Cameroon’s national dish may be Ndolé officially, but it is also a dance song with elements of trap music in “God Don Kam”. Also, the song is very evocative of Jovi’s hit, “Et p8 koi”. The Tatapong Beyala monologue at the beginning and funny, male voiced back-ups accompanying almost all of Jovi’s rap lines about his music supremacy has similar parallels to the delivery in “Et p8 koi”. The rapper tells an absorbing story about a one night stand with a girl at one point.
“Tchak” is on the same wavelength with “Ndolé”, both in beat and tone, except for its Dr. Dre like funk incorporated at the end. It focuses primarily on his superior style, swag and fashion, with a good dose of lustful lines. The message is simple; everything Jovi does is cool. Rather, people say its cool. Even when he goes unconventional with fashion, people still say its cool. It is easily the funniest song on the album. There are humourous lines like… I wear clothes backside mendem holla tchak, I move clothes waka empty lass men dem still holla tchak…clothes old sutay tear-tear mendem still holla tchak.
“20 Ba” shows off a loud horn and a nice drum beat. Just like the previous song, the message is simple. Everything centers around money. Twenty million francs. Vingt Ba. Everything costs 20 Ba. A piece of land costs 20 Ba. His girlfriend needs 20 Ba. Its fun mood is worlds away from the most heartfelt song on the album, “No Peace“, in which Jovi actually preaches peace. It is slow, solemn and mournful, with tearful vocals at the rear, feather light piano keys and a finger snap sound. The rap god spits a celestial flow which is a reflective sermon. He paints very vivid images about the Anglophone crisis and its repercussions. He elucidates on how the situation is back home to Cameroonians in the diaspora. Again, he’s only a reflective interlocutor. The line, quantity fufu di show how long you dong di grind stands out.
“God Di Kam” concludes “God Don Kam”. It is characterized by a melodic choir intro that also acts as the background chant on a beautiful piano beat which slows down considerably as the song progresses. Jovi spacewalks on the beat with a flow which is laden with punch lines – mimbo stories in bars. He also spits bar after bar, while bragging about his rap skills and position in the music industry. This line sticks, Man di bolo inside studio anytime the whole year, like say ma shio tight on top da chair.
Overall, Jovi yi fourth album tchak like koki way grand rémé knack am for three stone fireside for village. “God Don Kam” is a classic, the rapper’s best work in a long time, which sits six millimetres directly behind “HIV”.
About The Author:
Nkiacha Atemnkeng is a Cameroonian Writer and Music Journalist. His work has been published in The Africa Report, Culture Trip, Bakwa, Saraba and Gyara magazines. He is a Goethe Institut/Sylt Foundation writing residency fellow.
Find him on Twitter: @nkiacha
