#hephzibah
Worlasi’s: One Life
Dir: Abstrakte
Worlasi’s latest song, questions life, death and the after life - he explores why we should care more about the life we have here on earth, committing to making it a better place instead of using heaven as our escape route. Watching the video, you get a real sense of the themes pushing through and you know the creative team behind it worked hard on making it so.
Worlasi tells me about what the inspiration for this song came from; “Sometimes things that confuse me you know inspires me, like I don’t understand why somethings are going on so I think about it and I just write about it. I don’t understand why some people can give so much time to God and forget about the fact that they have responsibilities like their children. I think people should more focus on helping other human beings or helping themselves to get better for us to get better. If we are all better, it helps all of us, you understand? All we think about is how people think about us, in terms of our religion and how close we are to God; we think about that so much that we forget that we have kids to take care of, you understand? And it’s sad that the kids actually need us, they rely on us to be better people. That’s what inspired me.”
Personally watching the seven minute long video, I’m glad there are subtitles - I mean I could listen to this guy sing all day, but as a non Ewe speaking/understanding Ghanaian, l’m glad to know what he’s saying. The video starts with a contemplating Worlarsi at the Abelempke train station heading to Achimota, when a bunch of happily playful children come running past him - the entire video happens during his and Sena Dagadu’s train ride.
Worlasi gets on the train and starts to contemplate about life, how we should appreciate it, because we have so much yet refuse to see. It sounds contemplative, questioning - now I don’t know how old he is, but in my mind he’s in his mid to late 20’s so for someone so young (probably) to speak with such experience and knowledge in his voice, is surprising but yet welcome.
Throughout the video, there are scenes of normal life and hard work, but mostly sadness, violence, only balanced by the vibrance and care free nature of the children. Almost as if to say if we lived life care free like children did, we would appreciate it more. You will also notice the bright colours and vibrance of the visuals, from the costumes and props to the general colour gradient of the video - although there are some sad scenes, the joy of life has still been captured in the colours and faces of children throughout the video - also acting as a balance.
Pause. Enter the Goddess of Soul and Hip hop herself, Sena Dagadu, bringing with her a whole other spiritual and upbeat vibe to the song - rapping over scenes of two children playing around their neighbourhood, imagination and freedom allowing them to escape for a while.
I was curious about the collaboration, so I asked Worlasi how Sena became a part of this song and he said; “after I did the song, wrote everything and put it together, I told them (management) that I wanted to put Sena or Manifest on the song and I was like who did they think was more suitable and then most of them said Sena and I was like cool lets put Sena on it. We realised there was also another song for Manifest, so we were like let’s make this Sena. We didn’t think it would happen though but we sent it to her and she was cool with it.”
Followers of Yoyo tinz will know Worlasi and the big fuss we made about his first project/EP/album, whatever you want to call it Nusē - which was absolutely incredible and made me a fan even from the intro, to Black Man, to Possible to Freedom. His lyricism, voice and subject matter caught my attention as well as his management and label because you can tell they put some budget behind this video. There are tracking shots, choreography, actors and even the occasional drone shot.
I wanted to know if he felt any pressure going into his next project or did he going into with no expectations/limitations and hoped it will translate to the audience, and he said; “yea but I won’t call it pressure but more of a guide. I don’t have to do the same thing, it has to be better but at the same time it has to be in the range of who Worlasi is, you understand? Yea, so the pressure was not repeating the same thing, no monotony, different but better. I’ll say it’s a guide but not pressure, but above all I have to vibe with what I do before it comes out”
I really like this song and video to match (of which Worlasi is keen to give all credit to the Abstrakte team), if this is an indication of how his new project is going to sound, then I’m definitely still a fan.
4 stars
Review by team member Hephzie
Sarkodie: Take it Back Dir: Alexx Adjei
Ask any Ghanaian who Sarkodieis and they will likely marvel at the question, surely you don’t need to ask, you should just know. His impact on Ghanaian music can be felt beyond its borders and overseas, arguably, in a league of his own, a cosign from him can do wonders for your career, ask Fanti Van Damme - and he proves this in his latest single critiquing an art form, you can tell he genuinely loves.
Take it back is a retrospective look at the GH Hiphop scene, comparing it to what it looks like now, with visuals to back. The music video starts with a quote; and if you are a film nerd like me you’ll know the quote is from a poignant scene in the Matrix, said by lead character Neo - an anagram for One meaning the ‘The One’ thus in the first few seconds of the video Sark cements his position in the industry.
We then see cuts of a turntable, good old Chuck Taylor’s and black and white effects through out the entire video, connotating a nostalgic look at a moment in musical history; especially when he says 'yεn kɔ back to Reggie Rock, yεn kɔ back to Saturday Cypher with DJ Black’ referring back to a time when GH Hiphop was in its heyday, suggesting its not so now.
