I connected AratheJay to UK producers before he blew up – M.anifest

Ghanaian rapper Kwame Ametepe Tsikata, popularly referred to as M.anifest, has revealed that he supported AratheJay before he gained traction in the Ghanaian music industry.

Speaking in an interview on Capital Xtra, M.anifest revealed that he first discovered AratheJay’s music on Instagram and was immediately drawn to his unique sound.

According to the God MC rapper, this was about a year after he had connected with Shake It to the Max hitmaker, Moliy, when both artistes were relatively unknown in the industry.

“It’s funny. I think I connected with Arathejay maybe a year after I connected with Moliy, a couple of years ago. I heard snippets of his stuff, I think on Instagram or something,” M.anifest said.

The “No Shortcut to Heaven” hitmaker went on to describe what stood out about AratheJay’s music and why he felt connected to his sound.

“He had this very unique sound where it’s like, I could tell maybe this guy used to rap, but then he’s also soaked in highlife, and it feels very spiritual, like soulful. So, I connected with him,” he explained.

M.anifest shared that after building a relationship with AratheJay, he introduced him to music producers in the UK.

“We started working a while back. I even connected him to some producers from the UK at the time, but you know, sometimes it’s not time yet, you know?” he said.

The rapper noted that, while working on his new album New Road and Guava Trees, he felt that one of his songs needed AratheJay’s touch, trusting in his talent, he reached out to him for a collaboration.

“So, as I was working on this album, I sent him a record because I could only hear him on it. I started working on it, and then, he jumped on it,” he said.

That collaboration led to the creation of Wine and Blues, a standout song on the album.

He also shared that just a few months after their recording session, AratheJay began gaining attention in the Ghanaian music industry on his own.

“And then crazy enough, he just like maybe a few months after he started gaining some traction in Ghana by himself,” M.anifest noted.

The rapper expressed his happiness at seeing AratheJay’s rise, knowing he had always believed in his potential.

“So, it was beautiful to see that somebody who, I definitely saw had the potential is beginning to realise even before our song came out,” he concluded.

Also, watch an exclusive interview with Ayisi on the latest edition of Talkertainment below:

AK/EB