It’s official!! We are letting you take over 4×4’s vocals to make whatever you see fit out of this massive banger from Ghana… we heard this song playing 20 times a day on the radio, at outdoor bars, at weddings… now is the chance to see where else this track can end up!! Download the acapella track from Soundcloud above, and upload your remix to our dropbox by September 15:
The prize… is getting released on one of the most forward thinking labels of African music, he he. We will put out an EP with our favorite remixes, as we did for Ze Bula and Combination. Download the original song in nearly any format below – we just ask for your email, cool?
This song is a HIIIIIIT in Ghana! 4X4 have been around for a while, but are finally making it REAL BIG, thanks in part to this massive track, produced by Appietus – of course ;-p
The song takes place at the Boomerang nightclub, where we spent a few decadent nights… As of late Boomerang has been hosting some pretty sick Francophone parties, with plenty of coupé décalé and students from across Francophone Africa frantically shaking their bobarabas.
You can download the track for free in exchange for your email – which we promise we will not share with the entire world, no 419 here!
DJ Pizaro: This week we have O!Baby by Legendary Beatz featuring (Maleek Berry, Ceeza Milli & Kwesi Arthur) , King Promise features Wizkid on Tokyo , 911 by Joey B featuring Medikal, Collect by E.L featuring Kwesi Arthur and On You By Tekno . Every weekend,...
Flowking Stone has been consistently rated one of Ghana’s best rappers. He’s also an artist for whom connecting to Ghana’s deep musical roots is key. “I like to fuse tradition and culture. So even on a westernized hip hop beat, you will hear traditional patterns in my...
Small Girl Big God as it sounds literally means " A small girl with a big God who does wonderful things for Her" DJ Jimmy Jatt one of the biggest Djs in Nigeria, teams up with Olamide and Reminisce to deliver this dope afrobeats song. The song title is a trending term...
Appietus & 4X4 – Miss Doctor – free download
This song is a HIIIIIIT in Ghana! 4X4 have been around for a while, but are finally making it REAL BIG, thanks in part to this massive track, produced by Appietus – of course ;-p
The song takes place at the Boomerang nightclub, where we spent a few decadent nights… As of late Boomerang has been hosting some pretty sick Francophone parties, with plenty of coupé décalé and students from across Francophone Africa frantically shaking their bobarabas.
You can download the track for free in exchange for your email – which we promise we will not share with the entire world, no 419 here!
DJ Pizaro: This week we have O!Baby by Legendary Beatz featuring (Maleek Berry, Ceeza Milli & Kwesi Arthur) , King Promise features Wizkid on Tokyo , 911 by Joey B featuring Medikal, Collect by E.L featuring Kwesi Arthur and On You By Tekno . Every weekend,...
Flowking Stone has been consistently rated one of Ghana’s best rappers. He’s also an artist for whom connecting to Ghana’s deep musical roots is key. “I like to fuse tradition and culture. So even on a westernized hip hop beat, you will hear traditional patterns in my...
Small Girl Big God as it sounds literally means " A small girl with a big God who does wonderful things for Her" DJ Jimmy Jatt one of the biggest Djs in Nigeria, teams up with Olamide and Reminisce to deliver this dope afrobeats song. The song title is a trending term...
The album is ouuuuuut! Indulge into it, plenty PLENTY fresh sounds from the land of the Black Stars… listen below, buy directly from us here or go to iTunes.
And… you can still get this great track for FREEEEE… all we ask for is your email so we can send you occasional Akwaaba propaganda, nothing too serious!
We are excited… it’s been WAY TOO LONG IN THE MAKING. But at last we are about to release the first album from our incredible trip to Ghana. Appietus is arguably the most successful beat maker in Ghana. He’s been around for well over a decade, and has produced so many of the country’s hits, we really don’t know which to even list.
He recently released a compilation, where he highlights some of the best Ghana has to offer right now. From huge names such as Samini, Kwabena Kwabena or KK Fosu, to up and coming voices such as Old Sodja, Mike or…. Mframa.
