Kwame Ametepee Tsikata, known to his peers and the music world as M.anifest, is a famous Ghanian rapper, singer and songwriter. His first solo album dropped in 2007 and ten years later in 2017, he won two awards at the Ghana Music Awards. Winning Best Rapper and Hip-Hop song of the year places him as a top-tier star and he has yet to show signs of slowing down since. He released a song titled “Me Ne Woa” featuring King Promise in 2018 and so far, it has collected over a million views on YouTube. The video along with the song is a beautiful work of art, mixing the English language with Ewe-Twi.
The chorus repeats the song’s title, ‘me ne woa’, which is spoken using Ghanian’s native language. This translates to “me and you”, depicting the sentiments of the song which is centered around a love story. The introduction is also mixed with Ewe-Twi and it goes as follows:
sɛ onim dada
odoyewu sɛ onim dada
sɛ onim dada.
The English translation: So she already knows/My love already knows/So she already knows.
King Promise sings the chorus and M.anifest raps the verses. M.anifest uses some broken English along with pidgin English sprinkled into the lyrics. As an English speaker, it isn’t hard to understand as he tells a tale of two people. He’s making a promise to her and admits his flaws while admiring her perfections. He recognizes his absences, attributing them to his musical career and many nights in the studio. He mentions his hometown of Accra, Ghana and says it is not easy thriving. However, his hustler mindset will not allow him to rest but yearns for a harmony between his music career and love life.
Being that the chorus is spoken in Ewe-Twi, it shows a connection between his home life and his global influence. Perhaps titling the song in Ewe-Twi and making it a love song shows that his love will always be rooted in his homeland, no matter how far out or wide he travels. It will always be “me and you”.
You can follow him on Twitter @manifestive and listen to more songs on his YouTube. Thank you for tuning in!