Okyeame Kwame shares inspiration behind hit song ‘Woso’

Legendary Ghanaian musician, Okyeame Kwame has given a staggering revelation of how Jay Z’s song ‘Dirt off Your Shoulders’ inspired his 2008 hit song, ‘Woso’.

Okyeame Kwame, in an interview with YFM’s Kojo Manuel on the Y Disco Diaries shared that his hit song came at a point when he almost gave up on doing music.

“At that time I had done more than 200 features and I was preparing an album but I wasn’t blowing like I wanted to. So I told my wife then my girlfriend that I was quitting music and she told me if I quit then she will also have to quit our relationship. So while on my way to Accra in a car with my friend, I started writing the ‘Woso’ song”.

Speaking on how Jay Z’s song became the main inspiration of his song, he furthered: “the main inspiration came from Jay Z’s ‘Rub your shoulders off’. That is why you will always see me brush my shoulders on stage. I was playing that beat in the car and I remember I started writing it [the song] on a very small pad”.

Okyeame Kwame adds that the ‘Woso’ song was also a way to save his relationship with his girlfriend at that time. “I wrote this song to prove to my then-girlfriend that I am capable of doing anything. The album was almost done so ‘Woso’ was like track eleven on the album”, he stated.

Okyeame Kwame’s ‘Woso’ won the Hip Hop Song of the Year in the 2009 edition of the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards (VGMA). The artiste was also crowned Artiste of the Year 2009.