Ghanaian rapper M.anifest dives into the sound, the soul, and the spirit of his vibrant and deeply rooted sixth studio album ‘NEW ROAD AND GUAVA TREES,’ a genre-defying journey of self-reckoning, resilience, and radiant sonic fusion. Peeling again the layers of every track, he gives a candid look into the making of a daring and borderless file that’s as private as it’s panoramic – one which cements his place as one in all African music’s most visionary voices.
“PUFF PUFF” – M.anifest ft. The Cavemen. & Flea
Hearth on this mountain / Flames so thrilling / We give thanks in writing / For this new day – it’s lastly right here.
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M.anifest’s newest album begins like a dawn – confident and totally magnificent, full of sunshine and verve, an innate joie de vivre.
The Ghanaian rapper enters regular and clear-eyed, holding area for pleasure, for presence, and for the climb it took to get right here – to his sixth studio album, to a worldwide forged of collaborators, to the worldwide stage. These aren’t simply lyrics; they’re a reckoning and a launch. A brand new day has dawned, and he’s assembly it head-on. Pressing, invigorating, and unafraid to blaze its personal path, NEW ROAD AND GUAVA TREES is M.anifest in radiant full bloom.
Launched March 13th through legendary hip-hop label Mass Attraction, NEW ROAD AND GUAVA TREES bursts with readability and conviction – a daring and soulful physique of labor that bridges private reckoning with panoramic cultural imaginative and prescient. It’s without delay intimate and expansive, deeply grounded in West African roots whereas talking to world frequencies. And for 42-year-old Kwame Ametepee Tsikata – who’s been releasing music underneath the moniker M.anifest way back to 2007 – this album is as a lot a musical triumph as it’s a mission assertion.
Atwood Journal beforehand praised M.anifest’s fifth album, 2021’s Madina to the Universe, as “an exhilarating deep dive into the artist’s world: One marked by being true to your self, proudly owning your roots, overcoming adversity, following your goals, and by no means giving up.” As intrepid as that file was, its follow-up appears like a homecoming on even greater floor – colourful, compelling, and effortlessly fascinating. Incorporating components from jazz, highlife, Afrobeats, soul, rap, and extra, M.anifest gives a cross-section of the 2020s African music canon by means of his personal singular lens: He’s the prism, the conduit, the glue.
“Hybridization stays at my core musically,” M.anifest tells Atwood Journal. “This file was deliberately created to be greater sounding, world dealing with, and extra pithy by way of how concepts had been being communicated.”
The rapper provides that NEW ROAD AND GUAVA TREES took place by a sequence of fortuitous decisions – “one key one being reconnecting with my longtime producer homie, Budo, who was dwelling in Seattle on the time,” he remembers. “We locked in in 2023, for a couple of month and created the majority of the file in Seattle and L.A. I naturally recorded in Accra as properly, with ‘Highlands’ recorded in NYC.”
This album is about elevation – not simply inventive, however emotional and existential. It dances between previous and current, consolation and chaos, stillness and momentum. That includes collaborations with Purple Sizzling Chili Peppers’ bassist Flea, The Cavemen., King Promise, A-Reece, and Bien of Sauti Sol (amongst many others), it’s various by design – the product of a storyteller repeatedly reaching, stretching, and broadening his horizons. Created between Accra, Seattle, Los Angeles, and New York, this file took form by means of a two-year strategy of reconnection, collaboration, and fearless experimentation. “Ahead-looking, formidable, and pithy,” as he describes it, NEW ROAD AND GUAVA TREES is a vibrant mosaic of resistance, grace, and development – culminating within the reflective nearer “Second Hand,” a meditation on reminiscence, ego, and inherited truths.
For M.anifest, this file continues the climb that Madina to the Universe started. However the place that album reintroduced him as a boundary-breaking drive rooted in his Ghanaian id, NEW ROAD AND GUAVA TREES dares even additional: It’s freer, riskier, extra musically elastic – but no much less intentional. “Every undertaking I put out on this planet tends to be all a part of a cohesive thought and musical universe,” he displays. “One other manner of it’s every of them propelling me up alongside the identical journey. NEW ROAD AND GUAVA TREES is a number of extra steps up the identical ladder Madina to the Universe was on.”
The album’s title nods to his childhood residence in Madina – a suburb of Ghana’s capital, Accra – the place a guava tree as soon as stood within the household yard – an emblem of development, reminiscence, and fruit earned by means of labor.
“The motivation behind the album was a must chart a brand new path and make a fruitful climb,” M.anifest explains. “The home I grew up in as a baby was in a spot known as Madina New Street. There was famously a guava tree in that home that is part of many fond reminiscences for me. The title is a nod to each the childhood reminiscence and my private raison d’être in making the album.”
