Throwback: Chico Dawuni – Kasa

Throwback: Chico Dawuni – Kasa

You’ll be forgiven if his name does not ring a bell loud enough to shake the walls of your memory. His tenure within the Ghanaian music circuits was shorter than his first name. However, his debut single made a decent impression on the radio playlists and some charts in the country. A promising talent who faded into oblivion after his first single ‘Kasa’.
Daniel ‘Chico’ Dawuni released his single in 1998 under the Adabraka based Kay’s Frequency Music Production imprint, which was also the home of afro-rap, pidgin propagating NFL (Native Funk Lords). One fact on Chico was that, he was the brother of Ghanaian reggae legend Rocky Dawuni, although that impact and success of Kasa was not influenced by that fact by any huge margin. Kasa was a good song in its own right.
Kasa (Talk/Speak) was a mix between R&B and (contemporary) highlife. Note that most of the Ghanaian highlife songs filed under the ‘contemporary’ tag were largely influenced by the R&B waves of that time. Remember Ded Buddy, Nana Quame and the late Dasebre Dwamena years later. Ded Buddy and Chico Dawuni were the pacesetters of that musical trend. The release happened whiles Chico was a student at the University of Ghana, Legon where he graduated with a degree in Political Science and Psychology.
Chico’s ‘Kasa’ touched wrong assumptions; lack of communication and acknowledgement of one’s efforts despite doing your best in relationships. He talked about his lover’s intentions on walking away because he couldn’t afford her the latest fashion –clothes and shoes. Though the hook had him vowing to offer her the attention she craves for, her failure to tell him what she really required was the unfortunate part of their relationship.
The video was shot at His Majesty (HM) Night Club (one of Accra’s swankiest night clubs) with Chico pulling off some Jodeci dance moves and expressions. The director employed both colour and black and white scenes (the black and white at the latter part of the video). The video also had cameos from VIP (Promzy, Friction) and Omahene Pozo.
One interesting thing I noticed watching the video was the fashion sense of that era. Yes, kicks was still in vogue. But, in there was Car Wash denims (now a Chance The Rapper favourite), leopard patterned slacks and those oversized suits worn by that three man dancers (damn *rick ross voice).