Patapaa scores Dictionary.com entry with Sco pa tu mana

Musician Patapaa Amisty has scored an entry on the world's leading digital dictionary (Dictionary.com) courtesy his popular non-lexical vocable sco pa tu mana.

The phrase has taken-off to an extent that Patapaa himself might not have expected since he used it on Kawula Biov's hit song Daavi Ne Ba.

Dictionary.com has dedicated a page to explaining the term which has lately been used to elicit responses on topics on Twitter

What does sco pa tu mana mean? (Dictionary.com)

Sco pa tu mana is a nonsense phrase made popular by a rap by the Ghanaian musician Patapaa. The phrase inspired the Skopatumana Challenge, where people post videos of themselves rapping Patapaa's lyrics.

Sco pa tu mana—among other spellings, such as sco pa tu manaa—became popular starting in April 2019 thanks to Ghanaian musician Patapaa. Patapaa was featured in the song “Daavi Neba” by fellow Ghanaian artist Kawoula Biov, which was released on YouTube on April 3, 2019. On it, Patapaa raps what became transcribed as sco pa tu mana.

But what does sco pa tu mana mean? Nothing meaningful in Akan, a Ghanaian language Patapaa speaks and performs in. It’s complete gibberish, apparently, but curious fans have discovered that sco pa tu mana coincidentally resembles expressions in Hawaiian, Malay, and Indonesian.

Patapaa’s lyric became a hit among Ghanians (to the point it caused friction with the song’s actual artist, Kawoula Biov) because it’s fun to say but also gets people wondering what it’s supposed to mean. In late April, Patapaa seized on the song’s popularity and on Instagram, initiated an internet challenge, tasking people with attempting to sing along with his gibberish rap.

Becoming called the Skopatumana Challenge (among other spellings, including as the hashtag #Skopatumana), it spread in popular Ghanaian culture and was covered in Ghanaian media. It gained further attention online as people new to the song and challenge around the world puzzled over what sco pa tu mana is. The phrase earned a Know Your Meme entry in late June 2019 and Urban Dictionary entries in July.