Telling the story of Saa Boy No, through an avid talent lovers discovery lenses

I have always maintained the position that Accra is not Ghana, that the arts and entertainment industry is beyond Accra, and the story of James Paulinus Johnson who is known in the music circles as Saa Boy No!, a cape coast-based rapper and songwriter reiterates my assertion best.

The 2020 edition of the 3 music awards' next rated act category – central region - got me curious to find out who the nominees were due to the talent, craft, and versatility the people from the west have injected into Ghanaian music. I landed in cape coast to ask about Saa Boy No! and the feedback left me awed, permit me to share with you.

Saa Boy No! Who is a graduate from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology with a degree in publishing spent most of his formative life in cape coast – Ghana where his music career emerged. As an artist, he believes his environment and upbringing have shaped his career and given him a sense of direction.

The artiste started with the stage name Jay pee, then kaykronic and later transitioned to Saa Boy No!. His name Saa Boy No! has received positive nodes from the masses as the name could be translated to mean the boy to watch out for. His debut “Abonsam” which featured Quamina Mp in 2018 cemented his decision to continually entertain music lovers irrespective of the impediments because the love shown him during his sickening moments was overwhelming.

He returned to the scene in 2020 and relaunched his career after a year away due to a gory accident with “Ye be sei m’adwen”, followed by “take a seat”, “Over Me” and the smash hit “Mabr3” – a household term used in daily conversations in Cape coast which was couched out from his song. I was astounded to hear the children repeat lines like “wunp3 mas3m ah, memp3 wasem – Mabr3” from his song – such a great feeling. Saa Boy No! followed up with a 7 song EP named “Geraldine” after his cousin who died in that accident which took him away from music.

In furtherance, the persevering musician began 2021 collaborating with Dj Aroma and Ko-jo Cue on “Afiwei”, his current release which is receiving good media attention and airplay. Notwithstanding the attention given “Afi wei”, most of his devotees and lovers noted that the turn-around for his career came when he released “Mabr3”, but to him, “after AfiWei, it’s going to be all gas, no brakes, just like how 2020 ended for me”

My stay in Cape coast couldn’t have been complete without a visit to the beach and some pubs as I love nature. To my amusement, all the times spent at Becky kay, Whispers pub, Sahara sports bar and restaurant and Da breeze were greeted with blistering sounds from Saa Boy No!. They may say a king has no honour in his home, but the case of this young champion is divergent.

The irony for me was when I discovered that the old Saint Augustine boy single-handedly put together a street carnival dubbed “Otiem a to ola” which was massively patronized by the people of Cape Coast and was hosted at Ola. Attendees of his debut street carnival could not hide their excitement when I spoke to a few of them as they showered praises on him for being thoughtful and giving back to his people in the preliminaries of his career take-off. The Carnival, which brought together most artists from cape cost to the excitement of event-goers will be repeated this December I learned.

The artists’ works from the inception of his career till last year are accompanied by flawless audiovisuals on YouTube except for “over me”, I urge you to check him out and you will be amazed. The artiste is grateful for how smooth his journey has been thus far and thankful to his family and fans for their unflinching support. He motioned, “My works from last year got me nominated in the next rated act category – central region for the upcoming 3 music awards and I owe it to all who support my craft and career.”

He admonished his fan base to vote massively for him by dialing *447*3# on all networks.

“We deserve the win”, he ended.