KWESI ARTHUR IS SEEKING HIS OWN ”NIRVANA” AND A FRESH START.
Kwesi Arthur. Bare-chested. Undeniable talent. Raw energy. Profound lyrics. Endearing personality. A glimmer of innocent naivete. These are the immediate picture that Kwesi Arthur‘s name immediately conjures. The young kid from Tema built a cult following among the youth and worked his way to mainstream recognition on an enterprising label, Ground Up Chale. On ”Nirvana”, the rapper was seeking a fresh start.
By 2017, the young rapper had finally learnt how to wash his hands and was dinning with his elders, as his anthemic song, ‘‘Grind Day’‘, produced by the incredible Kayso (From Tema) had received verses from Sarkodie and Medikal on the remix. The Sarkodie and MDK features were seen by many as the anointing of the ‘Golden Child’.
EPs, features, collaborations, full length albums followed next. Kwesi Arthur and his label brothers – Kofi Mole, Twitch 4EVA, Quamina Mp- were flying high the flag of Ground Up Chale- which was growing into a label that gave you the raw hip hop records that fans were itching for. The label was, in a way filling a void that Last 2, the label built by legendary producer Hammer had left.
It was the great MC, Rakim that said constant elevation causes expansion. What the revered rapper didn’t add was that expansion could result in a burst if not carefully cultivated. The seamless success that Kwesi Arthur and Ground Up Chale were raking would end in 2022 on an acrimonious leg; a spat that was fully ‘twittervised’.
The shocking breakup came months after Kwesi Arthur released his debut album “Son of Jacob“, a project that received mixed reaction from fans and critics. Prior to the release of “Son of Jacob”, there were muffled chirps about a frosty relationship between the artists and the label. Kwesi Arthur’s public rants about unfair business practices against Ground Up Chale thus ended a good run.
Pain is a fuel. How it is used depends on the individual. Sometimes, artists are known to draw from the darkest chamber of their experiences in the making of their art. A huge dossier of evidence exists to buttress this point. It was a matter of time for Kwesi Arthur to share his side of the story that led to the breakup, following his long silence.
‘Nirvana’ thus became the record. Released on 20th July, 2022, the melodic rap song partly detailed a friable relationship- deception and betrayal; the dark cloud that often hovers between business and friendship; diminished loyalty and the rocky nature of life.
With pointed lyrics as “We all be adults who are you kiddin’/ I go admit if I be wrong”, Kwesi Arthur began weaving his yarn. Few bars after, he would intimate: “Can’t chase lies sake of blind loyalty/ Can’t change the past so let it die/ This world be yawa/ Can’t even trust my own blood’. Betrayal can be very debilitating especially when it is from people you have built a solid and trusted relationship with over years. The cut runs deeper when you realize you have lost everything you have worked for in the process. “You be snake, you can’t be my slime” summed how he felt in the end.
Whereas Kwesi Arthur expressed his disappointment in his “brothers”, Kofi Mole delivered arguably, one of the best verses of his career (thus far). His missive bothered on matured reflections on his musical journey, inserting a string of advice about life – from his mother praying for him to losing ‘touch with a couple of brothers but they’re still family” – an allusion to his departure from Ground Up Chale with Kwesi Arthur. He concluded his verse with a cautionary note: life is not a race but a journey hence the need to be patient and weary of the bumps ahead.
A lot of songs have been written about disloyalty, betrayal, unrequited love and disappointments in life and relationships. Although Kwesi Arthur’s ”Nirvana” falls within the same ballpark, there is something alluring about the song when you hear it. The production sounds lush and spaced-out, offering Kwesi Arthur the room to fill it with his melancholic and honest tales that appeals to your conscience.
As a listener, the two verses of the song strike a chord either directly or not. The setbacks in life notwithstanding, everyone is chasing their own ‘’Nirvana’’ one way or another. The song might not be Kwesi Arthur’s biggest or most familiar in his catalogue. It, however, ranks higher in his canon of classic songs. Kwesi Arthur is seeking his own “Nirvana” and his fans hope he finds it. When that would happen is open for discussion.
