“Same Boat” by Kojey Radical, feat. Mereba, explores the difficulty of getting through life, making a name for oneself, avoiding trouble, and most importantly, trying to make your mama proud and keep her from worrying about you. The song expresses repeated concern for his mother’s thoughts and fears about his lifestyle, with an air of reassurance that things are under control, that success is on the way, and that he is almost out of the woods of hardship.
Known professionally as Kojey Radical, Kwadwo Adu Genfi Amponsah is a British rapper and visual media artist, the son of Ghanaian immigrants. With his Ghanaian background, I interpret the song as being in some regards about the struggle of coping with one’s identity, destiny, expectations, and reality as the son of immigrants in the African diaspora, capturing the sentiment that life has already been more difficult for his family, and that he strives to find success against the odds.
In a sense, Kojey Radical’s repeated references to his mama in “Same Boat”, while literal, could also been taken as a reference to immigrants in the diaspora to their home countries, reassuring those that care about them that they are making the most of the opportunities they are given, not squandering them, and that they will find “success”, something that is perhaps unfamiliar to an older generation of immigrants, or to those who are still at home.
The refrain of the song repeats this sentiment:
Please don’t think less of me, mama
I’m chasin’ destiny, mama
Don’t know who blessing me, mama
Just gotta be grateful
Can’t bring no stress to you, mama
Just want the best for you, mama
With much on the line, and much to gain, Kojey Radical’s mama would have much to worry about. However, I think it is safe to say that things have worked out well for him and that those worries are in the past.