How this 'blessed' dancehall artiste helped create Appietus' iconic signature tune

Veteran Ghanaian music producer Appietus has shared the fascinating backstory to his iconic "Appietus in the Mix" signature tune.

It turns out it was a happy accident involving a young Shatta Wale, then known as ‘Bandana.’

Speaking on ‘Atuu’ with host Nana Romeo, the celebrated beatmaker revealed that in the early days of his career, he had not yet settled on putting his name on his productions.

That changed during a studio session involving artiste Yaw Borga.

“Things changed when I recorded Yaw Borga, and he wanted to feature Shatta Wale (then known as Bandana) in the song,” he shared.

Appietus disclosed that he had a signature habit of asking artists to "rehearse" before the actual recording.

But it was a deliberate trick he used to capture more natural, creative performances because, according to him, artistes tended to be freer when they thought the tape wasn't rolling.

"I tell them to rehearse before the main recording, but I would rather record their rehearsal and use it for the song," he explained.

Appeitus disclosed that he did the same during Shatta Wale's session. However, he had stepped away to attend to a client.

“At the time he was rehearsing, I was in discussions with a potential client and had taken off my headphones. So, I didn’t notice when he was done and had been calling me for a while,” he said.

When he later reviewed the recordings, he stumbled upon the audio of Shatta Wale calling his name and decided to work with it creatively.

“After the recordings were done, I was working on them when I discovered that part where he was calling me ‘Appietus.’

“So, I decided to manipulate that portion and I loved the outcome. That was how we got the sig tune; ‘Appeitus in the Mix’ which was short for ‘Appiah and his tools in the mix,’" he disclosed.

The producer said the discovery was a testament to Shatta Wale's blessings, arguing that the superstar had been destined for greatness long before the world took notice.

"That shows that Shatta Wale had been blessed for long. We are just seeing it now, but his blessings had always been there and he had also been indirectly sharing the blessings. Without his voice, I wouldn't have come this far," Appietus said.

ID/AE

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