Ghanaian singer, songwriter, and performer King Maaga has released his debut project, a 6-track EP titled ‘The P.A.I.N’. ‘The P.A.I.N’ consists of 6 tracks of immersive blends of afrobeats, hip-hop, and indigenous sounds and stories. On his first ever full body of work, King Maaga talks about all the pain and love he’s experienced over the years as a young man, living and making music in Ghana.
‘The P.A.I.N’ tells a story of love. He believes that love and pain are two sides of the same coin; you cannot have one without the other. Given that it is the ones we truly love who cause us the most pain. This is because we actually care and as such, their actions and inactions get to us the most. He talks about the pain people have caused him, and the ones he inflicted on others both knowingly and unknowingly.
“Even in my lowest moments I helped people and the same energy was not reciprocated. And I’m not afraid to say it because I need to purge myself of the pain they caused me. I have caused people pain too. I can admit that. I’m not a hypocrite. No man is an island so I know there are people out there experiencing the same things I have been through. It’s my pain It’s your pain It’s our pain So, I present to you, the story of my life. Told through beautiful melodies. Me apawa nie.” – King Maaga
BREAKDOWN
YANDELEMAKATASKABOO (Intro)
This intro song is a sonical version of my life and where I’m at spiritually.
“Yandelemakataskaboo” is Divine and only I understand it. For me, it is not merely a word or simply tongues as some people may call it. It is a chant. It is my chant. A chant that connects me to the music realm.
BACK HOME
Back home is a song that reflects the true situation of a lot of people out there. A situation that I believe every youth in Ghana is experiencing. We left home to feed home so how can we go back home without having what it takes to feed home? When we have not achieved the real reason why we left to begin with? If you ever go to my hometown, tell my mom I wish I could come home but I’m not done with what I came to do so she should keep me in her prayers.
KROM (Azaa Ne Lalasu)
In my quest to make it, Krom details all the sacrifices I have had to make. It tells a story of the things we have had to do, as well as experience as strangers in a city we are trying to survive in. Krom is a chronicle of it all; the good, the bad and certainly the ugly. Being a poor man in the city, life leaves you with almost no choices. Sometimes you just have to go with the flow no matter how ugly it gets, hoping for a chance to live to fight another day in hopes that one day, you will win.
LET IT GO
In the bid to hustle and make it, I became fixated on succeeding at all costs. So, nothing else mattered, not even love. During the period, I met a girl who loved and appreciated me, but just because the hustle was all I was fixated on, I fumbled and messed it up. Looking back, I realize she was a real one. She showed me all the love in the world, but I fucked it up. This song is therefore an apology to her to let go of every pain I had caused her so she can love again.
THEY DON’T KNOW
This song hinges on the idea that “beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder “. The truth is that nobody can fully understand what makes a person truly special to another person. My first girlfriend was not the most beautiful girl I’d met, but I loved her so much. She was very submissive and respectful. Qualities that I find attractive and beautiful. Nobody thought we could actually be together until it happened. And even though we are no longer together, I’ve come to understand better the saying that, he who feels it knows it better.
MANIPULATION
This is the main reason why the EP is titled the P.A.I.N. I’ve been manipulated so many times ever since I started doing music and to finally come out of it is a blessing. It feels like love. And so it takes your mind away from the fact that they are in for their selfish interests. It’s the most common thing happening on the streets now and I feel there is a need to send a message to the youth to be very careful and vigilant.
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