Reviews

Otan: Sarkodie examines dark side of success

By Gabriel Myers Hansen

30 Jan 2024 - 14:05

Being a Ghanaian rapper, Sarkodie must, of course, sing about haters from time to time. The man also knows how to craft a hit song – often calling on hook mongers within Afrobeats to complement his rap. It is a key creative manoeuvre that has ensured his fixed commercial relevance. And there it is: maintaining a foothold in the mainstream requires an understanding of pop music’s conventions.

But a song needn’t be great to accrue commercial success, and even if he’s Africa’s most decorated rapper, Sarkodie has repeatedly been involved in feeble offerings.

By 2022’s Jamz, his eighth full-length project, the lingering question about whether Sarkodie still possessed the capacity (or appetite) for a truly great song despite his sustained radio power – like what happens on 2015’s Mary, his career opus – was growing louder and louder. Could he mount that improbable task without assistance from in-demand singers?

With the arrival of ‘Otan’, a long-teased, doomy-yet-hopeful record ruminating about being the target of ill will, the answer has arrived. Sarkodie is still in tune with the specific lyrical faculty that has set him as an unshakable rap name.

Produced by MOG Beatz, ‘Otan’ translates from Twi as “hatred”, and is informed by a somewhat confused psychological heap that also constitutes familiar topics for hip hop anthems looking to be taken seriously: arrogance stemming from its author’s tenure at the steeple longer than any of his peers (“I’m on the top, and I keep on winning…” a line from the hook goes), keen awareness, worry or delusion about potential successors, and steadfast confidence in God for protection through it all.

Bass-heavy and flushed in entrancing tones, the track, spanning over three minutes, is earnest and resolute, its author quintessentially scrupulous about a knife-edge flow and witticism. The record balances on instrumentation and an unlikely 2/4-time signature that is inherently emotional and resonant, thus is at once a candidate for the most seminal offering in the history of seminal Sarkodie offerings.

The attendant black-and-white visual style video for ‘Otan’ emphasises both messianic and pugilistic conceit, portraying a Sarkodie as a hero with an avidity for vengeance, confronting perceived bearers of his doom with clenched fists and clenched jaws, and clawing his way out of the jaws of death itself. These adversaries could be external, but if you have had the career that Sarkodie has both enjoyed and endured, a life-size mirror could prove to be just as revealing. Fame is dangerous enough to turn a man into his own villain. Sarkodie penned the song to address “demons inside of me,” referencing – whether plainly or cryptically – everything from suicidal thoughts to simply remaining sane.

Hip hop celebrates (even rewards) youth, hence, it is unsurprising for artists to remain trapped in that euphoria, even if it goes without saying that audiences, like artists, grow older. At 35, Sarkodie, a prolific linguist, has already said plenty, his creative run nothing short of revolutionary, which is why he is now not only a statesman whose comprehensive catalogue is essential listening for his peers and up-and-coming incarnations but should also rank among Ghana’s greatest rappers of all time with minimal objection.

With each positive pop outcome, artists morph into creatures of habit, cultivating a devotion to practical songwriting models and chasing the next hit. Courage to venture away from what is traditional or popular is often what ushers in new creative peaks. Sarkodie has one foot in the door.