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Ghana is blessed with amazing talents and one of these talents is ‘Anadwo’ rapper Kwame Yesu.
Kwame Yesu has a dream of making it big with music and he is putting in a lot of work to make it happen. Part of the collective Rebo Tribe, Kwame Yesu got his name due to his belief in black Jesus, and he makes sure to put Him first in everything he does.
The rapper whose sound is a blend of hip-hop and afro-beats is currently making waves with his single ‘Anadwo’; a song that talks about the hustle of life.
We got in touch with Kwame Yesu to talk about his personality, music, and prospects for fans out there.
Who is Kwame Yesu?
“Kwame Yesu born Raymond Kyere, is a recording artist from Ghana specializing in Hip-hop, Trap, and Afro-beats, with a dream of making it with music.”
Why the name Kwame Yesu?
“I choose to use ‘Kwame Yesu’ because I believe Jesus was black and I was raised in a Christian home so I put him first in everything I do”
How did music start for you?
“Music has always been a part of my life since I was a kid. Reggae & Highlife was the popular sound played at home till my brother introduced me to Hip-hop, that was when my interest grew. I started with performing other songs in junior high, entraining people with my performances was just a hobby but I never had plans of writing my own songs till 2015 when I decided to take on music professionally. Fast forward 2021 we making bangers haha.”
How will you describe your sound?
“I would describe my sound as an alternative with core elements of Hip-hop but with influences from other genres due to the wide array of music I listen to. I believe my sounds are more about feels and vibes with a bit of money talk hahaha, cos music itself is a spiritual thing so I channel what I feel into words most at times provoked by the beat, and if it’s real the people are going to connect with it.”
Who or what has been your inspiration?
“My inspiration comes from everything around me, my surroundings, people I meet, conversations I have and personal life experiences”
What have been your hurdles in music?
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“As an artist, one of the first hurdles that you will be faced with is finding yourself and sound, an issue I was no stranger to. We all have people before us we fell in love with their music and in the beginning we tend to imitate them, the challenge here is to be able to carve your own sound. Personally that aside most of the hurdles faced are more of the business side of the music, with the biggest hurdle being low finance. Everything about making music requires money from recording down to promotion but in this part of the world, the focus is on everything else except the funds. There are few or no people willing to invest in music with a fractured industry with no system or legislation enforced to help creatives earn from their works. Until systems are enforced to cater for that, the music industry in Ghana will always fall behind the rest of the world regardless of how many great talents we have.”
What inspired your song Anadwo?
“Anadwo was inspired basically by the hunger to make it. The producer of the song ‘Anadwo’ Ghanaian Stallion sent me the beat, on my way back home from a long day’s work and it just dawned on me the number of people still out in the night grinding to make some earns, that’s when it hit me. I instantly got some lines down, and the rest came to me after that.”
How did you settle on Black Sherif & Kimilist as collaborators on the single?
“When I caught a vibe for the song, I asked Jay my manager who he thought would be a good fit to which he suggested blacko. Funny enough at that point Black Sherif and I had had talks about working on something so I proceeded to send him the beat, moments later he hit me back to let me know he’s game so we decided on a date to hit the studio to record. We pulled up to Mimlife Studios where we linked up Kimilist. I laid my verse first and by the time I was done blacko had caught a vibe too. He went in the booth and laid his verse after I was done and by the time he was done with the hook Kimilist was inspired to lay something hahaha it was magic, that moment felt great. Anadwo was birthed that night.”
What should fans look out for in 2021?
“Fans should expect more good music. I have been feeding my boys for a while now, the ladies need them some Big Ye; currently working on something for my ladies, we feast soon. Also, catch me performing on bigger stages & hopefully we working on putting together a show for the fans to come to have the Astro Nyame experience, it could be this year or next (fingers crossed). Thanks to everybody supporting the dream, a win for me is a win for us all.”