Ghana Lady, this song should be your summer anthem!!! Grab it for free here, give us your email and you’ll get the album first…
Another no-media blackberry post… Long days, hard to find time to upload much from a computer, but here’s the low-down:
We spent the day in Tema, about 30 km east from central Accra. TONS of hits have been coming from there. Some names are emerging. We met Nana Boroo, who’s latest song plays about 3 million times a day, catchy as hell… Don’t mean to be so masochistic in our allusiveness, but rest assured, we’ll figure out a way to post this track soon – and remember its name…! We met Nana at Playboi’s studio, before the G TV crew took over. A show about Nana, who’s hit (name!? Argh!!) is enormous here. Playboi grew up in London but moved to Accra 4 years ago. He’s been producing a ton of tracks, distilling his British R’n’B / pop touch. He complains that Ghanaians are narrow minded. But he’s being modest: his style is adding a whole new dimension to the Ghanaian sound. Panji was telling me that “Afropop” sounds like it imitates the Nigerian Naija Rap sound, which itself was inspired by early, more minimal hiplife.
Nana Boroo
Playboi
Nigeria, so enormous, keeps absorbing Ghanaian culture. It’s cool to hear Nigerian singers come to Accra to record. But really the musical difference is minor compared to the coastal music vs what we’re about to discover up north… Tamale and Bolgatanga, hometown of King Ayisoba, an incredible artist we encourage you to swallow up. Great collabo with Panji of Pidgen Music. Can’t look up myspace or itunes link from this phone, but please make the effort, you won’t regret it!
Today we also caught up with Eugene aka Choir Master (pronounced kwaya masta) of Praye. He introduced us to his protege, Blaqsam. They sing together on the track Mabrewo. Glued to it here as I type. Another one we’ll surely feature soon… Join our mailing list to get it first.
Tema is teeming with music. We also met Keywa, a top “sound engineer”, aka often the arranger / producer, responsible for dozens of hits with major and underground artists. Speaking of underground and major, Rough’n’Smooth just made it. After close to a decade making music, they just got propelled into the Ghanaian stratosphere. Being in high demand means shows and endorsements. A pretty good life, although some point that the $ is still minuscule in regards to what the artists are contributing. Artists often aren’t paid for a show organized by a radio personality, in exchange for free or reduced payola. Brands bombard the cities with billboards of famous artists. The artists don’t get much for these endorsements. Everything else is a cost.
This monetary pressure on artists makes it tough for a kid from the ghetto to make it. Especially since there are too few real producers, who really enable artists to perform and record. Yet there is no shortage of raw talent. So there is a LOT to do.
Keywa
Tomorrow morning… We head to Kumasi. Say hello if you’re around!
Oh and for the real addicts among you, you should follow our twitter, I’m able to post throughout the day.
We were lucky… LA to Accra via Amsterdam was relatively smooth… No one got stranded in post-volcano Europe, we narrowly escaped the air travel chaos and arrived safely in Ghana.
We are staying with Panji of Pidgen Music. Not a bad place to be: both Panji and Wanlov (the Kubolor!) have been welcoming despite their hectic schedule. They’ve got a movie coming up, Coz Ov Moni, which we hope – for your sake – gets released everywhere soon. The movie is funny as hell, although we probably missed some of the jokes in pidgen – still working on it!! Ghanaian premiere is at the National Theater in Accra on May 15.
The funny lookin’ cat in the picture is one of our new homies Ananse (Spider) aka Old Dad aka our GREAT friend nana’s COUSIN!!!!! The world is a crazy place: our very first day in Accra we stumble up;on Ananse at Panji’s house, who eventually tells us about his cousin Nana who lives in LA, more specifically in Venice Beach… and more specifically is THE firecracker party starter at our local LA gigs!!!
So we’re in good hands… Ananse is hilarious, a model and comedian, we’ll try to upload some videos of him dancing as soon as we can, they are well worth watching.
Back to music… we also went to Dansoman to meet up with Appietus, probably the most well knowned hiplife beat maker in town, it seems everybody’s worked with him: Samini, KK Fosu, Kofi B, Kwabena-Kwabena, Mframa, Tinny, Wutah… So Appietus played us his latest compilation, a sick SICK collection of Ghana’s finest hiplife singers. The early morning soundtrack as we write this post!
Appietus was pretty skeptical when we first met (how can a white man call a company Akwaaba?!?!), but after a few minutes of parlaying, he started to mellow out a bit. Not the first time we get this type of initial reaction: the history of white men abusing Africa and its culture is centuries long, so it’s not surprising that honesty and goodwill sometimes take a minute to sink in… Anyway the bottom line for Appietus, as for most musicians and producers here in Ghana, is MONI. So if we can help him make some without taking full advantage of him, why not… We’re meeting him again today to further discuss, and interview him.
