I’M IN LOVE WITH YOUR GIRLFRIEND VIDEO REVIEW

Last Friday, Jayso premiered the video of his second single I’m In Love With Your Girlfriend, off the yet to be released collaborative album The Mind Game (TMG) featuring sensational songstress Efya and rap heavyweight Sarkodie.

The video was shot at Golden Tulip Hotel, Kasapreko Warehouse and the Skillions Lab.

This is what I think of the video. Click on the link after the review to watch.

Positives

1. CONCEPT/ STORYLINE:  The concept of the video is quite different from the other videos we’ve seen on the theme of love. The almost 6 mins 39 secs short-movie music video was brilliantly done by Clockwork Media and 6Milludo.

The storyline is great, creative and eye-catching. One has to pay attention to understand the exact messages in the video

Truth is, only few artistes are able to deviate from the ‘norm’ and capture concept of songs in such format. Did Kojo Antwi’s music videos and Reggie’s ‘Ah’ come to mind?

And it is refreshing to see a company like Kasapreko featuring their products in it. Such partnership (advertisement) is long overdue albeit a good start.

2. ACTING: If Chantelle Asante (Abena) and Efya are considering acting, then this obviously is a good step. They both flirted well with the camera. They looked pretty comfortable with their gestures and emotions. Jayso wasn’t bad himself.

The video carried some subtle messages like the gun ring on Efya’s finger which meant death to whoever comes close to her man or her man himself. Also Jayso’s red jacket signified love and danger anyway you look at it, Sarkodie’s black reflect something ominous. The video was inundated with the colour red; makes sense.

3. THE FLASH BACK: The flashback scene was meant to enable one make sense of the video but it rather set many guessing as to what ‘Diamonds” Abena (Chantelle) was referring to when she followed Jayso into the bathroom. She also indicated she had a plan, obviously triggering a set of reaction. Though it made a bit of sense, it was as well confusing.

I believe there should be a sequel to this-regarding how the diamonds came into the equation. The question about Efya kidnapping a friend for coming ‘close’ to her boyfriend and more importantly, her search for the diamonds Abena alluded to made it all interesting.

4. PICTURE QUALITY: What is there to say apart from kudos with the camera angles, editing and directorial handling. The close-up shots captured the emotions expressed pretty well. The black and white for the flash back scene was perfect as well.

NEGATIVES:

1. CHANTEL following Jayso immediately after spilling his drink for me was too obvious and suspicious. At least a bit hesitation on her part would have watered down the suspicion a bit. Guess that was the essence of it.

2. How the police entered the ‘secured’ location without suspicion is a bit mysterious. Usually in such circumstances, there are goons who man the gates to alert or ward off intruders. The use of technology to identify the exact location was so subliminal to be recognised at first sight. Maybe the length of video and budget made them chop those bits off.

In all it was a brilliant video-from concept, acting and screenplay.

Click the link to watch the video   youtu.be/SHmEUu6mo3o

Rating 4/5

… AND JAYSO SINGS

 From L-R (Sarkodie and JaySo)

 A couple of weeks ago, the second single of ‘The Mind Game’ (TMG) album, a collaborative work between rapper-producer JaySo and Sarkodie was released.  The two rap heavyweights solicited the vocals of the afro pop diva Efya on this new single “I’m In Love With Your Girlfriend’.

The song opens with JaySo disclosing to his girlfriend how much he appreciates her efforts at loving him, though he ‘can’t force himself to love you’. Unfortunately, his love interest is rather in his girl’s girlfriend as he sings ‘but your girlfriend, she makes my heart skip a beat, she just the one for me/ No other girl make me feel the way I do. That’s the way she makes me feel’.

Efya, in her emotion-stirring, stylish singing tells her ‘rival’ to look elsewhere for another guy for ‘he can’t force himself to love you/so find another guy who’ll go insane for you’. For ‘no other girl can make him feel the way I make him feel’.

Sarkodie used his verse to advice the ‘drama queen’ to move on, pin-pointing the loving gestures she had employed to win the guy’s heart-like buying him a pair of jeans on Val’s day and getting jealous seeing him kiss his girlfriend. In the end he admonishes her to shun those jealousy woes and move on because the guy belongs to someone else.

One remarkable feature about the song has to do with JaySo’s singing, which any first time listener might erroneously attribute to an artiste who has dabbled in singing all his life. It was simply beautiful, unforced, firm and transparent.

JaySo on singing strait

JaySo’s reputation lies with rapping. A true hip hop head. However, in recent times, he has drifted a bit towards singing. His first attempt at singing (publicly, though some of his close pals say he has been singing for eons) was evidenced after providing the hook to Sarkodie and Sway DaSafo’s “Lay Away’, a track he produced. JaySo was heard singing though in an auto-tuned voice.

