Liberian preaching peace through music in Ghana
By Peterking Quaye – Scientific, a Liberian born-Ghanaian based HipHop/Rap musician, has told a local Ghanaian newspaper is set to embarking on a peace project to promote peace and tolerance for Ghana 2012 election.
Scientific aka Sonny Jamaal Tayshaun Tubman
He explained the concept in an exclusive interview:
Why this project? Ghana is a peaceful country and I have been here for a lot of years and from my experience in Liberia, peace is the best thing that can happen to a country and we all must defend this peace we enjoy in Ghana.
When you see wars on TV and in movies, you may not get the full feeling but I have been through it and I can tell you it is very dangerous and there are a lot of consequences involved. I just feel like doing a peace song just to educate people on the need for us to maintain the peace we have and for all of us to have the betterment of this country, no matter which party wins 2012.
Is the peace of Ghana under threat? I was here the last election and it was a bit shaky and some of my family members and friends and family in Liberia who have seen war before really got scared of what was happening in Ghana and started calling and asking all sorts of questions.
Some of them actually started praying for Ghana because they have been through it. Those of us here too were also very scared because we did not know where to go if something bad happened to Ghana. Ghana has been supportive of us and just from the 2008 experience, I believe peace is worth talking about because that was very scary. How would the project be like? I would shoot video, print stackers, embark on a national tour, and move round into the towns and cities. I do hiphop but I would get other local artistes on board to sing in the Ghanaian local dialects. I also have this Ivorian dude who has experienced the situation in his home country and he would also be bringing his experience on board. He would be singing in French.
What are you into now? I just dropped a new single and I m shooting the video now. I launched my album in September last year and I am doing a tour with it now. I feel this peace project is really big and I would dedicate more time to it.
Final message My fans should look out for a lot of good things coming out from me. They have showed me a lot of love and I wish them a great year. Definitely they should look out for great things from me this year.
BIOGRAPHY Scientific (Sonny Jamaal Tayshaun Tubman) was born in Liberia (Bong County) and raised in Ghana because of the war that broke out in Liberia at that time. With a Christian background, you would expect more of a gospel act but Scientific is extremely versatile. As a youngman, he always wanted to be a doctor in future until he got into high school and got really acquainted with hiphop.
He then started listening to Hip Hop greatest artistes like Nas, The Notorious B.I.G and BIG L to the point that he started writing down their lyrics and studying them very closely, trying to catch up to their standards. They were his role models and not too long after, he started developing the ability and skill of writing his own lyrics, which took him into a whole new realm.
He won an award as the best lyricist at a high school rap competition, best street rapper in rap battle competition and Africa’s best rapper. With continuous free styling and rap battles, amongst other rappers in ciphers, he emerged unbeatable and incomparable amongst the rest so he decided to put his thang on wax. He went on radio stations that were doing talent hunts, hoping to find a record label to get hooked up with but all he got was props from everyone, saying he had great skills and should go international. He finally hooked up with Zion records but things didn’t really work out for him while he was there.
He kept on looking till he bumped into Ghana’s hottest entertainer – Cheddar! On hearing Scientific’s flow, Cheddar hooked him on his label W.O.N.D.A World Entertainment (WWE). He was practically caged in the studio for a long time by Cheddar, the CEO of WWE, grooming him and getting him ready for the world.
WWE is introducing Scientific, the most critically acclaimed Africa’s number one, with or without the crown. He has also opened shows for a lot of international stars and hip hop icons like Jay-Z, Fat Joe, Akon and many more who have all performed in Ghana. He was recently involved in a freestyle battle with Wyclef and his lyrical contents were skewed towards addressing the continents financial crisis, political issues and urban culture.
Credit : New One
