Dagbani rap sensation, Sherif Abdul- Majeed (Maccasio) has released visuals to Ninsala, title track off his forthcoming album.

The launch is scheduled for the Tamale Sports Stadium on August 9. The video was released under Zola Music and directed by Joe Gameli.

Ninsala follows other successful albums as Boussu (2014), and Oshihila Nkpe (2015).

A Giant Malt ambassador, Maccasio has also collaborated on projects with sought-after mainstream acts including Kofi Kinaata, Zeal (VVIP), and dancehall star Shatta Wale.

Profile of Maccasio

Many people have strict music palettes…I don’t. I like music from wherever, as long as it is good enough. I do feel like, by not being experimental in how we listen to music, we might be doing our souls a disservice, so you’ll find even Chinese music on my phone –the strings and wind instruments caress the heart, trust me.



Three or four years ago, Awuni, an older comrade of mine whom I immensely admired, heard me playing R2bees’ ‘Suhudoo’ on my Blackberry. That day, the fact that he had heard contemporary rap music in his native tongue made him so happy. He thanked me endlessly and for many days following that incident, it was the song I heard him playing from his Techno. I am certain, that that gesture is solely responsible for why we began to have longer conversations since then, and why he would specially invite me to his house during Islamic festivities.

Very little trickles down from up north musically, so you probably may just be hearing of

the Dagbani rap sensation, Maccasio. Your music has to be successful in Accra, else it is not successful enough to get you on the big shows and award nominations for instance.This is not necessarily fair, for this specific reason: every part of this country has something to offer musically. Music serves an interior need, and you might never know where your musical healing would come from.

Majeed might just be Tamale’s answer to Sarkodie…Ambolley even. At 23, he already has two albums to his credit: Boussu [My Boss] (2014), and Oshihila Nkpe [She is Touching Me] (2015), both under Zola Music. His delivery, which patterns out like a complementary beat to the instrumentation he’s rapping on, is Obidi-like…but in a way that is exclusive to him ( pleasant too). His voice invokes nostalgia about someone who is himself a pioneer in hasty speech in music not just here, but the world over –Ambulley. Maccasio’s voice is nearly completely husky and certainly intriguing too.

He’s got such a stage presence too –Maccasio. He such a grenade of energy. Like Sarkodie and Ambulley, you might not necessarily understand what he’s uttering, but you’ll definitely appreciate the design of his delivery, and you will be greatly entertained. I did watch a video of him on TV3’s Music Music, and I think you should check it out if you have the time. For his ‘Flawless Victory’ performance, it was just him on stage, and with a stagecraft characteristic of a veteran, he ensured the crowd’s eyes were on him for as long as he had the cordless microphone to his lips. Like I said, his rap technique is intricate, and that is his strength on stage. Else, how else could he have managed an audience I’m certain did not understand a word of what he said?

To know what his personality outside music is, I looked up his Facebook wall (Sherif Abdul- Majeed), and I was astounded. Already, there’s a whole army from up north on which he rides. Currently, they may be referred to as ‘69 Fans’, after a single with the same title. I saw pictures of t- shirts, scooters and other vehicles with such inscriptions as ‘Team Macca’ or ‘69 Fans’, and several other inscriptions which point to him on them. We all are mildly loyal to one artist or the other, but for someone to embed your name in their life in that way shows that you are rare, a real hero. It’s evidence that you are doing something special, for those are concrete signs of loyalty to you and your craft. When he puts anything up on his page, it gains a traction which is enviable –thousands of comments and likes. Already, he has shared stages with such heavyweights as Samini, StoneBwoy and VVIP, so when the claim is made that he has Tamale, and indeed all of northern Ghana on lockdown, it is a legitimate statement.

Take his ‘Flawless Victory’, or ‘De Bank’ for instance; two songs on which his display of rap skill and style is vehement. On both songs, he doesn’t even seem to breathe. The rap just keeps flowing and flowing and flowing. It feels like one of two things: a long hearty conversation or an unending stream of consciousness. Either way, it is captivating. And if his performance is this powerful when he’s this young, I can only look forward to him in a couple of years, when he has fully grown into his own space and has come into the view of a wider, more varied audience.

He has mentioned in an interview that he looks up to Sarkodie musically. Many artists these days claim to be students of Sarkodie, and then when they start to rap, it’s just a poorly done imitation.

But Macassio, a.k.a Sherif Abdul- Majeed is different. It is obvious he’s a true student of Sarkodie, (who might just be our most influential rapper now), but he also maintains an originality; for one thing, he raps primarily in his native Dagbani, but it is important to add too, that he’s a jack of many trades as he fuses English and Twi in his delivery.

Sarkodie feels strongly against those of the opinion that making music in one’s native tongue enslaves the artist, and limits his reach. He has also gone ahead to prove it, for today he is undoubtedly Ghana’s biggest music export since maybe, Osibisa. It is this theory specifically, that Maccasio is disciple to, which is what sets him apart from others who claim to be followers of Sarkodie. Many upcoming rappers have missed the point completely…thinking that once you can rap like someone, you can be where they are. The trick is to allow yourself to be influenced by their story and axioms. That is what sets one on the path of greatness. Macassio is on that path.

Macassio derives his stage name from the brilliant fifteenth century Italian painter, Massaccio –who is also credited to be the ‘first great Italian painter of the Quattrocento period of the Italian Renaissance’ . By altering the positions of the c’s and s’s, we now have Macassio, the rapper. I gather that it is his ethic and brilliance that Maccasio intends to channel, and that is laudable