REVIEW: Fameye is always broke but has something "Greater Than" just being broke

Genre: Afrobeats, hip-hop, highlife

No. of Tracks: 10

Label: Fameye Music/Empire

Rating: 3 out of 5

Ghanaian highlife musician Fameye has always spoken about being broke through his music but his latest album “Greater Than” proves he possesses something even greater and more powerful than just being broke, and that is his talent. He blends hip-hop, afrobeats (‘s’ is added to this genre to separate it from the one legendary Fela Kuti created) and highlife to create a feel-good body of work.

From his breakthrough single, titled “Nothing I Get”, to his nationwide hit, titled “Mati”, Fameye never leaves out the story of his poor background in his records. His latest album is just another example.

“Greater Than” album – a 10-track project – comes in handy, considering the quality of the production, arrangements and the efforts from the guest artistes.

The Bogoso-native opened the album with mid-tempo afro-pop groove “Asem” featuring rapper M.anifest. Just like the title, Fameye continues to reiterate his poor background and his poverty-stricken community, and the need for him to stay out of trouble. He employs Akan adages regarding underprivileged kids to create awareness about what the youth are enduring in his community. Song with a similar theme is “Street”, where he went gangster and rapped like it’s his last day on earth. Despite knowing his poor background and the fraudulent ways the youth achieve success, he believes the only way one can become successful and wealthy is by hustling harder through legal means on the street.

Even in his predicament, he still believes love rules. Songs like “24/7” featuring KiDi, “Dey for You”, “Choices” featuring Pappy Kojo, “Unbreakable” featuring B4Bonah and AmakyeTheRapper and “Biibi” featuring Pappy Kojo are his inner expression of the power of love and how beautiful it is. He can’t be broke and at the same time lack love. That’s what drives his desire to hustle harder on the street to break his family jinx.

Fameye is growing in music and his knowledge about the popular genres in Ghana is increasingly blooming because his selection of guest artistes speaks volumes. Pappy Kojo, KiDi and Bisa Kdei’s appearances are intrinsic because they offered verses that jelled well on their respective tracks.

It’s apparent that Fameye recognises where he comes from and he is unhesitant to do anything legal and possible to achieve a breakthrough. To think of how he executively put together this project and his chemistry with the guest artistes, it’s clear that Fameye is on the path to greatness.

Stream album below.