There are occasions when upon first encounter, one knows without doubt that something extraordinary is in the making.
Lyrically and production-wise, in 1999 Pae Mu Ka gave Ghanaian music lovers that feeling.
Undeniably, the best Rap album to have ever been released in Ghana, Pae Mu Ka became the blueprint from which many rappers followed and the textbook from which several others studied; 18 years and counting, whether they admit it or not the album is still held in high esteem.
With beats – exotic and indigenous in one breath – like beads on the waist of an African woman, swaying immaculately to the rhythm of her strides, the album never lacked allure.
With lyrics like groundnuts dipped in honey, the 21-year-old newcomer executed bars that made him seem more like a veteran and ensured Pae Mu Ka never fell short of something to chew on.
When an album’s Intro and Outro can hold its ground against any Hiplife song 18 years after its release, there is really nothing else to be said.
Pae Mu Ka’s Intro, saw the albums producers – Hammer and Way Deep (collectively called The Last Two) laying a track so hauntingly beseeching for a young Obrafour to make a plea to a nation that was still awakening to a new art form; Hiplife – an offspring from the marriage between Hip Hop and Highlife – Obrafour makes his plea and does it with humility and class:
“Mi baa y3 a, 3nye bɔni. Efutuo, nkɔmɔ d3 3ni kɔkɔbɔ ‘nti na me nam…amanfuɔ, edwuma no so, ehia ɔbuafuɔ, Obrafour ma somu.”
This sees the newcomer winning the hearts of many, earning the respect of a nation and being placed on a pedestal above his peers where several years down the line he would say:
“This language thing is a gift and when you harness it well, it gets you places. I thank God my journey has been good.”
Taking an 18 year retrospective look since Pae Mu Ka was released, several rappers have come and gone and to be honest a few have come remarkably close. Sure, some undoubtedly have sold more copies but none have given Ghanaian music lovers the feeling Pae Mu Ka gave them in 1999.
With a bold statement in the very first line of the title track, Obrafour sure did ‘break it open and let it rip’ by asking:
“Mu p3 Acapulco Bay, anaa s3 min gba Oshin?”
My words will not do justice to the depth of that line nor adequately describe the sheer popularity of those two television programmes and its use as metaphors.
With that said, it was in a time when a lot of people had to stand by road sides to be able to watch television and a time when people were made to take their baths, whether or not they had already taken their bath, before being allowed to enter a neighbour’s room for an opportunity to feed the eyes.
So do accept my apologies if you did not experience the ‘90s. Or perhaps, I could put it into everyday lingo: ‘do you want drama, do you want peace, or do you want pain?’ The Executioner had it all on his debut album, Pae Mu Ka.
In ‘Konkonsa’, the album’s fifth track, Obrafour with help from his pals lend their voices to addressing one of society’s all-time ills – gossip:
“Killer siller, news dealer…na num as3m sh3 goal ky3n Roger Miller”
‘Aden’, saw a lamenting Obrafour take off his shoes, reveal the holes in his socks, look up to God and ask the age old question – why?
“Ma dwen saa ma fɔn, aka me ti, me nni honam”
When his counterparts were busily trying to out-do each other in a bid to ascend an imaginary throne, the 21-year-old newcomer in what is arguably the song that endeared him in the hearts of people, cleverly chose rather to preach peace and unity by calling on Ghanaians from every nook and cranny to come together, work together and live together in harmony.
He ingenuously titles the song Kwame Nkrumah, in honour of the man who led Ghana to independence and became the country’s first president and also championed the fight for independence in other countries on the African continent.
There are ‘hits’ and there are ‘classics’. Over the years there have been several hits and classic songs, however, with eight classics and one anthem out of the album’s ten tracks, Pae Mu Ka is yet to be challenged as Ghana’s definition of a Classic Hiplife album, 18 years and counting.
By: Godwin Kpade/beachfmonline.com/Ghana
