I have streamed it. I know that his previous albums have been good too but there is a certain level of growth not only music wise but in his interviews and social media posts. It’s as if this was not the same guy who was called the Shatta Wale of Nigeria. His PR team is really winning for him.
Talk of the Nigeria-Ghana collaborations and friendships and Juls has been one of those people who have just always brought us good vibes in that regard. He released his Colour album about the same time as the African Giant dropped and I must say it is quite an impressive tape to listen to. The first track on the tape features Worlasi and it is titled Nyafu riddim. It sets the tone for the whole tape as it motivates all to make money especially men for their babes. He sings that he would jump off a cliff, fly north to east for money before informing us that money seems like air these days, you don’t hold it well and it flies away. The solution to this new phenomenon ; chop it nyafu nyafu. Its high life tempo with rich live instruments just shows the effort in production. As his sophomore project featuring Falz, Mr. Eazi and a host of others I would commend him and look forward to more vibes.
Its 4:22pm at the La Palm Royal beach hotel and I am already late for the first show of the stage play I got complementary tickets to see. Very unusual of me but I got the impression that these guys don’t start on time and so I would be doing the waiting for a while. It’s the cake fair and natural hair expo all happening at the same venue that has kept me busy since I left home at 3:18am. I get called by my ticket plug and I set off for the National theatre. The play has started but it seems I have not missed much since it seemed to still be in the morale building stage. Its four guys in the slums having a connected dream where they are in full control of the country and their ideas of governance go wrong. They sell everything in the country as an interpretation of the tourism ministry’s tagline of “sell Ghana.” The microphone feedback was so irritating and the control of their screens wasn’t the best. It was an okay job on sound even though most of the unoriginal soundtracks didn’t fit into the scope of the play and you could tell that much thought wasn’t given to it. The storyline and writing was done perfectly yet the execution was a bit shaky and the improvising exposed their exaggeration. I didn’t stay to the end because the comedy felt stale and in circles and I already figured out how it was going to go. I must however commend them for their beautiful set and make believe presidential chamber. These guys have been trying really hard to keep the theatre side of the arts alive for as long as I remember and it is really nice how far they have come. I used to go to University of Ghana drama studios to watch them and now I see their advertisements on television. I do hope that they grow as the market grows and their spot is secure for when Ghanaians start patronizing the theatres again. They deserve it for not giving up for so long. Also, my favorite, Clemento Suarez was present but not performing and it made me hate the play more but I promise that it did not affect the review in anyway.
Back home and one of the songs that featured in the play is Osibisa’s Welcome Home and so I have it on repeat and I am crying for no damn reason. I used to think Osibisa made me happy but I guess not. I have officially entered the sad nigga hours.
Hewal3 Klan 