Ghanaian rapper, Edem, has revealed the ‘wo nim red’ trend has come to the notice of his 10-year-old son, highlighting the prevalence of drug abuse in the country among young people.
He indicated that his 10-year-old son came to him recently while he was in the kitchen preparing food for him and asked him what the meaning of ‘wo nim red’ which translates as ‘do you know red’ was.
Edem said he was amazed the trend about the recreational usage of a highly potent tramadol drug had come to the attention of his son who was not exposed to the streets of the city, being the student of an international school, and usually moving between home, school, and church.
“I explained it to him, that it’s a drug. I don’t know what drug it is, and that ‘wo nim’ is ‘do you know’ in Akan and ‘red’ is probably the name of the drug. He said people are talking about it in school that, ‘Wo nim red? Wo nim red?’”
Edem
For the multiple award-winning musician, the incident highlighted that drug abuse was trendy and “is a problem”.
The influential musician announced he was willing to be part of a campaign for no money, for no cost. “Freely, I will commit to any campaign that will be able to propagate [the word against drug abuse],” he added.
He warned his audience that sitting aloof would not help remedy the situation since their loved ones could become victims of rampant drug use among the youth. “And I have taken people to rehab and paid money before, so I know what these things can do to you,” he noted.
The ‘Ghetto Arise’ hitmaker, demonstrating he knew the said drug was popular, especially among the youth of poor communities, encouraged vulnerable young people to commit to improving their circumstances and resist sinking deeper into despair and poverty.
“And every ghetto boy listening, the goal is to make money, the goal is to take care of your parents, the goal is to leave where we all came from and be something better than who we were yesterday. So, chale, stay away from the drugs.”
Edem
Edem posited it was not possible to get rid of ghettoes because even first-world countries had them. He had cheerier comments, thereafter, however.
“But what I tell everybody is, a ghetto is not where you stay. A ghetto is where your mind stays. So there are people in ghettos whose minds are not ghettos and that’s how they leave [the situation]. Let your mind not be the ghetto.”
Edem
The rapper and singer-songwriter cautioned that a mind given to destructive beliefs and practices of the ghetto would cause an individual to destroy the best of environments even if they relocated from the ghetto. “When I sang ‘Ghetto Arise’, it was about the mind, and not the place,” he stressed.
He highlighted that he grew up in the slums of Accra Newtown, where he stayed in a chamber and hall house that had 13 chambers and halls in one compound, with six bathrooms behind. “Some of the people I grew up with are in jail; some of them are drug addicts,” he added.
He noted that he had successfully escaped the destructive pitfalls of his humble beginnings “because I didn’t let my mind be the ghetto.”
“Read, try to empower yourself, there are so many channels on YouTube, watch them, and then you’ll see that once your mind is not a ghetto, it’ll help your body to be moving in a positive direction.”
Edem
Edem Suggests to NDC to Strengthen Their Online Game
The rap star asked the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) to improve its social media engagement.
He recalled the campaign season of 2024 when he had people thinking he had ventured into politics and was vying for a leadership position.
“No, it wasn’t a game. It was a social experiment. So we wanted to see how people think, right?”
Edem
He said he and his team were “doing a photo shoot” and spontaneously decided to take a picture that was fit for “an MP poster”.
He noted there was a flaw in the viral poster, which surprisingly went unnoticed.
“The flaw is that when you’re going for MP and you really take pictures, you don’t wear dark glasses. The branding people will [always] tell you your eyes have to show. I was wearing dark glasses, right? That was the first flaw but people didn’t notice. And I wasn’t even in town when the poster came out. I think I was going to Memphis.”
Edem
He said the results from the experiment blew his mind “because when the first poster came out, every name you can think about on that side who is somebody of power reached out to me”.
The first poster had NDC colours, Edem’s image and official name, with the inscription: “Big announcement soon. Fully active.”
“Bro, if you want to come to us, we’ll support you. You have what it takes,” Edem recalled some of the remarks from NDC folks.
While this was going on, he said, “everybody” on the New Patriotic Party (NPP) side “started jabbing me.”
“They asked me, ‘What decision are you taking? Why are you doing this? Are you sure this is what you want to do?”
Edem
When he shared his image on NPP colours, he observed that NDC folks started attacking him, while NPP folks praised him.
“From the incident, I learned, [in politics] you have to decide whose ideologies you believe in and support the person. The only reason the other side is not happy is that you’re a person of value and they wish you were on their side.
“Two, I realised from the experiment that the NPP poster had more engagement than the NDC poster. I don’t know [why]. I don’t have the analytics. This one unless we ask… Maybe the momentum built up from day-one of the first poster [and] maybe dropped a little [later].”
Edem
The third observation he recounted was receiving calls from “a lot of people” asking him to “take up a leadership position” because of “the way your brand is”. The musician and entrepreneur said these people offered “advice” and “direction” in case he ever needed it.
He noted other artists leveraging the buzz at the time, including Pappy and Frank Naro.
He lightheartedly highlighted that he suffered abuse from those who had initially praised him and vice versa when the two posters we released on social media were a day apart. “The NPP poster got more engagement, that is day-two. So if NDC is day-one and it didn’t get more engagement, maybe NDC my recommendation from this committee is that you guys should strengthen your online game,” the Hiphop/Hiplife artist said.
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