Wanluv the Kubolor was interviewed by ghtakeover.com on January 8, 2012. The video interview opens up with Wanluv walking the streets of his hometown, Ghana. During the interview, Wanluv opens up about the struggles he faced while being a student in America. He talks about what it was for him to return back to Ghana. He speaks about the musicians such as Talking Drums, The Ambassadors, NFL, etc. that influenced him to rap in pidgin and start this new style called hip life. In the interview, Wanluv speaks about pidgin language and how the majority of the youth in Ghana has now begun to speak it; he feels there is nothing more powerful than language.
During the interview, one question and response that struck out to me most was “What made [him] decide to move back to Ghana”? For Wanluv, moving back to Ghana was “daring” because he left America without a degree that his parents made him to go school for. Dropping out of college was difficult. He couldn’t obtain a social security number to find work and he didn’t want to get married. So the only way for him to survive was by doing internet fraud in America from 2000-2005. Upon returning to Ghana, many people around him saw him as though he were about to jump off a skyscaper for returning home. Wanluv, however, didn’t mind too much because he felt as though he was bringing back home with him something that the people would love.
In this inteview, one is taken to the roots of Wanluv. When Wanluv began his career, he rapped in an “American accent” because that was all that was heard on the radio. Wanluv knew he had the writing and rapping skills, but felt as though every time he went out to perform he was acting. He felt as though his audience was not seeing him as a real person. His career started off with him rapping about talking and living, but that soon began to fade away. In 2004, Wanluv took another approach with his career and decided that it was time to do something that sounded more like his home. Something that sounded more Ghana.
That last question of the interview was if there are any knew things that we should expect from Wanluv. Wanluv response with the video release of his song “Broken Languages”. Wanluv then begins laughing and tells the interviewer that he had recently seen the Jay-Z and Kanye West video to the song “Otis”. Wanluv says that Jay-Z’s and West video cannot compare to the “Broken Languages” video because it takes time and a genius to make what he has done.
Link to interview:
http://ghtakeover.com/wanlov-the-kubolor-interview-myself