{"id":111010,"date":"2022-09-05T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-09-05T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/?p=111010"},"modified":"2022-09-02T16:34:44","modified_gmt":"2022-09-02T14:34:44","slug":"pure-akan-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/pure-akan-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"Twi, tradition and hiplife with Pure Akan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">Pure Akan, born Nana Kwabena Appiah in February 1990, is a hiplife and highlife musician from Kwahu on the eastern side of Ghana known for his linguistic prowess and appreciation of culture. With his trademark use of Twi, a primary dialect of the Akan people, one of Ghana\u2019s largest ethnic groups, Pure Akan embodies the rich dialect and culture fighting for its place in the Ghanaian music machine. Releasing his first self-titled EP <em>Akan<\/em> in 2015, and following it up with his 2017 project <em>Onipa Akoma,<\/em> literally translated as \u201chuman heart\u201d, Pure Akan quickly made waves as a new voice in the scene. The latter was termed an \u201cinstant classic\u201d, given&nbsp; his ability to combine poetic storytelling with indigenious Ghanaian rhythms that brought cultural significance to his work and set him apart from his peers.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Akan\u2019s new fusion of highlife, hiplife and rap came to stay, earning him comparisons with the greats that came before him. While hiplife legend Okomfour Kwadee projected the style of an \u201cOkomfo\u201d or \u201cchief priest\u201d and his contemporary Obrafour played the persona of a warrior perfectly in his time, Akan has a different take. Instead, Akan\u2019s lyrics are comparable to that of a chief linguist; accurate, concise and well structured and either open to interpretation or very specific. It\u2019s no surprise then to learn Akan\u2019s grandfather was a chief linguist from whom the artist inherited philosophy, projection and much more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>His latest project, the 2021 album <em>Nyame Mma,<\/em> translated as \u201cchildren of God\u201d, was received with mixed reviews from both fans and critics. From the experimental opener of crickets and choral chants and the old school Fra Fra take on tracks like \u201cMensesa Me Ho\u201d it is clear that Akan is an artist in control of his craft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>PAM sat down with Pure Akan to talk about his thought process, his recent album <em>Nyame Mma<\/em>, and the meaning behind his artistic direction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Pure Akan &quot;Nyame Mma&quot; is God + the future I Nketenkete Vlog 1\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/rJPFZxK1X2Y?feature=oembed&#038;autoplay=1\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><figcaption>Pure Akan &#8220;Nyame Mma&#8221; is God + the future I Nketenkete Vlog 1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>You were called \u2018Kwabena Shy\u2019 back in the day, adopting more of an English take\u2026 what influenced the change in style and dialect?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I realized \u201cKwabena Shy\u201d, which was a name from high school, didn\u2019t have enough depth, or a story behind it. Later, I found myself in a place where I was fully embracing my roots. It was a long process though. I only recently changed my name from Bernard to Kwabena Appiah. Embracing my culture led me to change not only my name but my style and approach to music, my look and even my general outlook on life. I also realized I was very fluent with the Akan language. It created a connection between me and my people, the Akan people and also our culture. My fans relate better. They understand me now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Your latest album is titled <\/strong><strong><em>Nyame Mma. <\/em><\/strong><strong>Take us through the process of choosing the name.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Nyame Mma<\/em> literally translates to \u201cchildren of God\u2019. I was at a stage where I wanted to do something about how Africans or black people in general were sort of looked down upon or felt perceived in various parts of the world. I wanted my people to become self-aware and appreciate where they come from. A lot of people don\u2019t even know science has proven the first living man was black but history and time has altered the image of the black man. I feel like it\u2019s my mission to convey that message to all my people all over the world. That whole theme led me to choose the name, \u201cNyame Mma\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>\u201cMensesa Me ho\u201d which is the Akan translation for \u201cI\u2019ll never change\u201d is the lead single of your album and is one song that\u2019s getting airplay all over the country\u2026 What\u2019s your take on how fans are receiving the song?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cMensesa me ho\u201d basically means \u201cI\u2019m not changing\u201d and I wanted that theme to drive the album so I\u2019m not surprised at the reception it\u2019s getting. The theme I wanted to create for this album was that of staying true to oneself and your roots, becoming aware of the true strength that is within and conquering fear. I even have a video for the song ready to be released soon so that\u2019s my next drop. My fans should look out for that one\u2026I want that song to enter more places worldwide, it has a global appeal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Track 6 and 7 (&#8220;As\u025bm A Esii K\u0254y\u0254b\u025bda (Baako)&#8221; and &#8220;As\u025bm A Esii K\u0254y\u0254b\u025bda (Mmienu)&#8221;) on the album are two parts of a folk story with parts where you actually narrate the story\u2026 What encouraged this approach?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My aim has always been to leave the world a better place for the next generation and a very effective way of doing that is educating my people. I realized one beautiful tool Akans used back in the day was educating its people using folk stories, proverbs and poetry. Most Africans both old and new generation grew up listening to different forms of folk stories and thus they understand and easily relate. This drove me to use this method and it has proven to be very effective for me. At first I wanted to use a different story but I finally decided on using the Ananse story because it was the most relevant story universally and had the advice and life lessons I wanted to project. Most importantly, it represented the Akan culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1010\" height=\"1515\" src=\"https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Pure-Akan-1010x1515.