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Magazine
Artist: Sarkodie || Album: Mary || Label: Duncwills Ent./Sarkcess Music
Photo
Credit: @sarkodie
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| Mary Album Artwork |
With
some few years to make up a decade, musician extraordinaire, Sarkodie has never
failed to appear on our television sets and be on our radio. The musical legend
has been continually dropping hits after hits, building himself as the greatest
musical brand, influencing the youth heavily and opening the door to the hall
of fame. The rapper’s attention has been on the youth for a while now, with a
few oldies having an eye on him, although almost every inhabitant knows him.
After dropping 3 solid albums, Sarkodie decides to dedicate an album to his
late grandmother Mary Lokko who kicked the bucket in 2012. He does it in a
grandstyle, fusing genres that’ll encompass almost every typical Ghanaian’s
favourite, thus Hip-Life and High-Life. In various interviews, the “Illuminati”
hitmaker has emphasized how his grandmother advised him to do live music, when
she was alive. Known by real name Michael Owusu, he heeds granny’s advice and
provides Ghana with refreshing food for the soul, Mary Album.
The
theme that runs throughout the entire album is love, being it agape, phileo or
storge forms of love. However, a couple of songs such as “Edwom Te Sen” and
“Nobody’s Business” touch on different topics. Inasmuch as love as a subject
matter suits live recorded music, Sarkodie could’ve tackled a lot more issues
as a concerned citizen with such great power and influence, and that’s what
makes “Edwom Te Sen” a favourite of mine. How easily the 2012 BET African Act
award winner discusses the issue of gossip amongst people excellently. With the
saturation of love songs in the music scene, it has become unappetizing to
enjoy more if it.
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| Akwaboah & Sarkodie at Album Signing |
Every
time I listen to the album, there’s a tendency to keep on reminding myself it’s
not a joint album with Akwaboah. Virtuosic Ghanaian singer, Gladstorm Akwaboah
has been confirmed to have written 90% of the album. Honestly, I expected more
from Sarkodie as a rapper. Rappers prefer to write their own verses, write
their own songs, they possess good concept choosing abilities and creativity
with skill. What happened to all the above mentioned? Did Sarkodie see live
music as a heavy weight on his shoulder?
People
like me love Sarkodie for his creativity and wittiness, and that is almost lost
on this album, as he played a little role in the artistic creation of the
project. Having a close listen, he couldn’t forgo cheap rhymes— “Afei na
madamu, nti na me te mpa mu”(Giant Steps)… “Safety first, ɔdɔ no yɛwɔ mu
difference”(Mewu)
There
are quite a number of quotables— “Yɛse mmarima suban basaa it depends”(Bra)…
“Wo
ne ɔbaa te na biribi nkɔ yie a checke cable”(Giant Steps)… “ɛnkanee no na me ho
pere, amango bunu a ɛwɔ sɛ me twɛn ma ne bere”(End Up Falling)
Akwaboah,
knowing this is a great opportunity gave out his best, composing classic music
for the grown with a mindstate that Sarkodie’s rap fusions will grab the
attention of the fans and youth.
Frankly,
after hearing Sarkodie’s silky chorus on Strongman’s “Tonight”, I was put in a
frenzy, and couldn’t envisage the outcome of the album. However, he sang on
just “Mary (track 10)”, which is also
the only song he wrote himself. But how did the man of struggle make Akwaboah
write his ‘Sarkcess Story’? He didn’t even co-write! This builds up my point
that Obidi didn’t have enough clues about the record his grandma told him to
put out. I’m disappointed by the fact that Sark talked about love throughout
the whole album and couldn’t reserve a song for his grandma, despite how much
he claims to love her. Not even on the track named after her.
Half
of the songs are low tempo, with the other half being mid-tempo and fast.
Bottom-line is, every song suits the tempo it comes with.
Akwaboah
carefully selects words and sentences pleasing to mature minds, as Sark who is
not strictly tagged with that keeps it real and delivers his normal rap verses.
He tried to keep it clean though, in order to live up to the task, but ends up
spitting a few explicit statements/lines – “M’ani bɔ wo so a na me gyimi abɛtɛ”(Mary)…
“Me ankasa me nyaa no fo, me tuu ne tonga no a…” (Giant Steps), “M’ame ntu
w’ase tesɛ galamsey”(Nobody’s Business)… “ɔbaa wo ho nti mekɔ gye
for-girls”(Nobody’s Business).
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| Sarkodie & Efya at Tonaton Fresh'a'Fair |
Once
Sark announced the making of a live album, it hit me that the desire of the
rapper becoming a grammy award winner may come into reality. Hence, I was
partially disappointed when the tracklist got released and had no non-Ghanaian
African Afro-Pop musician on it. Although Efya is arguably the best female
vocalist in Ghana, in my humble opinion he could’ve featured another
songstress, possibly another Malaika of the voice, which wouldn’t have been
hard to find considering the status of yours truly. The languages used on the
project are chiefly twi and English, with a little blend of other Ghanaian
languages. That’s an inkling that Sark wants to spread the wings of his music
across the borders of Ghana, but still be loved by the local people mostly, and
earn more respect with his originality. Chase, Pat Thomas, Mugeez , Obrafour,
sensational Efya, Akwaboah and the infamous Quecy Pinto sang their hearts out,
enriching the album. Backing vocalists such as She and Efe filled all the
loop-holes.
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| Ace Drummer Francis Osei |
One
element that made the album rich is the live instruments, majorly handled by
the nation’s finest drummer, Francis Osei, professional guitarists Enoch
Owuraku of PL crew, Dominic Quarshie and Odikro and synths handled by Akwaboah.
The cohesion and chemistry exhibited by these musicians is a concrete
indication that they had a lot of practice to make the album a reality. Anyway,
few of the instrumentals came with frequently used progression, however that’s
common with pop music. This is the point where I request a standing ovation for
the brain that made the album pleasurable to listen, Kaywa. It takes brilliance
and experience to executively produce a contemporary live album. Exhibiting his
professionalism, Kaywa made the musical piece ready for every device you’d use
to ‘soak’ it.
“Mary”
succeeds in the intention of being an Afro-pop High-Life/Hip-Life album, but
leaves the ears of the adventurous somewhat dissatisfied. Congratulations to
Yours Truly on a good piece produced. Definitely, Sarkodie has raised the
standard again! As I always say mediocrity is being slaughtered!
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| Sarkodie With Family, Musician(s) & Management |
Album
Rating: 8/10
Buy
Mary Album on iTunes HERE
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