God used Moses to rescue the Israelites at a very crucial moment where they needed freedom from the wicked king Pharaoh and he is using young talented highlife musician, ‘OT’ to redeem the lost image of our very own highlife music and to put it on its deserved pedestals.
The highlife genre for some time now has been abandoned by the new crop of artistes who in a bid to showcase their versatility have inculcated more of the western culture in them leaving the very genre created by our forefathers in an autopilot mode.
Thankfully to the adage which reads ‘If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head but if you talk to him in his own language it goes to his heart’, a thirty- two (32) year old talented musician Richmond Kofi Tuffour known professionally as OT though very young, has an in-depth knowledge of creating very inspiring and unimaginable words that go beyond the thinking capacity of the ordinary musician and he is here to make not only Ghana but the entire African continent proud with his music.
Growing up with sixteen (16) other siblings, OT began music unofficially as a rapper with the stage name ‘OTUMFOUR’ in 1998 whiles schooling at St. Paul Junior High School at Amakom in the Ashanti Region and picked his motivations from the Executioner Obrafour as a rapper then. He remained a rapper until 2008 when he switched to become a singer after taking a cue from a comment passed by one of the judges at a competition of which he was a participant in the year 2006. The judge in his comment stated that, aside OT’s rapping skills, he could sense the singing bit in him and wouldn’t be surprised to hear him sing one day, a prophecy which has become a reality today.
His singing appetite aroused when he lost a very good friend in 1998 and was compelled to write his first song tittled ‘OWUO SEI FIE’ which translates ‘death destroys a home’ in 1998 and has since been a hustler in the music circles until 2017 when he did his first professional recording with Kaywa under the record label Royal Empire Records with the management team Nene PT Media.
Being his maiden single, ‘MENKOAA’ which was recorded early this year featuring Luther and Kobby Symple is unarguably one of the best songs to be released in the year under review and though it didn’t receive all the necessary push due to financial challenges, it is still one of the timeless highlife songs ever to be recorded in the good books of this country.
Though versatile, this young talent aims at projecting our very own highlife genre to a more heightened level that will attract other foreigners into believing that, Ghana as a country has a very unique genre which should be accorded the necessary respect and his latest single ‘MEBIE MU’ is indeed evident of his promise to Ghanaians.
MEBIE MU which simply means the reaction one puts up when he finally makes it in life is a song not only for the streets but for every individual regardless of their religious background. It is a classic highlife genre that matches the current trend of waves on the scene but with an urban touch. It is a song to look up to especially in a moment like this when industry players are calling on the general public to appreciate their own, I have no doubt OT is the only highlife act to put the Ghanaian music on the international map should he be given all the necessary push and support there is to be given deducing from what I have seen and heard him sing on his latest single mebie mu.
For the industry to have discovered such a talent, there will never be any dull moments as OT is not only a singer but an amazing performer as well who recently wowed the host, guests and viewers of Entertainment City, an entertainment show on Atinka TV. He was adjudged the best performer to have ever mounted that stage and of course the guests, namely Kwesi Kyei Darkwa A.K.A KKD and DA DON were so enthused with his song and performance and kept nodding and tapping their feet to the rhythm of the song. His voice, stage demeanor and energy qualifies him to be one of the best entertainers though he is new on the scene.
The song which was recently released is enjoying all the international airplay and it’s on repeat on two big radio stations in Nigeria namely Metro FM and Eko FM respectively. It is currently available on all download portals. Follow him on these social media platforms and get interactive;
INSTAGRAM :ot_braagyaae.
TWITTER :Otumfourwan.
FACEBOOK FANPAGE :BraaGyaae.
YOUTUBE :Otgh.