M.anifest raises the bar with No Where Cool
Not only is he lyrically gifted but Hiphop artiste, M.anifest has a way of playing with rhythms to create beautiful music and he has done it again with his latest album, Nowhere Cool released last week.
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Nowhere Cool made up of 14 songs renered in English, Twi and Pidgen is pregnant with thought-provoking messages of love, money, struggles and other life lessons fused with traditional African sounds and Hip-Hop rhythms.
Songs on the album are No Where Cool, Invisble, B.E.A.R, Hand Dey Go, Hand Dey Come ft Worlasi, Rich People Problems ft. Tumi Molekane, Palm Wine and Whisky ft. Dez Kwasi.
The rest are Sugar and Goodbye both ft. Brymo, Cupid’s Crooked Bow ft. Nomisupasta, Simple Love, Ozymandias ft. Paapa, Damn You Rafiki, Time No Dey ft. Worlasi and Now Here Cool ft. Cina Soul and Ama Ata Aidoo.
While the strong guitar riffs on the title track Nowhere Cool are an ode to Highlife music, the timing of traditional Adowa rhythms fill the air on Invisible. And on Hand Dey Go Hand Dey Come, M.anifest delivers a pulsating force of modern Afrobeats music.
Over the years, M.anifest has shown his prowess with words in his raps and he made use of the style with his description of a brothel as a “place of selling fornication”.
Also on No Where Cool, he raps, “ Once America was a ladder away from heaven. Then I lived there. Later, Ghana became a paradise lost. Then I moved back. Nowhere cool...”
Sincerely, his indepth knowledge of the art of rap is quite evident on Ozymandias where he raps,” levels dey between a palmwine tapper and a champagne sipper”.
Now Here Cool is also a piece about his family, struggles and how people have always credited his fast rise to fame and success to his father’s influence making him ask, “I’m Tsikata’s son and so what”?
It is interesting listening to the interlude where legendary author Ama Ata Aidoo goes: No where cool sister, ain’t no where cool. Therefore let me hide here among the sands while I dine on the wild desert green.
And if they should ask of me, tell them the name of the game was life and I never learnt the rules.
No Where Cool, executive produced by Fui Tsikata is certainly a collection of good pieces of work which makes the listener spoilt for choice.
There is something for every mood. Hand Dey Go Hand Dey Come is ideal if one wants to go fact-paced. Sugar is sure to make one bust some moves and Simple Love and Good Bye are just cool to listen to.
A co-founder of www.GiantStepsMN.com, M.anifest began his career in Minneapolis, Minnesota before relocating to Ghana in 2011.
The award winning artiste has worked with many different acts including Blur/Gorillaz front man Damon Albarn, Erykah Badu and Afrobeat pioneer, Tony Allen among others.
M.anifest, born Kwame Tsikata was awarded the Best Rapper and Best Hip-Hop Song awards at the 2013 Vodafone Ghana Music Awards(VGMA).
Over the years, M.anifest has been involved in various album projects and tours. He has released four solo efforts: Apae the Price of Free EP (2013), Immigrant Chronicles(2011), The Birds and the Beats (2009) and Manifestations (2007).
He has also played alongside artistes such as Femi Kuti, Mick Jones, John Paul Jones and many internationally reputed artistes.