A Special Review Of “Move” By Keeny Ice Featuring Kofi Kinaata

Song: Move

Artiste: Keeny Ice – ft. Kofi Kinaata

Author: Kwame Dadzie

Introduction: Keeny Ice, a fast –rising Ghanaian music act, is out with a head bumping track called Move which features Takoradi Fante rapper Kofi Kinaata.

Instrumentation: The production for Move is exquisite. The sound is of high quality and the beat can easily make the paraplegic walk. It is a hip-life beat with heavy kicks to Move with.

Message: Move is one of those hip hop tracks on self politics. Its message is basically about moving to the rhythm of the beat and the rappers ‘boasting’ about their abilities. This is a common feature of hip hop and makes the song fun t listen to. The rappers tell how the ladies like them and how good they are at what they do. The hook ‘Move, Chale you Move’ is very simple and catchy.

Keeny Ice’s Verse: Keeny speaks pidgin and Ewe. His pace and flow is so smooth especially with his blend of the Pidgin. He does the first verse, Kofi comes in with the second verse and then he comes back with the third and last verse.

Kofi Kinaata’s Verse: Kofi, in his usual style nails the beat right on point with his T’adi Fante vibes. His rap is audible and easily to relate to.

The Ewe Influence: The music industry is so choked that to penetrate easily, one needs to carve an identity that can make him easily identified. There are few people who do rap music in Ewe; and Keeny’s decision to tread that course is laudable. It can sell him not only in Ghana, but in Togo and other Ewe – speaking communities in Benin.

On Move, the blend of Twi, Pidgin English and Ewe is a very smart strategy to market the song in Ghana. Aside, the danceable beat, there are people who also thrive in lyrics, and that is where he gets a larger audience with his style.

Recommendations: Keeny does few bars of his rap in Twi: Joe wontie a, wobetie, and the Ewe accent knocks it down. I will suggest to him he sticks to his Ewe and Pidgin English. He can still blow up with that. When it becomes necessary to add Twi, he can always feature other musicians who speak good Twi.

There is a mistake most up and coming musicians usually make when it comes to featuring known music acts. In their bid to make the known artistes visible on their tracks, they end up submerging their own brands.

In the intro of the song, Kofi Kinaata mentions his name before Keeny Ice – which doesn’t bode well for Keeny Ice’s brand. The song belongs to Keeny, so he should have mentioned his name in the beginning. Kofi’s signature would have been needed only where he does he verse.

Conclusion: Move is banger. It is a song that will be enjoyed by most revelers and rap lovers. I rate it 80%.