Sure. Well, I was born in Tema, in Greater Accra. I lived there with my mom and dad for awhile. We moved to Koforidua in the east, then came back to Accra. I spent a lot of my childhood at Achimota, Mile 7. I went to school there. That was definitely a time that was a bit dark in my life as a child. So it built this whole persona of Sarkodie as a laid-back observer. I like to watch life happen and go with the flow. I like to watch things from my quiet corner; I was always observing. So that started with me just writing, not necessarily music. It was just me writing stuff that I thought about on a regular basis, random stuff. I used to watch everything that was happening and just try to pin it down.
So I would go to places to perform, like small pubs and bars. Then people would go there thinking I would come again. So I just saw the demand. That's when I realized this could be something like a full-time gig, and then I took it seriously.
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I imagine that would be a handful. So the way we first heard of you in Ghana was that you were the fastest rapper around. You were the guy who could just pack more words into a minute then anybody. How did that happen?
Well, I am a fast talker. Recently I'm trying to slow it down. I naturally talk fast. I have certain moments when I stammer when I speak, so I literally have to talk fast to be able to get over it. So that's where I possess that power. Then I put it into music, so it's not too much of a hardship for me to rap fast. I can say a lot of words in one sentence. And I fell in love with fast rap when I listened to Twista and Busta Rhymes. I definitely got inspiration from them. I used to listen to them on a daily basis. So I just picked up a lot from them and used my native tongue to do the same thing.
I've read a couple of interviews you did about this new album, No Pressure. I understand that a big part of it is a feeling of freedom that you don't have to answer to anybody. I think you said, "As much as they told me it's not going to work, I made it work."
It was a whole lot. The biggest thing for me was the language barrier. I wouldn't rule out that it made sense that I should speak in languages that a lot of people could understand, but at the same time, then I'm literally doing what everyone else is doing to survive. I am an indigenous artist. We have a lot of people who cater to a certain group. Your language is very essential when it comes to music, especially when you're dealing with emotions. You want to be able to express yourself well, to be able to get to the right people who deserve to hear it. So I'm dealing with my Ghanaian people. That's how I thought. Then I said, "O.K., why not? Let me just use the flow and delivery of my language to capture someone who doesn't understand what I'm saying, but appreciates sound."
That's why I always tell young ones coming up, there are things you have that no one else can understand. You can't explain it to anybody. You might as well just get along and do it, and that's exactly what I did.
So a lot of it was about language. People told you that if you only rapped in Twi, then people who didn't speak it would be left out. But you didn't see it that way. I know that rapping in every language is different. It works better in some languages than others. What are the challenges of rapping in Twi?
I appreciate sound and I know sound. I really know how to pick beats. I know how to create songs that people are going to love. I've had that gift for a very long time. So I know music. I know sonics. I know what the ear can appreciate. So when I speak Twi, there are certain words that, as much as it makes sense, it doesn't sound right sonically. So I just know how to make the words so that they will please people sonically. When I started out, I didn't used to do that. The typical Ashantis used to love it, because they knew exactly what I was saying., But then when I read the faces of other people, I could see them thinking, "What is he talking about? I don't understand what he's saying." Because there was no flow. I was just saying stuff. But then I realized that there are certain words that just have a sound to them. It's hard work, but if that's your job, you just have to zone in on it. That's what I was doing 24/7, trying to figure out how to find the best words that can sonically please the near. So I got it figured out long ago. I know what types of words to use so that it can be understood by my people, and that people who are not Ghanaians can appreciate the sound.
In all my songs, my first lyrics, the first two lines will show me how dope or nice this song is going to be. So the first thing I say will lead the whole song. When I started, I didn't have access to the studio, and I didn't have access to producers. So then you just start to write at random, take beats and just write, or write without beats. Just write lyrics down, and when you have beats, you try to fix it, to make it work with the progression and the tempo.
But now, I have people sending me beats 24/7, which helps because it starts the mood for me. The beats and the production will set the mood. The tone can tell me that this is a happy song, or this is sad. So then I get into that zone and literally just flow in that. You know, I have songs that talk about sorrow, and people think I'm living that life. I'm not. I just psych myself that I'm in that place, and it's going to come out.
