STRONGMAN’S ‘BUOKROM BOY EP’ IS ALMOST FLAWLESS: A REVIEW

By: Abeiku Arhin Tsiwah

The wittiness of Strongman will never cease to surprise. Here is one musical artist who keeps reinventing himself every point in time.

From being a poster boy of the Mic Burners, to attaining the status of Sarkodie’s protege; to advancing his own course, sojourn, to becoming the leading foot of his own Empire, there is nothing this Ghanaian Rapper hasn’t glided himself to become.

In becoming him; the Strongman of nerdiness, witticism and proverbial reverence, he has accentuated himself as the archer whose skills, creativity and intellect are as potent as the arrow that projects from his bow.

At a time when many Ghanaian rappers are becoming trendier with the buzz of the business that interpolates more melodies and danceable wave, following the saturation of social media fluke, Strongee has, however, remained a stalwart to the status quo of hardcore rap and awesome storytelling.

With the release of his latest Extended Play (EP) dubbed, “BUOKROM BOY”, remarks a significant retrospection to where this colossus of a rapper has emerged from. To synopsize, one can easily understand that this specific body of work is a righteous homage to the soil, the people and tradition of which his navel was buried. It is imperative that creatives constantly be reminded of where they have come from as that in itself is a catalyst deed towards prospecting new fronts.

“Buokrom Boy” is a seven (7) track EP; approximating a 25-minutes-listening duration. It features four solid artistes on the project: Efya, Sista Afia, Mr. Drew and Medikal. This is where I think Strongman was salient in balancing the discourse on gender parity and so to indicate, a fair representation on his disco graphical pursuit.

Commencing the project and setting the right tone is “King You Wanna Be”, and which features the enigmatic awe-inspiring songstress Efya. Listening to it, I couldn’t think of a perfect voice to lace the spotless rap than Efya’s. It instantly gives substance and fulcrum to the issues Strongman itched to communicate. Equally, the title of the song brings home to meaning the exactitude of the rapper’s sentiments.

Opening strongly and clearly;

“No apartment/I’m living rent free in your head/Your favourite is alive/But let me sing him a dirge. . . . .Keep watching porn hard/One day you can take my slut.”

By going hard and scuttling shots, Strongman lays bricks of cleverness that teeters and communicates to the myraid of rappers out there whom might for some reason be compared with him. Through obvious imagistic alliteration, he cements into the mind of the listener that he is that particular monarch in the rap game whom everyone aspires to become.

As intelligent as he is, he demonstrates this earnestly by not being limited by the scope of context and content as he swings from being an orator, a poet, a cartographer, a mathematician; pharmacist—expanding into subjects which indicates his vast understanding of using puns and anecdotes to ink his way into making doubting Thomas’ accord him the reverence and title he deserves.

“Yente” the second piece on the project which features Medikal gives a quick attention to Asakaa kind of music vibes from how it begs in sound and hook. Of course, it could be Medikal for this specific one. Since Asakaa is Kumasi-orientation, it is not too surprising its influence is felt in this regard. The song for better reasoning is titled less towards hardcore rap; to being an easy flow and a street jam, marks it as a weak link following a very heavy rap-laden beginning.

There is more to arriving at a conclusive pause in-between the EP with “Dreams”, the third project off it. This is the project’s anthem. It reeks of the peopling ideology, the analogy of not giving up on a person’s dreams and priorities. 

Visually emphasizing the charcoal seller’s child situation with besting themselves to surmounting the odds to wearing white typifies the very Buokrom storyboard he has spinned off. Fascinating enough is the subtle hint he lends to every young heart chasing dreams and the authority of paper. Therein his pen gnaws;

“Wow ku nipa p3 sika/Kae s3 sika wo ne boundaries (If you kill someone for money (rituals)/Bear in mind money has its own boundaries)”.

It is clear how conscious the rapper is about what money truly involves and that to add to wits proves how ill money gotten comes with its own circumstantial misfortunes.

“Sika” and “Sing Your Name”, fourth and fifth songs which features Sista Afia and Mr. Drew respectively are more or less love themed, mundanity and materialistic.

In “Sika”especially, it is straightforwardly explicit in how money is more important than anything else in a relationship. That is not too surprising as the lyricist is aware of the ongoing socially orchestrated push for money over every other thing. In drawing parity, Strongman gives in to the Adam aged logic of sex in exchange for money phenomenon.

Good as “Sika” is, nevertheless, I am unable to appreciate Sista Afia’s chorus and presence on it. It is vaguely monotonous and unrelatable. It couldn’t meet my expectation of her on a sterling project. It is a major letdown in my opinion.

Mr. Drew as usual did his thing on “Sing Your Name”. The coherence and cheesy connection between the rap and signing in terms of its being an encomium for an individual’s lover is soothing. One cannot take away a good writer’s ability to adorn a woman’s physical beauty in their works and this was achieved, justifiably, herein.

Saving the best for the last, Strongman after cunningly coaxing his listeners with the epical first track, tactfully walks into the soul of the listener with his penultimate and ultimate songs, “Goated” and “Ekwan”.

“Goated” the sixth on the EP is funky, rich in wordplay and canny punchlines. That intro of the toddler’s voice is beautiful and seraphic, angelic in texture and feel. It made me to repeat that particular line over and over again. Very clever of the artist. I am smithen to believe that is his three-year-old Simona bucking her father to ring home his goatly bars to his teeming followers.

What makes “Goated” ingeniously good is the duration in which the rapper made his case concise and fervent. It is the shortest in duration on the EP but somehow managed to kick in with breathless punches and metaphors.

Just as it has become a homestay idea and belief, Strongman makes it so obvious that when it comes to lyrical beef, he is unrepentantly ready; that he actually is the butcher in the abattoir.

Through a material medium and visual recognizance, he compares himself to the legendary status of both Usain Bolt and Mike Tyson. Whereas with Bolt he spells it out to every other rapper his age and era that he is far gone when it comes to displaying lyrical vendetta. In contrast to Tyson, Strongman tells of how he is fearless with unalloyed jabs and ferocious uppercuts that would render any rapper bruised with a knockout.

The final cause of the project is where nostalgia attains magnificence. Conjuring cryptical aura, evocative adages, poetic license, glamorous tradition, folkloric rhetorics and metaphors, “Ekwan” sets sail homely.

The rhythmic flow of sounds, percussions, traditional drums, and singing by such temptingly spiritual womanly voices is non-episodic, but graciously addictive and attention grabbing. It is prayer-like in its charge. Warrior-like in chant.

The philosophy behind this piece is both culturally and socially driven. The beauty, charm and aesthetical flawlessness of the EP is capsulized in this final piece.

Strongman is not afraid of whatsoever that anyone thinks of him. Like a released arrow, he is particulated by what he seeks to achieve, target, than what his enemies and those who disregard his art and skill think of him and his work. He kowtows to nothing terrene. 

This is an awakening of the spirit of kings, legends and mystical signatures in one single individual who has taken a path to solidifying his dexterity, wittiness, brilliance and lyrical masterfulness in the loins of posterity.

Satisfactorily, this scores 8.5/10 on the rating scale. The 1.5 marks deduction comes from the very works Medikal and Sista Afia were featured on. Those in my opinion were the shoestrings that took a little magic out of the project.

Nonetheless, this is is a major recommendation for anyone looking for a Hip-Hop/Rap classic to listen.

You’ll madly love it!