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.
