King Kaka released the video for “Ganji,” the first episode of a seven-episode series on March 3, 2021. Just from the thumbnail of the video, I knew the song was going to be about a serious issue. For many of King Kaka’s videos, the thumbnails show people smiling, they incorporate several different colors, and/or they incorporate some type of fun activity. For the thumbnail for “Ganji,” it is a simple picture with a yellow sunset in the background and silhouettes of students wearing graduation caps and gowns. This alludes to the issue of education in Africa and speaking out about problems that specifically affect students and youth.
The video starts off by saying “8 out of 10 graduates are jobless,” which sets the tone for the song and the video before the lyrics even begin. The video then focuses on two people: a robber and an innocent man he wants to take money from. The song tells the perspective of both men. The robber is in distress as he begs the man to give him money because despite holding an engineering degree, he is unable to successfully take care of his wife and kids because he doesn’t have a job. He also notes that there is no point in knocking on the man’s door to ask him for money because this generation was raised to be brave, creating an excuse (in a way) for him to rob the man because he believes it would be a more efficient way to obtain the money he needs, but also to emphasize how society and schooling prioritized raising courageous kids rather than focusing on helping them get jobs and maintain careers with their degrees. It is also interesting that the song pointed out that the students who dropped out of school ended up being rich, whereas the robber stayed, retrieved his degree, and didn’t have enough money for food.
I also enjoyed the contrast of the life between the man and the robber. The man notes that he and the robber started from the same place yet he became a working man and the other a robber, like many of his associates have as well. Both men desperately needed the money, yet the robber chose the more destructive route. The song portrays school to be the beginning of a slippery slope into poverty, struggle, depression, and catastrophic behaviors.
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