For the past week, social media has been buzzing with the hashtag #MelaninGirls. Media houses and even the BBC world service jumped on the social melee to understand the controversy being stirred by this hashtag. Okuntakinte, the man behind all this social chaos is Ghana’s first afro-electric dance music artiste and his #melaningirls campaign was done to usher in the release of the music video to his Melanin Girls single.

The campaign, which trended on social media for 4days straight simply asked for dark skinned girls to post their photos online with the hashtag and stand a chance to win Gh1000 cedis. This ended up becoming Ghana’s most engaging social media campaign so far and even caught the attention of BBC world service presenter Nuala McGovern, who interviewed Okuntakinte on BBC outside Source. The conversation, however, is not complete without an understanding of why the artiste decided to make a tune that puts emphasis on the beauty and ingenuity of African and black women. Okuntakinte simply wants to send an anti-skin bleaching message to beautiful Ghanaian and African girls at large, and no better way than through the #MelaninGirls campaign.

#MelaninGirls is a song that talks about Okuntakinte’s affair with the love of his life that later turned sour. The song comes with a brilliantly shot video directed by Prince Dovlo that puts the song into perspective without any trouble. The artiste who has a strong connection to his African influences and is greatly inspired by the beauty and pride that comes with women showing off their black or melanin makes the video a better representation of the new sexy. The video conveys abstract and artistic visuals typical of the Okuntakinte brand.

Okuntakinte is signed to Meister Music, a Ghanaian record label whose main focus is to showcase unique talent and sounds from Ghana to the world. With a mixed bag of excitement in waiting, this year Okuntakinte promises nothing but only the best when it comes to his music and artistic representation.  A lot more is to come from this talented 19-year-old.

Watch the video here;