Download the audio and read the review by Kwame Dadzie below.⤵
Song: ‘Jennifer Lomotey’
Artiste: Kurl Songx ft. Sarkodie
Producer: Kaywa
Author: Kwame Dadzie
Preamble: After winning the 2016 MTN Hitmaker Kelvin is now out with a very nice song titled ‘Jennifer Lomotey.’
Kelvin who is now called Kurl Songx, is now under Kaywa’s Highly Spiritual Music (HSM). ‘Jennifer Lomotey’ features rapper Sarkodie and he is managed by Franklin Agyekum’s Blaq Standard Management.
Instrumentation and Production: “Splendid!” That’s how I will describe ‘Jennifer Lomotey’s production. Kaywa for the past years has proven his mettle in music production and he nailed it right on this song.
He uses punches at the right places to give the song a special bumpy effect. Even though the melodies of those punches bear striking likeness to the chorus of the song Nacee did for Peace FM’s Kwasi Aboagye as signature tune for his Entertainment Review show, I believe they did some magic to the ‘Jennifer Lomotey.’
The song is in Key F Major and in highlife fashion. It laces the congas, guitars, keyboards and other percussion instruments perfectly for a soothing highlife effect.
Song Arrangement: The music starts with Kurl Songx ad-libbing on soft strings and percussion. He sings the chorus and then Sarkodie enters with his rap. Kaywa does well by interspersing the rap with punchy beat. Kurl sings the chorus again and then ropes in few phrases of Chaka Demus & the Pliers’ ‘Murder She Wrote.’ Sarkodie later comes in again with his rap and then Kaywa does some piano works till fade.
Vocal Performance: From the first day I saw Kelvin (Kurl Songx) in the MTN Hit maker competition, I said to myself that “this is a real singer.” Kurl’s vocal delivery on ‘Jennifer Lometey’ is as immaculate. He sounds as someone who has been in the music industry for ages.
Sarkodie’s Rap: I like the arrangement of Sarkodie’s rap and his flow. His presence on the song brings so much life to it.
Message: ‘Jennifer Lomotey’ is about love; specifically about sending a message to one’s partner that they want to make love to them.
Content Analysis: This is a song for mature people. It uses some lewd words couched in imagery to convey the message of sex.
Even though I like the way Sarkodie raps, I believe that his use of the word ‘adwaman’ was so negative. Yes, love making is not bad but ‘adwaman’ is mostly used to refer to ‘promiscuity.’ It connotes sex in a bad light – and that makes me retch at the use of that word. It might go beyond the literal meaning but the target audience of the will not think beyond the literal or denotative meaning of ‘adwaman.’
Again, he makes reference to the nice beads on the waist of Jennifer Lomotey, who he refers to as a Krobo lady. He then goes ahead to say Okomfo Anokye has cursed her with ‘adwaman.’
Those few lines have dimmed the light of the whole song. The Krobo-curse allusion he made in the song is predicated on an old story about Krobo women. The story is told of Krobo girls who got cursed by the great priest of the Ashanti Kingdom, Okomfo Anokye, because they had seen his nakedness when he was bathing by the riverside.
This has been a story that has been rubbished by most Krobo folks as untrue and mere anecdote. We live in a country where Krobos have been stereotyped as promiscuous – so much that some people discourage their family and friends from marrying from that tribe due to this perception. People still believe that supposed Okomfo Anokye curse has affected all Krobos, especially their women.
In 2015, movie producer Paul Gee released a movie called ‘Okomfo Anokye,’ in which Agya Koo (Okomfo Anokye) cursed some ladies (Krobo ladies) who saw his manhood.
That scene in the movie did not go down well with the Krobos. A group called Klo Hengme was on the neck of Paul Gee to pull out the movie from the market and apologise. They even threatened legal suit against the producer.
Sarkodie is mature now. He must know that some issues are too sensitive to be used in songs. You can’t do ‘word-play’ with such issues. Every creative person must know that there are boundaries to his or her act.
Honestly, Sarkodie has marred the beauty of the song with that irresponsible statement. I will suggest that, Kurl edits that part off and releases a clean version. Before that, Sarkodie needs to apologise to Krobos for that lose talk.
Conclusion: I like ‘Jennifer Lomotey’ but because of Sarkodie’s Krobo-gaffe, I will score it 60% instead of 85%.
Click on the audio below and listen to ‘Jennifer Lomotey’ by Kurl Songx ft. Sarkodie.