How I get my cadence on the beat is I make sounds with no lyrics, just to get the timing. I'm really keen on timing, how not to land on a kick or a snare. Technically, any beat I get, I try to find something that stands out as the beauty of the beat, so that you don't have to go over it, so that the beat can also breathe as well.
I have a song called "Happy Day." That's a good example. There is a tone that dominates the music, and as soon as I heard that, I know the lyrics that are supposed to go on that song. And that's how the music is going to be beautiful. You have to marry the beats. You have to be in between it. You have to blow on it. So basically I make sounds. The beats can dictate the mood, then I just throw myself into whatever character I have to do.
Yeah. A whole lot. My email is crazy. I need to cut down. So what I do now, I don't do that anymore. I just have two or three producers that I really trust. I call them normally on Friday nights. They come outside my house. We have the speaker and we just played beats, beats, beats. And I just take whatever I can take if I can record on the spot, which nowadays I don't do very much. Way back I used to record on the spot. As soon as I heard the beat, I started writing. But now after doing it for 10 years, if you're not careful, you might catch yourself repeating something that you've done. So you need to take your time and just sit with it. Now, normally, it can actually take two weeks to do one record. It's a slow pace, but I do the best work that way.
A few years ago I interviewed a Congolese rapper, Baloji. He comes out of Congolese music, which as you know has a lot of rules. The audience has certain expectations. But he was having a very hard time being accepted as a hip-hop artist in Europe, because what he was doing was different. And he said that he thought hip-hop was the most conservative music he had ever dealt with. It was a surprising statement to me. But it reminds me of what you're saying. A lot of people seem to think they know what you need to do, and I could see how it would be nice to be free of that.
Yeah. That's the best thing you can do. If not, the art will fall off. That's why for rappers it's hard to keep up. You have to quiet out everything and just see yourself like any artist, whether it be classical music, r&b, country. They're all musicians. It's how you take it.
It's interesting what you say about five years being 80 years in rap music. When we were in Ghana in 2013, we did a whole show about Ebo Taylor, who literally is about 80, and he's still cranking it out. Nice if you can last that long, right?
One thing I noticed about your album is that it has a progression to it. It starts out with pretty hard rap and hip-hop, but then becomes increasingly melodic as it goes along. More r&b. More Afrobeats. And then ending with the gospel track.
Yes. I love that song because that is not me. I like when I try new stuff. I sang the chorus, which is really not Sarkodie. I love to rap, and normally what I do is I do my choruses and call people in to come and sing. So that's what I did to that. As soon as I had the melody, I just sang the lyrics to it. It was like midnight, and if you listen to the music it has a very chilled vibe. The time of the day plays a part in how you record. This was around two in the morning. So when I did it, I sang the chorus first. I thought I was going to find somebody like I normally do. But the more I listened to it I thought, it's not really that bad. Let me just try and see. I was very nervous but I thought, let me just give it to them and see how that goes. People love it, and I love it as well.
Yeah. Honestly, when I did that song I didn't know that Amapiano was in the system. I got the beats for this long ago. So big shouts to Rexxie from Nigeria. He is the producer, and he listens a lot to sounds so maybe he got the inspiration from there. Personally, I didn't know about Amapiano.
Coachella. A lot of questions came: why Coachella?. It's funny. But as creative people, we have these moments that are hard to explain. As soon as I heard the beat, the first thing that came to my mind was Coachella. I don't know why. Of course, I have never been to Coachella. I don't know what it feels like, but in my mind, the beats, the first scene that came the mind was Coachella. The tone has a festival vibe. Yes that's how come I named it Coachella.
Ah, one good song that I really love. I've had that song for probably close to nine years. I wrote it way, way back but I felt that I was not mature enough to do that record. It was very huge. I was young. I used to write big, big records. I got someone to come and sing it, but I didn't really like it. So I just kept that song for a solid nine years and now I had the nerve to do it. I knew I could afford to get a choir, do this, do that. So this was the right time to do that song. I just linked up with a few people and put a choir together. I called my brother, and a childhood friend who used to live just behind our house, my mom's house. I never knew he was singing until I saw him on TV as well. He sings. He does gospel. So I brought into the house, and he organized the choir and made something beautiful and magic. 152ee80cbc
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