Ghanaian artiste, Tulenkey’s calm demeanour for an artiste
with one of the biggest songs in the country is surprisingly rare.
He walked into the interview spot like a person with no
clout accompanied by an associate.
Save for a grill on his lower set of teeth – there was
nothing flashy about the artiste who has many reasons to show off at the least
opportunity.
In early December 2018, his song ‘Proud F Boys’ off his 1/1
mix tape – recently released at the time started gaining spins on radio, and
was played at events by DJs to whip up enthusiasm of the audience.
The title of the song is a vulgar term used to describe guys
who have sexual relations with women with no intent of being in a committed
relationship with them caught on in a very short time.
Few weeks later, he performed on stages including Sarkodie’s
RapperHolic 2018 and Mr. Eazi’s DettyRave 2 – events he could only dream about
during his ‘underground’ days.
The rapper born Chief Boateng Osei Bonsu told Showbiz in a recent interview, the song
which has brought him mainstream music acclaim wasn’t initially supposed to be
on the mix tape.
“It came in late. It wasn’t part of the mix tape itself,”
recalled Tulenkey. “We were looking for this one song that would blow up the
mix tape so I told my engineer to go through his beats, and I heard a
particular one that I liked so I laid my verse on it.”
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He wrote the song based on the need for men who live off
women without any commitment to proudly accept who they are without arguing
about it whilst insisting he is “not” like that “at all.”
A teaser of the song posted on Social Media was
well-received leading to his decision to add the song to the mix tape.
He also revealed that an official video of the song will be
shot to officially start promoting the song, and a remix featuring the likes of
Kwesi Arthur, Shaker and Joey will be released in the coming weeks.
Currently a Sound Engineering student at Abro Media,
Tulenkey isn’t exactly enthused about his new found fame.
“It’s stressful,” expressed the act in somewhat tired voice
to Showbiz. “The disadvantage about this thing is you don’t know your true
friends, you don’t know who really likes you or not because they like your
songs so automatically they like you. It comes with it so you just have to keep
your circle close.”
Tulenkey is not resting on his laurels having experienced
first-hand what happens to people who fall off after a having a good year or
two in the Ghanaian music industry.
He told Showbiz,
he wants to be “in the game for a long time” because “it is not a side or play
thing” quoting rapper Sarkodie’s “music has everything to do with it” line.
Tulenkey and his team have already made plans to release a new
song when the current one starts losing momentum.
His come up challenges in the music industry included been
literally forced to “just do what I have to do and go” when he faced hostile
audience at shows, and DJs reneging on their promises to play his songs even
when they talked about its high quality prior.
Having experienced both the ‘underground’ and mainstream
music scenes, Tulenkey is working hard to “stay relevant” as a “worldwide brand
to influence people not only in Ghana.”
Under the guidance of fimfim of Platinum Studios and his lecturer
at Abro Media, he is putting together a new mix tape set for release later this
year.
Originally published by Graphic Showbiz newspaper in January 2019
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