Multiple award-winning South African Rapper Nadia Nakai, in her lime 6-inch stilettos, a short colourful dress walks up to me on the rooftop of No.1 Oxford Street building where we will sit down to have a chit-chat on what brings her to the city of Accra and more.
A visibly thrilled Nadia, tells me that her first visit in Ghana has been nothing short of amazing ‘…I heard about the Ghana-Nigeria Jollof battle so as soon as I got down the plane I had to try some Ghana Jollof. For now, I would say Nigeria takes the cup…”
Here is how our conversation went.
This interview has been edited for purposes of brevity and clarity.
What brings you to Ghana?
I did an international feature with an artist named Vic Mensa. He is signed to Roc Nation, he has worked with Kanye West….originally from Ghana he came back to the country so I thought it would make sense to shoot here because I have never been and it would be amazing to film with him in his home country because not a lot of people know he is from Ghana.
But Ghana had always been on my bucket list. I want to work with the artists here and also create a fan base. I want to cultivate fan bases in different parts of the African continent.
Which Ghanaian artists would you like to work with?
I would love to work with Kwesi Arthur, Joey B…obviously Sarkodie that would be amazing, Stonebwoy, Eno Barony…she is such a vibe, and Kidi. I’ve recently been exposed to Kidi and I haven’t worked with the type of artist that he is, he a singer and I have worked with a lot of rap artists.
I want to work with artists that I know are about to strike gold like they are knocking on the door of stardom and I think Kidi is one of those artists that is about to be the next big thing out of Ghana.
What are your thoughts about the Ghanaian hip-hop scene?
I don’t know how big hip-hop sounding like hip-hop in the rest of the country is…. It’s exciting but I feel I bring something different.
I feel like when I work with Eno we would be such a dope dynamic because we won’t sound the same. She would have a unique sound and so would I.
Let’s talk about beef in the industry, what’s the impact?
I think it impacts your work negatively specifically for women. When women are ever seen disagreeing or fighting it’s seen as not tasteful.
I don’t think it’s the right energy. When you look at it globally, female artistes are not beefing they are collaborating.
Where would you like to take the Nadia Nakai brand to?
Africa. That’s our mission statement for 2021.
