If you are not familiar with the early formation days of Ghana’s hiplife music in the late 1990s, then you missed a lot about SAMINI’s musical journey to stardom. Formerly known as Batman from Dansoman in Accra, back in the days, every song with Samini’s voice and popular chant, “Kpee” was a hit. From King David’s “Ayefenotse” to Back Tye’s – “Yen Pie”, then to the reign of the Trinity Boys (that included Samini), and their monster hit, “Sudwe”, Samini was the golden boy with a new flavor he called “African Dancehall”. And when he dropped his debut, Dankwasere, with monster hits, “Linda”, “Odo” and “Gyae Shi” he became Ghana’s biggest musical star.
Later, Samini’s music evolved to be a blend of highlife, dancehall, reggae. soca, and rap music. He rebranded from Batman Samini to Samini and made history as the first Ghanaian artiste to win the “Best African Act” at the MOBO Awards. Samini has seven studio albums and has collaborations also with Jamaican singers such as Steel Pulse, Etana, and Popcaan. You might probably have jammed to his hit songs like “Kind of Gal”, “Tempo”, “Still In Love” (one of our favorites), “Where my baby dey”, “Samini”, “Sweet Mistake”, “Money Biz” , “Time Bomb” and our favorite Samini jam of all times, “Music” where he sang about how music makes the music man survive. It’s easier to compose music when you are talented, however, to create a lasting brand as a successful musician is a major headache for most African musicians.
Most singers believe they can but evidently, several people have no idea how to do so. Most often, an artiste’s life span lasts after just an album, and for some, they never make it to the stage of even producing a mixtape album. Despite the influx of many young talents in the Ghanaian music industry, Samini is still a force a reckon with, particularly when it comes to live band performance, he is beyond doubt exceptional. However, the uprising of Stonebwoy Burnington and Shatta Wale’s reign seems to have pushed Samini into the shadows when it comes to dancehall music. Although his musical beef with Shatta Wale was quite intriguing, the High-grade Family appears to have lost their voice, and no longer have control over the turf, nonetheless, Samini still has got game. His 7th studio album, Untamed, is more of a blend of reggae, lovers rock, and highlife music; sincerely, it’s worth the listen.
Samini has come a long way, and paved way for many others to follow his path, unfortunately, during his reign as King, social media tools such as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and others were yet to be invented. He may not be in the limelight nor have the solid fanbase like back in the days where he had the Midas touch, but when it comes to making good music, it’s not game over, he’s got fire. (Flash Africa)Samini has come a long way, and paved way for many others to follow his path, unfortunately, during his reign as King, social media tools such as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and others were yet to be invented. He may not be in the limelight nor have the solid fanbase like back in the days where he had the Midas touch, but when it comes to making good music, it’s not game over, he’s got fire. (Flash Africa)Samini has come a long way, and paved way for many others to follow his path, unfortunately, during his reign as King, social media tools such as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and others were yet to be invented. He may not be in the limelight nor have the solid fanbase like back in the days where he had the Midas touch, but when it comes to making good music, it’s not game over, he’s got fire. (Flash Africa)
