Sarkodie is one of Ghana’s biggest musicians and also one of the richest. He started his music career more fifty years. Sarkodie is the only Ghanaian artist who has won the Artist of the Year at the Ghana Music Awards twice. He has albums and numerous singles and out of them, are about ninety percent global or nationwide songs. Sarkodie has established businesses aside his professional music career.
Last week, Sarkodie released his new song titled ‘Otan’ and this is my opinion about the song.
‘Otan’ commenced with the majestic flow of arppegio light keys coupled with bland fluent flute sets a chilly-melancholic mood for the song.
Sarkodie in the very first verse, highlights two very important themes regarding his life. His music message has always been
The first is a part about his intrinsic self he partially hides(He projects them in his songs sometimes). He exclaims how he is highly sensitive, and that, it is rather unwise to bruise his ego. To put that in perspective, we can use his lyrical beef with Manifest, the “Advice” for Shatta Wale after their fracass, and the recent “Try Me” for Yvonne Nelson.
The energies he used in these songs are precarious.
The second theme talks about how he is fighting his demons. It can be referred that these personal thing may be gargantuan, for which reason, it has made him so distressed and in extension, reticent.
Sarkodie believes that these unphysical battles he has been dealing with for years are caused by ‘friends’/ close associates that he trusted the most.To keep his peace of mind and be alive, he had to cut them off and be a loner.
In the second verse, the persona feels tired, depressed and weary as “his spirit is broken” and he almost wants to give up on his career. This is owed to the numerous “problems” he has been fighting for a long time. He then sees it wise to lay out his burden to the Lord, as “somebody (His mother) takes him to church”, prayed for and with him. As God takes the wheel, his mother is now proud of him and cheers him on.
He gets to know that these people he had been dealing with for years are the “fake friends” that he used to talk to.
It is to be noted that in the first verse, he did not know the “supposed people’ were his friends because he solicited help from them to fight his them.
In Summary, the song is a recap into King Sark’s career and personal life to an extent. It is an expounded form of his verse on Medikal’s “We Made It” off the “Planning ” album.
Sarkodie is undoubtedly one of Ghana’s best musicians to ever do this business and he is internationally and locally recognized. He has been excellent with his career and the Grammy award is his next target.
To be able to stay relevant consistently for more than a decade in the entertainment industry is a huge achievement and people respect Sarkodie for being able to do that.