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-111019\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Pure-Akan-1010x1515.jpg 1010w, https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Pure-Akan-759x1139.jpg 759w, https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Pure-Akan-661x992.jpg 661w, https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Pure-Akan-465x698.jpg 465w, https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Pure-Akan-375x563.jpg 375w, https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Pure-Akan.jpg 1333w\" sizes=\"(min-width:1010px) 759px,100vw\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>You seem to have a certain criteria for picking the features you have and the producers you work. What informs your decision in picking who to work with?&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s about connection. How they create sound, how that sound makes me feel, the way I feel around them. Twisted Waves, Yung Fly and Mike Millz are producers I feel understand my sound.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>You always try to convey different messages in your music. What message are you trying to put across in this album?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The foundation of music is the message. That\u2019s why artists like <a href=\"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/tag\/fela-kuti\/\">Fela<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/tag\/bob-marley\/\">Bob Marley<\/a> are as relevant today as they are the day they first released. The message will make it last. The musicscape may change from time to time, but truth never changes. I want the next generation to be affected positively by my message for many many years to come. When I first came out with my \u201cAkan EP\u201d people compared me to Obrafour. With tags like that, I can\u2019t afford to slack. *laughs*<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What\u2019s your take on hiplife music and how it has evolved in our time?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The first ever hiplife artist I listened to was Obrafour. He represented everything I respected culturally. I also listened to Kwadee and Lord Kenya. From its inception hiplife music, being a combination of hip-hop and Ghanaian highlife, has always been very malleable, very prone to change. Artists like Black Sherif and I have a more modernized hiplife form. Unfortunately the hiplife scene hasn\u2019t been attractive, thus, more artists are opting to do Afrobeat or some form of hip-hop. I just wish Ghanaian artists supported each other more. The kind of growth we\u2019re looking for will only come when we support each other and our executives and management teams accept to learn and collaborate amongst themselves both locally and internationally. We\u2019ve evolved but there\u2019s still a lot we can do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What do you think it is that sets you apart?&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My music is well defined. First thing you hear when you listen to my music is you hear my uniqueness. I represent culture and have an ability to blend culture and music perfectly. Unlike other music, my music is both entertaining and educational.&nbsp; I aim to change the stereotype that the black man is inferior, you hear that in my music. My music has poetry, folk stories, and other elements other artists don\u2019t really have. It\u2019s all in the detail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What kind of impact do you want your art to have in society?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I want to inspire people from all over the world to want to do greater things. My dream is to create a community or a creative hub or even like a record label where we can unearth the next Akan and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><em><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/fanlink.to\/Nyamemma\">Nyame Mma<\/a>,&nbsp;<\/em>out now via A-Level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1010\" height=\"1010\" src=\"https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Nyame-Mma-1010x1010.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-111011\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Nyame-Mma-1010x1010.jpg 1010w, https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Nyame-Mma-759x759.jpg 759w, https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Nyame-Mma-100x100.jpg 100w, https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Nyame-Mma-661x661.jpg 661w, https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Nyame-Mma-465x465.jpg 465w, https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Nyame-Mma-375x375.jpg 375w, https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Nyame-Mma-200x200.jpg 200w, https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Nyame-Mma-85x85.jpg 85w, https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Nyame-Mma-73x73.jpg 73w, https:\/\/pan-african-music-production.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Nyame-Mma.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(min-width:1010px) 759px,100vw\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pure Akan wields his heritage and folk stories to create an empowering backdrop to his hiplife sound. The rapper, singer and linguist takes us through the power of names, history and his latest album, Nyame Mma.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":123,"featured_media":111029,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7833,7835],"tags":[5431,41275,23741],"location":[7994],"yst_prominent_words":[26205,21546,38732,21231,25653,8414,8447,8933,8621,16966,8402,9006],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111010"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/123"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111010"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111010\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111010"},{"taxonomy":"location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/location?post=111010"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=111010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}