Kenneth Awotwe Darko: ‘I made a career out of telling stories of my pain’ – Why Omar Sterling’s album was worth the wait

Last week, I chanced on Yaa Pono’s ‘Good Morning,’ a song that is nearly a decade old. Now that I reflect on it, it might just be a classic-in-waiting.

I tweeted that day about how I nearly forgot about this melody which underpinned most of my time back in senior high school, merely because I saw myself in the lyrics.

I almost forgot how special this song feels. Those were some Good mornings at pono biom’s second verse is golden plus Efya’s vocals.. Gad!

Even more profound was the Efya’s vocals that sandwiched Pono’s witty style from both ends to keep the track airtight, just the way we liked it. It led me to wonder which other rap song was bodied the songstress at that time when she had just found her feet as a solo act, away from the former Irene and Jane group.

“I’m coming through, see my shining…,” that’s the lyrics that rang in my head and signed out Paedae’s Tema Motorway Freestyle was key among a number of songs that ran through my mind. Efya did her magic on there as well, but this time, with one part of the R2Bees crew, Omar Sterling also known as Paedae.

At that point, it hit me how long we had gone without a Paedae album. His most recent album after that was back in 2016, 5 long years ago.

Remember, this was just me deep in my thoughts on a graveyard shift fighting to keep sleep away as much as I could reminiscing about songs that struck a nerve for me back in the day – don’t ask me why I wasn’t thinking about today’s crop of music, that’s a story for another day.

Sixteen hours later, an announcement had been made and social media had gone crazy.