English is my 2nd language. No surprise here. I speak with an accent more than I rap with an accent. Big surprise here. It’s an anomaly and paradox of sorts. Let me delve into some amateur psycho-analysis and history to make sense of it all (bra Freud what up).
Most MC’s I know begin mastering the craft in an uncanny fashion: memorizing their favorite songs and doing the best sing-along imitations to them. In my case you can insert Naughty by Nature (o.p.p and ghetto bastard were the shit), Kriss Kross (no shame in my game chale), Outkast, Pac, Biggie, and the great Nasir Jones. I bow my head in shame (and laugh heartily) to this next admission: I knew ice ice baby by heart. To the over 24 and under 30 folk frontin’ whiles reading this I say… alright stop, corroborate and listen. Makaa maka.
But it wasn’t till a Ghanaian, Reggie Rockstone dropped tsooboi, sweetie sweetie, and all the early hiplife classics did I have my 2nd come-to-Jesus moment…”Oh shit I can do this!” The man rapped fluently in Twi like a Ghanaian and fluently in English like an American MC. With the whole Das Efx, rugged timberlands, straight from the sewer look. I was sold. Chappelle famously mused on Inside the Actor’s Studio about how Black America is inherently bilingual – speaking interview and speaking ebonics. Black immigrant Africa is multilingual then. I have never had shame in my accent. Matter of fact the ladies tend to dig accents (brap). Hey, just saying. When I rap in Twi or mix-mash it with Pidgen I rap with those accents and sensibilities. When I rap in English I do same. All of it has evolved over time especially since Hip-hop from Ghana is morphing it’s use of language in curious ways. Most of my compadres are linguistic chameleons of sorts.
But I see an evolution and trajectory which is mucho pleasing. I’ll let this new record speak for itself. I’ve come full circle tho and the linguistic mix-mash is in full effect. It feels more comfortable and it’s soul pleasing. My hypothesis: It’s easy for artists to underestimate audiences sometimes. The psycho-analysis bit in this whole narrative is I believe I was perhaps too sub-consciously cognizant of the English-speaking world (the twin cities) in which I live(d) and created my first full-blown works in.
Music will forever remain it’s own spiritual language. So don’t be surprised when u see a mostly white middle-age audience at the cedar cultural center rock in total unison with a Senegalese Hip-Hop group penning songs in wolof and french. This happened by the way – Daara J was the group. Shoutout to my grandma’s (rest her soul) relentless correction of intonation and the wonderful works of artists like Obrafour, Talking Drums, Reggie Rockstone & others that blueprinted Ghanaian Twi and English Raps. And not to forget the likes of NFL and KG & PM that blueprinted Pidgen raps. Remember “vote for me mek i chop president!” Give props where it’s properly due. Now we’re about to see what’s really good about the Ghanaian immigrant linguistic space. Boom. Bam. Okyena me tworÉ” mo biom. September 20th. Nhyira ne ahuoden M./ M doh doh doh ti doh/ M diggidy
Postcript: after penning this piece I was interviewed by Msia Kibona Clark who is writing a book on African Hip-Hop and African MCs. She spoke about being able to rap convincingly in the languages used. Yes! convincingly. I think she hit the nail on it’s big head better than my feeble blogarific attempt. Also my 1st come-to-Jesus-moment is another story.
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