9. Samini

He has taken us on quite a ride. From his cornroll ‘Batman’ days to I’m not too sure what’s going on with my hair ‘Batman Samini’ days to more focused dreadlocked ‘Samini’ phase—a very dramatic ride.

A very talented man with a very necessary dancehall jive to his tune, Emmanuel Samini has captured hearts in this country especially female hearts with his kpoi chants and his gyrating waist. I remember how much he has grown, from his ‘ahusheshe’ collaboration years to becoming one of the most sought after artistes is no mean feat.

My favourite song of his has to be ‘Where my baby dey’.  Samini cannot be celebrated without mentioning the artistes like the General Marcus’s and Soni Bali’s who made Ghanaians start to appreciate dancehall.

Well my Rasta people say he isn’t true Rasta! So fake Rasta man Samini, your 4 albums and awards oh yeah and your music have won you the ninth spot on my list. (I think people who make this assertion are misguided by our eternal lack of belief in ourselves).

Can someone tell those people to shut up! Jamaica is not Ghana, I want to hear reggae/ragga like a Ghanaian sings it not like Bob Marley! If I want Bob Marley, I will listen to his songs or Peter Tosh or Culture. Typical example is Lucky Dube. He brought reggae to the apartheid South African setting for South Africans to relate to it, Lucky Dube is Rastafarian whether he speaks Afrikaans or English and in the same vain, Samini doesn’t need to blast our ears with meaningless patois for his music to be reggae).

In his defence, his Wikipedia page says, He terms his brand of music as the “African dancehall”. Okay Samini we hear you but it still sounds good.