It is almost 9pm on a warm Saturday evening in Accra. I switched to the latest “Is The Seat Taken” episode by Chinasa Anukam with Black Sherif right after catching up on one of my favorite YouTube web shows in “Lomo Lomo”. This is one of the best episodes I have watched of the entire show for so many reasons.
I remember the first time I heard Black Sherif’s music back in 2020. Although not an immediate fan, I recognized the position he made his songs from. It is why I was surprised when I learned how young he was. It did not make sense how such a young boy could be so expressive of his emotions. I remember the early comments about his music and his persona on Twitter. But all that will change when “First Sermon” goes viral. Today, Black Sherif has arguably had the fastest career ascent by a Ghanaian so far. His success has become so huge that many seem to have forgotten where he came from and some of the things he used to say, and how people postured themselves around him and his music. At the end of the day, we thank God for growth and continued success for the “IRON BOY”.
While Blacko is seen as the ultimate hustler, one thing I have found interesting about him is his perception of love. A walk through Blacko’s discography will reveal that he has very scarce amounts of love songs. At least love in a romantic sense. The way Blacko writes, it is always exciting to hear him on love songs. Whenever people sing about love, it is always the lust, the joy, and the glamor of romance. There are very few people who are able to capture the pain and sadness that come with the package of love and romance. That is where he comes in.
In the interview with Chinasa Anukam, he did a math on what grief means to him that people seem to connect with. On his debut album, the song Paradise caught a lot of attention for obvious reasons. However, one song I describe as a cult favorite went slightly under the radar, and that song is “Toxic Love City”. When “IRON BOY” dropped and I heard “Body”, my mind quickly switched back to “Toxic Love City”. I did not immediately know why, but after multiple listens, I made a quick connection. Both songs are embodiments of the pain that comes with love.
Love is not always as rosy as we always want. There are moments where it’s sweet and times where it’s bitter. The rose being a flower of love is so spot on. Because like the rose, there are thorns that come with the beauty of being in love. Black Sherif, in his own way, understands this, and he is always willing to stand by the person his heart chooses, even when he has to suffer for it.
People will have conflicting views about how people easily stay with someone even in the face of pain. But what this writer sees is someone who understands what it means to love. Love draws a lot of emotions, and for you to fully love someone, you need to acknowledge that all those emotions will come into play at one point or the other. Acknowledging the presence of pain in love is a first step in finding a way to flip it into joy.
For Blacko, sometimes all it takes to drive the pain away is assurances, even if they are fake, as he says in “TLC”. He admits to being at fault for giving his lover power over him. But he also recognizes that he has nowhere else to go, so he would rather live through the toxicity till he heals. It can be a dangerous way to love, but as captured in the song, he has been here before.
Other times the pain becomes so much he is driven to tears, and while everything in him wants to leave, his body only wants her. Love is such an interesting emotion, and sometimes even those who feel they understand it best are caught lacking. Someone will listen to Body and call Blacko all sorts of names, but people have stayed loving someone for worse reasons. On the outside, we all have the answers till we are in the person’s shoes. There are ways someone will love you, and when they start hurting you, you find any reason to stay. For Blacko, it’s for the body; for some, it’s the money; for others, it is lack of options, and so it goes. The reason changes with every person.
I cannot speak for Sherif, and I do not know his experiences, but from what I have gathered from his songs, he accepts that pain comes with loving someone. This is something I find somewhat romantic. Getting to a point where you give so much of yourself to someone you love to experience this level of pain is such a real lover core. Perhaps what happened in “oh Paradise” may have made him numb to pain. Losing someone you wanted forever with so early leaves you with so much pain that other pain can outpain that. For some people, these are songs that are beautifully written, but there are others who are possibly in the shoes Black Sherif was in when he made songs like “Toxic Love City” and “Body”.
Written by Nana Kojo Mula.
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