Music Review - New Guy By Sarkodie Featuring Ace Hood
“New Guy” by Sarkodie featuring Ace-Hood was an anticipated collaboration and interestingly, it came with a bit of controversy or drama, which I personally thought was a prank call.
The internet saga started with Sarkodie when he said, in an interview with Bola Ray, that Ace Hood contacted him to record the "New Guy" song, but the latter debunked Sark's claim, saying that he got $25,000 to make the song with the Ghanaian rapper.
Ace also went ahead to delete a picture of himself with Sarkodie amidst the twitter rampage and Sarkodie did not make any further comment on the issue. Moving on. Some rappers don’t like to be compared to another, but true Hip-hop heads will agree that competition, whether direct or indirectly is part of the Rap game. This is one of the major reasons rappers claim to be the best on the radar. It doesn’t even matter whose ox is gored, it’s just what it is. If you want to be respected as a rapper, demand it!
I might be bursting your bubbles if you were expecting to see me break bars and smash some of the lyrics of this song. Truthfully, “New Guy” is a flawless collaboration. I’m talking from the beat, to the rappers involved, even down to the video for those, who have seen the visual interpretation of the song.
Sarkodie opens the song with subtle bars that do not warn listeners of the terror ahead. Even Ace Hood would never have seen it coming…
“I’m the new guy/I made it from the slums back in Africa, where most of my niqqas committed suicide/Every story gat a two side/T-shirt trying to make it to the suit and tie/you know a niqqa gat to survive/it’s do or die/We’ve gat to make it and it’s really up to you and I/ started from the bottom/niqqa we really did a lot/so tell me who am I?...”
If you’re a fan of Sarkodie, you’ll know that the moment he switches to his local Tiwi lingua, it’s about to get ugly. Of cos’ if you don’t understand the language, you definitely would not understand what he’s saying, but it still won’t take away from the fact that he’s pleasant to listen to and the touch of English between the lines could give you an idea of what he’s saying.
During an interview with E-Rave some months ago, Sarkodie said he doesn’t believe Kendrick Lamar can outshine him on a track, so trading bars with Ace would have been a piece of cake.
Meanwhile, Ace Hood didn’t do badly on his verse, but hey, his offering still sits on the basic chair – if you catch my drift. Howbeit, you can tell when a rapper is talking from experience…it just comes easy. It’s not always about the punch lines and wordplays, I guess. It’s about the upbringing; it’s about the hood, and the mind-set. Somebody’s got to be able to relate to what you’re talking about and Ace doesn’t fall short of this.
“New Guy” by Sarkodie featuring Ace Hood was released off the stables of iV league Hits and SarkCess Music. The video was directed by Justin Campos, while CED Solo produced, with assistance by Entourage.
Sarkodie is a revered emcee and he seems to remind listeners and counterparts of his rap supremacy every time he drops a new song!