Veteran Ghanaian rapper Nii Addo Quaynir, known in showbiz as Tinny, has revealed that he originally started his career rapping in Twi and English, but later switched to Ga.
This, he said, was after realising it was the only way to stay true to himself and his roots.
“Yeah, I actually started as a Twi rapper,” Tinny said. “I was doing more Twi and English than a bit of Ga, but I wasn’t a Ga rapper.”
Explaining why he initially chose Twi, Tinny pointed to its commercial advantages.
“Twi is the most spoken language in Ghana, so when you’re doing something in Twi, you perceive that the faster it will go. Consider merchandising and market-wise, I mean it goes fast. So I decided to do my thing in Twi.”
But that changed when he had a moment of reckoning with his identity.
“Later on, I realised that I’m not original. I have to be me and represent where I’m coming from. That’s why I went back to my pen and my paper and I wrote like Makola Kwakwe and other songs.”
When asked if someone influenced the decision to rap in Ga, Tinny was clear. “No one, I decided myself.”
There had been rumours that acclaimed producer Hammer encouraged the shift, but Tinny shut them down.
“No, this was way before meeting Hammer. I was a Ga rapper before meeting him.”
He recounted how their first encounter happened through another artist.
“I remember I met Hammer through Doggo. When Doggo was going to record his album, Hammer was looking for a Ga rapper.
“So Doggo actually told Hammer about me, and I was home when he called me. I drove there, and I met him, and the rest is history, as they say. So it wasn’t Hammer at all.”
On what it was like working with the legendary producer, Tinny described it as inspiring.
“The feeling alone was great. Because Hammer is the type that can mute everything and drop you some baseline that you go crazy… wow… even before dropping the strings and everything.
“So it brings the feeling out of you. Like the creativity to come out. I love working with Hammer, one of the best engineers so far.”
When host George Quaye noted that some artists have found Hammer difficult to work with, Tinny had a different take.
“Maybe it is the understanding. I dey worry, but Hammer still works with me.”
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