Tic Tac Celebrates 10 Years In Music

Nana Kwaku Okyere Duah, aka Tic Tac, one of Ghana’s reigning hiplife artistes, will launch his latest album next month as part of activities marking his ten-year presence on the hiplife music scene. The activities lined up include a press conference on Thursday February 12 at the Accra Mall, followed by album-signing on Saturday February 14 at the same venue, as well as musical concerts in Accra and selected districts in the country.

Tic Tac who has about five albums to his credit and has won over 10 music awards was the first Ghanaian artiste to collaborate with international artistes like Freddy Meiway of La Cote d’Ivoire and Nigerian superstar, Tony Tetuila, on his album Fefe Na Efe, which received several awards around the world. Tic Tac was the first Ghanaian to perform at Big Brother Africa and also the first African artiste to be featured on MTV Base “Making Of The Video” and had his video directed alongside Akon by Gil Green, US director of music video for Brandy, Akon, 50 Cent and Busta Rhymes.


His hit song Kangaroo stayed over four weeks on the MTV Base music chart. In August 2008, Tic Tac was ambassador for peace keeping representing West Africa at the Not In Our Life Time concert in South Africa against xenophobic attacks.


Tic Tac’s vision is to educate people through music and help bring awareness on major issues in Africa like poverty, diseases, malnutrition and conflicts, and to promote youth empowerment and self-employment. The success story of Tic Tac began in 1997 when he and a colleague formed a group called ‘Natty Strangers’. Young as they were, they became the toast of many. Tic Tac later left the group and went solo.


He was featured in DJ Azigiza’s ‘Woye Bia’ album which became a big hit in Ghana. He also featured on Slim Busterr’s ‘Masan Aba’ and Daasebre’s ‘Ahofe’. These collaborations helped Tic Tac make a name for himself in the industry. ‘Philomena’ his first album which hit in June 1999 topped the charts for several weeks. After Philomena, Tic Tac came out with another album, ‘Masom’, followed by his third album ‘M’asem’, meaning ‘my story’, with the hit song ‘Menkabio’. After a two-year hiatus which gave him the opportunity to develop his song writing and lyrical skills, Tic Tac released his fourth album, ‘Wope’, dedicated to Africans in the Diaspora.

Throughout his 10-year musical career Tic Tac has managed to win no less than 11 Ghana Music Awards and has performed at the Notting Hill Carnival in London alongside artistes such as 50 Cent, Lloyd Banks, Kanda Bongoman, Judy Boucher, Mark Morrison, Buju Banton, and Joe. He however continues to break new grounds. 2004 saw him pick up the coveted ‘Musician of the Year’ award at the Ghana Music Awards and became the first ever hiplife artiste to become the face of Kasa, a popular phone card in the UK for making calls to Africa.


At the GMA Awards that took place in April 2005, Tic Tac had a record nine nominations, including two nominations in the Best Collaboration category - the first for any Ghanaian artiste - which he won.BBC Newsround came to Ghana to make a documentary on him as part of their African Lives season, which was screened in the UK in July 2005. In 2005, he headlined a Black History month show in Southwark, performing alongside Ras Kwame (Radio 1), Richard Blackwood (Choice FM) Kelly le Roc and Shola Ama.


Tic Tac performed at last year’s RISE Festival where 80,000 people gathered to partake of the annual celebration. He was the highlight of the African Village stage. RISE has been a major music and entertainment festival for all Londoners and for the last 5 years, has been the prominent showcase of the Mayor of London's commitment to cultivating and developing the capital as a great multi-cultural city with a proactive campaign that denounces racism and works to eradicate it. Whilst in London he recorded a live session on Ras Kwame’s award-winning radio which was broadcast on Radio 1 in July 2006.