Beyond Beats: Amerado’s Bold Leap into the World of Singing Who else has noticed?

If African rap were a football tournament, Team Ghana would slowly be losing one midfielder— the individual among the few who could go head-to-head with rappers from various countries and lead Ghana to lift the trophy. Who is that gentleman trying to play with the hearts of rap lovers?

Derrick Safo Kantanka is that gentleman. He is better known as Amerado. Amerado began to cement his name in the Ghanaian rap scene when he featured on Sarkodie’s ‘Biibi ba’ in 2019 with other rappers. As a radio freestyle and battle rapper, Amerado was known to murder any beat. He was on fire; he is on fire (just not the bars fire). He didn’t rest after ‘Biibi ba’; Amerado continued to release projects like ‘Mempe,’ ‘Me Ho ye,’ ‘Twa So,’ ‘Best Rapper,’ ‘Taxi Driver,’ ‘Coming for Your King’s Head.’ Later in 2020, he decided to switch professions. Amerado became a newscaster—hilarious! Did he receive media training? How is he even reporting the news? Well, once a soldier… Amerado was rapping the news on his weekly rap series dubbed ‘Yeete Nsem,’ which, in social media slang, translates to ‘matters dey’ or ‘information dey.’

Amerado compiled news that trended within the week and summarized them all in an average of 4-5 minutes of rap, uploaded on his YouTube channel. Slowly, he built a cult following, especially as he started to feature other rappers on the series. It made it more interesting and refreshing to watch. Amerado was a journalist for 37 weeks and bid farewell to us (media practitioners), although he insists that ‘Yeete Nsem’ is not over. Derrick Safo Kantanka had a successful year in 2021; he bagged his first hit song in Ghana. He teamed up with Black Sherif and delivered the anthem ‘Abotre abotre nkoaa m’apri me Ho da daabi da.’ ‘Abotre’ catapulted Amerado’s career to a whole new level. May the God of Amerado find his way into our lives because it wasn’t just 2021.

In 2022, he collaborated with Lasmid and created another monster hit, ‘Grace.’ In 2023, he sang. Amerado sent a strong message with ‘Kweku Ananse,’ a very relatable song. It relates to everyone who has faced life’s struggles and fought them head-on. ‘Kweku Ananse’ was the consecutive smash for Amerado, and he crowned that song with a trillion-dollar verse from Fameye on the remix. Amerado was crowned the Best Rapper of the Year at the 3Music Awards in 2022. In 2023, he won the Best Rap Performance at the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards. Amerado is an artist who seizes even the tiniest opportunities to achieve relevance and dominance in the media space. Don’t think so?

Check how he made all of us wonder whether he had something to do with media mogul Deloris Frimpong Manso. See how we all woke up one day, and he sent a red letter to Strongman. Consider how he waited close to 4 months before responding to Lyrical Joe and Kofi Mole’s diss songs. He always knows how to get us talking about him. He’s good at that. Considering the magic ‘Kweku Ananse’ did for him, he thought it wise to drop another singing song in 2024, what many describe as a part 2 of ‘Kweku Ananse.’ ‘Abronoma’ is Amerado’s latest song. Amerado sends another message of caution to his nemeses on ‘Abronoma’ and does something interesting this time; he gave a rap verse. Yes, that’s what Amerado does; he raps. Amerado, you rap!!

Could it be that he considered his die-hard rap fans and just wanted to reassure them that he still has his rap game in shipshape? I strongly believe so. If you ask me, I do not like a singing Amerado, and I am certain I am not alone. Amerado is in our top ten rappers’ list in Ghana; he cannot just start singing?? I do not fault Amerado for singing because music is spiritual, and the message sinks better when sung, not rapped. Understood. I still do not like a singing Amerado. I would use this opportunity to congratulate Derrick Safo Kantanka immensely for his successes in the industry, smashing hits for the past three years consecutively and remaining an unavoidable name in Ghana rap today. Hopefully, we get a harder version of ‘The Hardest’ to quench the rap thirst. If you still ask me, I do not like a singing Amerado.

Written : Senason