“Mensa is back again / To drive the world insane / Everything I do is a result of hardwork / I don’t ever complain…” 

Agyuma is similar to the musician who wrote it. The bass-heavy track may take cues from Lil’ Wayne’s hit, A Milli, but Mensa twists any American influences into something distinctly Ghanaian, with local references including taxi drivers and ‘dangbeleshie’ (a scissor kick). Over a decade has lapsed since hits like Bra Yen Sa and Bibini Ba made Mensa one of hiplife’s early stars. He has spent much of that time abroad, but Mensa feels the distance has actually strengthened his music: “Being away, I actually started appreciating Ghanaian music all over again, going into music Ghanaians were making in the 60s and 70s, paying attention to my Dad’s music. He’s a lecturer in music and he’s always been about palm wine highlife, traditional music, folklore and things like that. Now I understand the value of all that, I’m trying to inculcate it into my music. If you listen to the chords and progressions in palm wine highlife, it’s pure jazz. Yet it’s still original and unique.”

Mensa feels Ghanaian music – hiplife in particular – is in transition at the moment: “Ghanaian musicians are very intelligent. They can talk about anything no matter how plain it is and still make it artistic and enjoyable. But it’s important to be able to make music that ten years or twenty years down the line, I can speak to my son and say “this is what I was doing when I was your age and I still think it has some kind of relevance… a place in history”. You don’t want to just make generic crap, but we seem to be into that. It’s a phase most industries go through. We have so much to offer though. The American thing has been done. What else have we got to bring to the table?”

“My music, for now… let’s just call it music from Ghana. It has a lot of jazz, soul, hip hop influences, but it’s essentially Ghanaian music. “

While he’s been away, Mensa has been popping in and out of the country working on his new album, No. 1 Mango Street. He says it is dedicated to Ghana: “I’ve done the whole European thing and America and all that and I just feel like I want to represent Ghana in a different light. To make music valuable again. Musicians don’t realize what their potential is, especially coming from Ghana. We have a sound that the rest of the world has not been privy to. I think most musicians now are making music for the next quick buck. That’s why everybody’s jumping on this hiplife generic sound, but there’s so much more they can tap into… Living here and seeing how people react to authentic music from Ghana or from Africa. People hear Fela Kuti and they are like “Wow. This is actually beautiful music”. How come we don’t hear enough Fela on the radio in Ghana? It makes me appreciate the music all over again and I try to take a page out of that book and bring it into my work.”

Mensa named the album after the only address he has ever lived in in Ghana. “I have the fondest memories of growing up there. As a teenager leaving, coming back home. Leaving the country, coming back home. Going to boarding school, coming back home. And then as an adult, going back to the street to see how much it has changed and how much it has not changed. It’s pretty much all my influences and experiences growing up there and everything around it”.

Mensa started playing piano in church when he was nine. His first musical memory was a classical recital gone wrong. He had practiced for weeks but once he hit the stage, he could not remember how to play. He started and stopped ten times and his best friend even joined him on stage to offer her support. Most people might have given up, but strangely this experience made Mensa more determined than ever to show people his potential. He eventually played the song. He is philosophical about the incident: “I think I had all the bad experiences when I started… got them out of the way.”

No. 1 Mango Street features classic Ghanaian band, Osibisa, as well as new artists like Nigerian singer Ndidi (to whom he is married) and Samini: “Man, he’s great to work with. The texture of his voice. To be a producer and an artist, to me it’s such a blessing. Recording his vocals, his work ethic. The guy is focused, man. It’s an inspiration to me. I kinda took him out of his comfort zone with that song.”

One artist who Mensa regularly works with is fellow Adisadel College old boy, Wanlov the Kubolor. “You must have seen us on stage. It’s just a natural energy working together. He understands me, I understand him. We’re very different, but our differences make us gel”. Together, the two eccentric artists call themselves The F.O.K.N Boys. Mensa explains, “We wanted something that would hit people. In Ghana, an old woman can just say “wo ye forkin boy” and not mean it in that derogative way.” They have already released a single, Broakin Langeijizz. Running at six minutes with no chorus, the lyrics have to be heard to be believed. Mensa says they put it out as an ‘ID card’: “It’s trying to get into the core of what Ghana is about. When Jay Z says “I drink a fifth”, I can repeat that if I was mimicking his lyrics but what the hell is drinking a fifth? So we thought we’re going to talk about ‘the mango tree climber’. ‘Or the bela trap setter’. People are going to be like you repeat that. Do you know what that is? It’s about the ingenuity and intelligence of being Ghanaian. People need understand, we know what we’re doing.”

By the time this article is out, the two artists will be releasing their musical film debut, Coz Ov Moni. Mensa says the film is about making the idea of being a Ghanaian cool. “The idea was to put being Ghanaian in the limelight. Being proud, being what you are without all of the pretence or trying to be like the next person or the rest of the world. To be able to speak pidgin or four different languages… and bringing that to the table like “yeah, I can speak your language, but can you speak mine?” That is what the film is about.”

The film was sponsored by Ghanaian music producer, Panji Anoff, who Mensa cites as a major influence; “This is us in a room thinking about a concept, developing it into a musical and taking it properly to the cinema, and Panji’s like “Great. I’ll fund it”. After shooting the movie, Mensa says he has as a newfound respect for actors. “There I was moaning about waking up at the crack of dawn to shoot a scene. Then I would get there and the crew would already be there, set up and waiting!”

After the movie, the talented rapper, producer, and now actor and singer (that’s right: Mensa actually sings on the album and sounds good too) will join his fellow F.O.K.N Boy for a tour of seven cities in Canada and the United States, where they will show the film at a couple of international film festivals, before hopping back into the studio for a F.O.K.N Boys album. Speaking of which, why the name FOKN? “It’s actually ‘Four King Boys’: two people with two split personalities, all from royal families. That’s what it is… until I come up with something else!”

By Kobby Graham

Dust Magazine March 2010