Next was “Music’,a collaboration between him and fellow Skillions Record mate Adina Thembi. His vocal work could best be described as averagely ‘dope’. Other songs he has been on include Paapa's Carpe Diem and Solar, Rumor's Let Me know,So long and Lil' Shaker's First Love

However, on this new single ‘I’m In Love With Your Girlfriend’, he sounds matured, confident, stunning and classy. His singing, undoubtedly has improved exponentially. So infectiously gorgeous and ear-pleasing is his singing that a listener may be deluded into thinking, singing a cushy that anybody could indulge in.

So far, two lead singles-Pizza n Burger (which is a typical hip hop song) and I’m In Love With Your Girlfriend (which leans towards R&B with a dose of hip hop) have successfully provided another impetus to why lovers of music must pay attention to the TMG album when it drops.

For now, all we can do is enjoy them, especially ‘I’m In Love With Your Girlfriend’ whiles waiting on the third single. Perhaps JaySo may do a twi rap or sing a highlife tune.

Follow the album on twitter @TMG for more information and download links

                                   

ALBUM REVIEW – THE OKYEAME KWAME VERSATILE SHOW

"The Rap Doctor'' OKYEAME KWAME

Is it the array of young singers that he featured on the album that is the attraction? May be the expression of his musical malleability? Or the riveting and soothing effect the songs leave on the listener? That is the question I’m trying to decipher after listening to the new album ‘’The Okyeame Kwame Versatile Show’’.

The album is indeed an exhibition of versatility as the artiste does more singing than rapping, something unusual from an artiste with ‘Best Rapper Alive’ tag.

The album carries with it such ‘lightness’-an easy listening pleasure coupled with a soul soothing aura. The track list (13 songs with 4 instrumentals) will leave many to drool over the album. Check the full track list below the article

One distinguishing feature about the album is the level of quality work the quest acts put in. The songs are crafted to dove-tail into the versatility the ‘rap doctor’ is projecting.

So, which are the favourites? “Sika”(Money) which features Kesse and explores the compelling power of money or Woara (Only You), the amorously tasteful high life ballad featuring the sultry songstress Raquel, in which the rapper argues that ‘’bye bye is for guys with bad vibes’’?

 Maybe White Wedding with EFYA, whose vocals over this neo-soul flavoured piece leaves a tinge of sensation on the listeners’ ears. White Wedding looks at the nexus between love and white weddings. Efya sings “Living in the same room/Pouring all my love through/ Pretending to be wifey, bearing all the pain with you/ Is wedding too much to have?  Okyeame Kwame’s rap at the end sounded more like spoken word poetry than rap.

Mr. Versatile, arguably the lead song opens with a bold and profound statement as Okyeame Kwame claims ‘’I’m too old for swag/ so I floss’’ and indeed he flossed, rapping on a myriad of beats from different genres of music. Irene Logan’s voice sounds expansive and rich. The track goes to confirm why Okyeame Kwame is the best rapper alive.

Don’t Judge Me featuring Vera (D-3) is heavily laden with guitar strings, giving it a pop-rock-electro appeal. Vera’s remarkably, powerful, Rihana-esque voice reverberates through the music.

On  Odo Wo He, he teams up with Nana Yaa to go in search of their love. It’s the kind of song that instantly 
gets you bumping to as soon as the beats swell up.

Then comes the high tempo, danceable and rap-filled tracks like One In A Million, where he and Caroline sketch a template of the spouse they wish to have. Others include the humor-filled Mafe Wo, the raw rap full Kwame Ke Tinny, Far Away (the only azonto track) on the album featuring SHE, whose singing was unnecessarily auto-tuned.

Raquel’s brilliance on Woara perhaps got her a second bite on the album by providing the hook for the rock-influenced New Nation featuring Bradez. A politically themed song calling on Africa to rise and celebrate her success as the chorus indicates: “I know you can’t wait till the storm is over/ The light at the end of the tunnel is getting closer/ The war is over now/ So put your armour down/ And celebrate”!

Holla At You, a calypso/carnival riddled track featuring Edwin (Soul Black) put gloss on the album. No need to go far for the calypso songs, we have one right here to jam with.

As an ambassador for Hepatitis B, it was fair to provide a slot for a track about the disease. It featured Quabena Maphia, whose emotion-filled singing gives the song a deserved ‘sorrowful’ effect.

Okyeame Kwame’s quest to establish himself as a versatile rapper or performer was achieved by this album. The various modes and swings of songs contained on the album makes it not only a good work of art but affords fans to view the malleability of his talent in 3-D format .

Rating 4.8

TRACK LIST

1. SIKA ft Kesse

2.WOARA ft Raquel

3. WHITE WEDDING ft Efya

4. MR. VERSATILE ft Irene Logan

5. ODO WO HE ft Nana Yaa

6. ONE IN A MILLION ft Caroline

7. KWAME SE ft Tinny & Edem

8.MAFE WO ft Tattoo

9. DON’T JUDGE ME ft Vera (D-3)

10. FAR AWAY ft SHE

11. NEW NATION ft Raquel & STONE (Bradez)

12. HOLLA AT YOU ft Edwin (Soul Black)

13. HEPATITIS B ft Quabena Maphia