My private life shouldn’t be like a soap opera - M.anifest

One of Ghana’s finest rappers, M.anifest, also known as Kwame Ametepe Tsikata, says he does not want his private life to be like a soap opera watched by the public.

Giving an insight on his off stage life, he further revealed that he “always had a keener or deeper interest in music than the normal person” adding that he had an interest in writing as well.”

“I was in my first rap group when I was in Secondary School. It was called Rebel Camp - there was nothing rebellious about us though. It was just a nice name. But that was just how I got my feet wet. When I went to university, I got the chance to experience more of the different aspects of the music. I was hanging out with more producers, I saw different shows,” he stated.

Commenting further on how his music career began he stated that “I saw definitely more artistes outside of hip-hop so I basically dived into a music making aspect and maybe took a bit of a back seat even to the creation. Without going to a music school, that was music school. By 2005 when I finished college, I basically begun attacking it and in 2007 I released my first album, Manifestation. I did my first album the DIY (do it yourself) way; I recorded it, mixed it, got some money doing a Pepsi jingle, used that money to print CDs myself and I did everything myself,”

“I’m married to my music. My private life will be my private life which is the beauty of it. I give the people a lot in my music and if they listen to my music, they will know so much about me more than I want them to know. But one thing I’m not interested in is becoming a public soap opera and people talking about whom is he dating and all that. It is of very little interest to me because I feel like there is a lot to be done creatively with my music that I don’t need any of that distraction. It is an unhealthy distraction for people to be vested in what is my private life,” he added.

Answering the question on the reactions from his dad after becoming a musician, he stated that “I think he is fine with it. Who wouldn’t be? He was at my studio release party last December. Everybody likes good music, so does my father.”