As with all his work, the spirit of NEW ROAD AND GUAVA TREES lies in its development as a lot as its content material. “We made some daring selections each by way of track development and the way we determined to speak concepts as a complete on the album,” M.anifest shares. “Songs like ‘TIME CATCH’ and ‘MY GOD’ break stride from what is often recognized (structure-wise) from a Hip Hop artist. NRAGT additionally represents one of the crucial various musical decisions I’ve made that every one exist in a cohesive manner on the identical undertaking. It’s uncommon that ‘FTYD,’ ‘WINE AND BLUES,’ and ‘HIGHLANDS’ can exist comfortably on the identical artwork piece.”
Every of those songs stands tall by itself – and collectively, they reveal the breadth and depth of M.anifest’s inventive imaginative and prescient. “TIME CATCH” opens the file in a state of reverent pleasure, seizing the second with a name to gratitude and motion. “MY GOD,” that includes Atwood artist-to-watch Lee Lewis, is haunting and heart-wrung – a religious reckoning with betrayal and the necessity to reclaim one’s company.
The jazz-laced “WINE AND BLUES” (ft. AratheJay) floats by means of weariness and beauty. “On future’s street you’ll discover a plethora of hurdles and days stuffed with the blues,” M.anifest explains. “However for those who embrace that they’re chosen, coping is a pure intuition. Drawback-solve with one hand, a glass of wine within the different. Ambition should stay.” In the meantime, “FTYD” (ft. A-Reece) channels righteous fireplace right into a generational anthem of youth empowerment. “HIGHLANDS,” one of many album’s most softly seductive and shifting moments, turns anguish into resilience – its message easy, highly effective, and clear: By no means, by no means, by no means die.
“Presently ‘WINE AND BLUES,’ ‘SAFE PLACE,’ and ‘HIGHLANDS’ are those I’ve most on rotation,” M.anifest says when requested about his personal private favorites. “One is a soulful reminder to self of future and objective, one other places me in a resolved head area, and the third is how I make sense of a world in turmoil.”
As ever, M.anifest’s pen is as exact as it’s poetic, and NEW ROAD AND GUAVA TREES is filled with lyrical gems that reveal themselves over time. Early standout “EYE RED” is a fiery portrait of desperation and dedication on the margins, the place M.anifest spits, “Decency is deceased / Wanna large males marry greed,” and later, “Twenty-four seven boys dey street / They don’t seem to be smiling, keep on code.” It’s a uncooked expression of youth angst and financial frustration – what he calls “that mode or mindstate that African youth finally get to… an excessively eager feeling of getting it by any means crucial.”
“Residing in Ghana will make you ‘eye purple,’” he says. “I do know the sensation all too properly.”
A transparent spotlight on the album, “PUFF PUFF” stands out not only for its vibrant vitality, however for its significantly noteworthy forged of collaborators. That includes The Cavemen. and Purple Sizzling Chili Peppers bassist Flea, it’s a soulful mix of types (and characters) that feels each surprising, and but fully pure. “Drawback no dey end, Helsinki I’m guessing / Boys dey use humor to cowl up / That at present forex low and greenback up,” M.anifest raps, capturing the stress between survival and comfortable defiance. The Cavemen.’s hypnotic hook rings out like a mantra: “Puff puff go o / Maintain the fireplace burning” – a reminder to press on by means of the haze. M.anifest calls it “one in all my favourite ever collabs” – a radiant second of musical synergy that captures the album’s spirit of genreless expression. “It’s so modern and surprising, but sounds so acquainted,” he says. With its breezy verses and trumpet-laced outro, “PUFF PUFF” is a celebration of survival, serenity, and retaining the fireplace burning.
On “MY GOD,” he delivers one in all his most private and piercing performances to this point, slicing ties with a poisonous love and the idea system it embodied: “Ɔdɔ adane me Nyame / However at present I’m breaking all chains, me dɔ Nyame / If love is my faith and faith is opium / Discover a new god, Kwame.” The hook of “FTYD” distills a complete ethos into one unforgettable couplet: “A lion has no place in a rat race / Free the youth, allow them to stay of their reality.” And the album’s closing observe “SECOND HAND” ends issues with a wink and a gut-punch: “Yearly it’s a cycle over right here / Rebranded as new are recycled concepts – together with this one.” These aren’t simply verses; they’re dispatches from lived expertise, delivered with readability, cadence, and conviction.
M.anifest himself factors to the album’s ultimate traces as a few of his private favorites: “Yearly it’s a cycle over right here / Rebranded as new are recycled concepts / …Together with this one / Flea market of thought you may choose one.”
