Rapping Against the Common Sense

«It's like a deformed anger which comes out us. Some kind of shy happiness», says Wanlov the Kubolor, one half of the Ghanaian rap duo FOKN Bois. In the Norient podcast he talks together with his musical partner M3nsa about their visions and their way of doing art in a religion-shaped context. A podcast from the Norient exhibition Seismographic Sounds, produced by Thomas Burkhalter and Maame Adjei.

Quotes from the Podcast

«We were never raised or trained or programmed to be patriotic, to care about the country. We are just raised to know whatever we are learning is for us to get a visa to go somewhere else or to go to heaven.»

Wanlov the Kubolor

«FOKN Bois is a place where myself and Wanlov go. Where we say things that people are thinking, but never say. Or they think it but they don't say it the way they think.»

M3nsa

«We see common sense as controversial. Somebody next door can just build a church, a loud church and the police will not do anything about it. Jesus has the final authority.»

Wanlov the Kubolor

«When I'm depressed I go on YouTube and I load up one of FOKN Bois' videos and then I read the comments. Some people are so angry and other people think ‹this is so funny› and other people think ‹no this is not funny, we don't get it, they are not good, they can't rap›. People are interpreting art anyway they want.»

M3nsa

«We do it like a self therapy. You know it is like, if you guys have the power, to make noise, to walk around 3 am with loudspeakers on the shoulders and wake us up with your message from God. Then we should also be able to put that frustration out in some way and it comes out as teasin', makin' fun and people say blasphemy. But it's because we don't know any other way to win so we just do it, like we make fun for our self-expression so that we just remain sane.»

Wanlov the Kubolor

«I like to be president of Ghana, really I would. And I think M3nsa really wants to be a vice. But I think he wants it for corrupt reasons. Yeah. Really. I'm serious. You know, I really think we could do with some very really radical changes in this country.»

Wanlov the Kubolor

«It's like a deformed anger which comes out us. Some kind of shy happiness, I don't know.»

Wanlov the Kubolor

Biography

Dr. Thomas Burkhalter is an anthropologist/ethnomusicologist, AV-artist, and writer from Bern (Switzerland). He is the founder and director of Norient and the Norient Festival (NF), co-directed AV-performances and documentary films (e.g. «Contradict», Berner Filmpreis 2020 + Al-Jazeera Witness), and is the author and co-editor of several books (e.g., «Local Music Scenes and Globalization: Transnational Platforms in Beirut», Routledge, «The Arab Avant Garde: Musical Innovation in the Middle East», Wesleyan University Press). He teaches regularly at universities, and runs workshops for arts institutions. Since 2022 he produces the Norient Mixtape for Swiss National Radio SRF3. Currently, he is working on his new music duo «Melodies In My Head», and on the podcast series «Long Take: Life as an Artist». Follow him on Instagram, Research Gate, Academia.edu, Bandcamp, Spotify, or Meta.

Biography

Maame Adjei is a multi talented producer, actor and artist best known for her role as both actor and co-producer on the hit TV show An African City. She's currently producing new content that explores the beauty and dynamism of Africa, including her travel show Girl Going Places whose pilot season is available via YouTube. Named one of 15 African Women to follow on social media by Essence Magazine, Maame is keen on telling visual stories that connect, expose and explore the continent. Follow her on her Website.

Published on April 12, 2017

Last updated on November 09, 2020

Topics

Counter-Culture
Parody
Religion
Voice
All Topics

Snap

print as pdf