“An amazing opportunity”. With those words Okyeame Kwame described his collaboration with Grammy-nominated US-based Ghanaian songwriter/producer, Nana Kwabena Tuffuor. Meeting the well-known producer - said Okyeame – is for sure an amazing opportunity with great business prospects, but fans of the musician will have to wait a little longer to hear the collaboration because, though the song will be ready in a month, barring any hitch, it will not be released immediately.
In an interview with GhanaWeb.com, he said the song, though will be finished soon, is due for release only after shooting the video and both artistes are satisfied with the output.
The song, co-written by Okyeame Kwame and Nana Kwabena Tuffuor and produced by the latter, is being recorded at the PeeWeez studios in Accra; "we have started already, we have gone to the studio, we have done the first part," Okyeame Kwame confirmed.
Nana Kwabena Tuffuor, an International US-based Ghanaian and acclaimed producer working with artistes like John Legend and Jidenna, was in Ghana for the holidays and also to start a sickle cell awareness campaign which Okyeame Kwame is coaching him on, with the experience gathered from his Hepatitis B project.
Revealing how he met Nana K. Tuffuor, a smiling Okyeame Kwame said “he contacted me, but he had already recorded with Flowking Stone (Okyeame Kwame's brother) when he was at Legon; so he's been like a family friend but he contacted me for another project, and we talked about recording the song.”
Okyeame Kwame, undoubtedly one of the most successful artistes to go solo from a group, have in recent time featured young artistes, explaining, “The idea of getting him to produce the song is to establish the relationship between him and to work on collaborations with other international acts.
The first effect of this collaboration is to create exciting content because with him in charge of the sound and the writing direction he will create something youthful, and I will bring in the classic element. I think that the song- when finished- because of his reputation will open new doors especially in online sales, widened market share and to endear me to young music lovers.”
“He wants horns live; guitar and percussion played live'. It's a hip pop trap music, but he wants to infuse the Ghanaian sound. So it will be a post-modern trap music and the infusion of the Ghanaian instrumentation. I love his writing, he is good and has a lot of experience working on the big stage and doing this project is going to take me out of my comfort zone.”
According to Okyeame Kwame, the songs being recorded by these young artistes are challenging and getting into such rhythm with his background is exciting. He said his adventure was an effort to stay in-tune with current trends and stay relevant for continued business.
“As a musician, when I am making music, there are three things I consider; first is music that my fans like, music that I like and music that my new target audience will like so I can grow my support base. When you take my albums you will notice that there are songs of different genres,” the versatile rapper stated.
Highlighting on some planned activities for the year Okyeame Kwame said he is due to launch a brand book in February about his brand and as a guide for young talents who wish to succeed. "It is to go out there to the world and teach younger musicians on how to build their brands. You know because of my blog I receive a lot of emails from these young talents asking questions so I believe we should share the things that we do with my brand so they can also learn from. My album, ‘African connection’, will also be released in July, and I hope to release my book on Music Strategy by the end of year."
Asked what he will be doing if he was not into music, a laughing Okyeame Kwame said, “I don't think I can be a taxi driver but a farmer, yes; I don't like sitting, and I don't like driving, I am a very a spirited person, so I don't like sitting at one place.”
Okyeame Kwame pose for photographs