The video is littered with both literal and abstract imagery; for example the hour glass when he talks about the lack of cappa when battle rappers of today duke it out, or the faces of Sark’s rap idols. The more abstract imagery are the random dancers, who sometimes wear gas mask (don’t ask, I don’t get it either) or the image of a lion. However, one scene I really like, which is also woven throughout the video is the 'rap battle’ scene, where a few rappers are battling it out but only Sark can be heard, cut to a guy wearing a gas mask carrying a sign that says 'weak flow’ - suddenly it clicks, he’s protesting the current state of rap.
I get where Sark is going with this, and he’s one of the few who can release a track like this and isn’t to be argued with. He takes it upon himself to call out out the so called 'rappers’ who he believes are undoing the great work that him and his peers have done while congratulating the few who have kept a standard.
You can liken this to the Jay Z Death of Autotune single; moment of silence! Short video, and I like the song more than I do the video but I get it, and that’s all that matters. Like Neo, Sark is taking the game back! 3 stars.
P.S: So glad he shouts out Kofi Kinaata, y'all sleeping on him.
Review by Yoyotinz member Hephzie
Twitter: @HephzIsBlessed
Blog:http://hephziek.blogspot.co.uk/
RedRed: How Far Dir: Jarreth Merz Editor: Piros Héjja
‘How Far’ when used in pidgin has less to do with the literal distance or length of a situation or thing but more of a friendly or not so friendly 'what’s up’?
RedRed’s third music video and single is by far their most socially conscious and desperately necessary work to date, especially given the timing of it. Mensa tells me the video was actually meant to debut on Independence Day, but wasn’t able to because of perfectionists on his team, including himself. In my opinion, the timing is still perfect as the video cleverly illustrates the lyrics of the song.
The video opens with a beautiful establishing drone shot of the lighthouse in James Town to a shot of the Ghana flag, immediately telling the viewers which country (and continent) the critique in the music, is aimed at. We then see ½ of RedRed; Mensa walking through the familiar busy streets of Accra demanding answers to questions and situations that are clearly being ignored - “when the pipe go start they flow, when they go stop with the dumsor?”
Cut to Mensa standing in a pulpit, dressed in all white and seemingly 'preaching’ to a congregation. The symbolism of religion is woven throughout the lyrics and video as we cut back and forth to the preacher man character. The song even starts with the rhetorical question 'Where dey the saviour we dey look for, E be some guy for the sky inside or e be me then you’. So I asked him if he thought religion was an issue, when it comes to the progress of Ghana, to which he responded saying; 'perhaps religion itself is not the problem, or it’s always been the problem, I’m not sure. This might sound as cliche as possible but we definitely have a confusion between spirituality and religion, and it seems like it’s an easy outlet for us, just give everything to God - it’s almost become cultural now. There are now people who are educated enough to understand the loophole and take advantage of the people. It’s a problem’.
RedRed makes it clear that this 'fa ma nyame’ (give it to God) attitude that seems to have become a part of the Ghanaian fibre needs to be addressed and I’m glad someone has the balls to speak on it (although he’s been addressing this for a while in his other project; FOKN BOIS).
The vibrant colours in the video and the upbeat nature of the song (especially the 2nd half) - juxtaposes the lyrics and the message that the duo are conveying, but somehow, this still works - perhaps because, there are enough visual signifiers of social critique; evident in quick shots of Bright Ackwerh’s Million Man Riot project, Mensah dressed as a nurse (strikes) and dresses in school uniform (colonial education system) to make the viewer understand what is being conveyed. For me, the most impactful imagery, is when he sings the national pledge 'and make our nation great and strong’ against a backdrop of barely clothed children playing in filthy open waste sites in Accra (3:15 - 3:23) - Oh Ghana!
At this point, it’s important to give the Editor of the video a shout out - Mensa tells me Piros was handed 800gig worth of footage, of which she was required to tell a story in 3mins; quite a feat! She however not only edited an amazing video, but she also refused to take money for it - and insisted it be donated instead. Piros, we salute you!
The need for change in Ghana and Africa as a whole has never been as desperate as it is now; the unstable supply of water and electricity, health care workers and teachers going on strikes and even the spread of the highly contagious dead goat syndrome; one has to question the future of Ghana. 'The future of Ghana is either bright or dire, but that is a choice that we have to make. We can keep going in that direction and keep pretending that everything is alright because we have the same fancy cars you will find in a 'first world’ country… The truth is the foundation of the country hasn’t been sorted out, we still have bullshit education, we’re still using syllabuses that were handed down to us by our colonial masters. We don’t have consistent supply, of electricity, water, healthcare - everything is fucked, you know? But in the same breath, there’s wealth in the country and there are people who are taking advantage of that so there’s always going to be a gap between those who are thriving and those who are bearing the brunt of it. Either we turn things around or we keep going in the same direction. The choice is ours to make, in the name of Jesus.’
Just know, RedRed no be some mumus - a five star from me!
Review by Yoyotinz member Hephzie Twitter: @HephzIsBlessed Blog: http://hephziek.blogspot.co.uk/