“I significantly get pleasure from telling truths with a self-reflective bent,” he smiles – and that spirit runs all through NEW ROAD AND GUAVA TREES, the place readability, conscience, and introspection meet in seamless rhythm.
Finally, NEW ROAD AND GUAVA TREES is greater than a private milestone – it’s a multicultural assertion.
M.anifest pushes again towards the flattening of African artistry, providing as an alternative a wealthy, borderless tapestry that embraces complexity, contradiction, and communion. Via daring experimentation, heartfelt storytelling, and fearless self-examination, he delivers an album that’s each unmistakably his and undeniably of this second.
“I hope listeners perceive that trendy African in style music isn’t a monolith,” M.anifest shares. “And that this piece of artwork is a good design of what occurs when Hip-Hop superbly marries in style African music.”
NEW ROAD AND GUAVA TREES is a triumph – a masterclass in lyricism, imaginative and prescient, and genre-defying craftsmanship from one in all Ghana’s – and Africa’s – most important voices.
Expertise the complete file through our under stream, and peek inside M.anifest’s NEW ROAD AND GUAVA TREES with Atwood Journal as he takes us track-by-track by means of the music and lyrics of his fifth album!
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‘NEW ROAD AND GUAVA TREES’ – M.anifest
:: Inside NEW ROAD AND GUAVA TREES ::
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TIME CATCH
Time catch = “It’s time.” I really feel a way of now. A hearth beneath the floor. A hearth that excites that must be set free. That’s the sentiment conveyed on this minimal however triumphant introduction.
EYE RED
In our lands the younger really feel an unbroken desperation. The type that begins to really feel dire and significant and has us strolling round with bloodshot eyes searching for a solution to make sufficient to color the city purple. ‘Eye Purple’ is an expression of youth angst. It’s that uncooked feeling that prevails amongst the youth feeling the brunt of corrupt and incompetent methods and management. ‘Eye Purple’ is that mode or mindstate that African youth finally get to the place there’s an excessively eager feeling of getting it by any means crucial. Residing in Ghana will make you “eye purple.” I do know the sensation all too properly.
BAD MAN ft. Vic Daggs II
Tapping into the function of a playful villain. One which strikes with supreme confidence and mystique that intrigues ladies and puzzles males.
WINE AND BLUES ft. AratheJay
On future’s street you’ll discover a plethora of hurdles and days stuffed with the blues. However for those who embrace that they’re chosen, coping is a pure intuition. Drawback-solve with one hand, a glass of wine within the different. Ambition should stay.
PUFF PUFF ft. The Cavemen. & Flea
Puff Puff is a really feel good track stuffed with ruminations on life whereas in the next frequency state. It is among the most seamless blends of highlife and hip-hop you’ve ever heard. I actually dig how we swap up from the quintessential and dreamy highlife hook into the pithy verses pushed by head banging 808’s, after which cap it off with that jazz trumpet solo. It’s one in all my favourite ever collabs as a result of it’s so modern and surprising but sounds so acquainted.
GYE NYAME & VIBES
To actually expertise pleasure and freedom typically it’s good to ship a prayer to the sky after which throw warning to the wind.
SAFE PLACE ft. Tobi & T’neeya
‘You understand my thoughts is a bizarre place, my coronary heart is a protected area.’ A ode to re-alignment. Navigating day by day existence with out inside conflicts that manifest externally.
MY GOD ft. Lee Lewis
Hooked on a torturous love. That Dependancy can start to really feel like a deity. A battle with religion. The story is a by no means ending one.
EASE MY MIND ft. Xperience
‘I see God in disguise once I look into your eyes.’ Loving one other is an imperfect artwork. When all is claimed and accomplished a minimum of…’let me love you the best way you want.’
SPIRIT RIDDIM ft. Bien & DarkoVibes
It seems like summer season in a drop prime on an extended stretch of empty street with a baddie staring right into a serene sundown
FTYD ft. A-Reece
The fearless lamentations of the younger untamed coronary heart. Free The Youth Dem.
HIGHLANDS
The infants are born in locations warfare torn. In lots of untenable conditions. This can be a track of hope for these whose destiny by no means appears to smile on. The physique expires however the soul’s perpetually.
HANG MY BOOTS ft. King Promise
A message of reassurance to a lover. It’s an “i received you and I really like you” regardless, regardless of, despite, and so on. No extra love escapades. We go collectively completely properly and I’m hanging my boots!
SECOND HAND
A soliloquy about nothing being new underneath the solar. Every part is certainly second-hand.
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© Emmanuel Mensah Agbeble
