Scar: Portrait Of An Artist As A Young Man
“My album reaches out to a younger me on a very personal level, which I see in him as a father. No matter the distance, I’m not only a father to him, [because] through my experience and exposure I’m a father to a whole plethora of young kids coming up and looking up to our craft, but we have responsibilities and all, you know!” This is Hip Hop artist Scar in his latest interview speaking on the intention of his fourth studio album Songs For Adrian. I came upon this piece after a text conversation with a friend a few days after the album was released. In his view, while Scar’s raps were alright “a title like Songs For Adrian had me believing he would assume a seasoned rapper theme: reminiscing and advising the younger him or just talking to his son.” In my reply to him, I sent out a series of long-winded texts, most of which make the bulk of this write-up.
After listening to Songs For Adrian a few times over two days, I believe it achieved just that. There are songs on this album where Scar spoke directly to his son but most of them are less about giving advice but more about giving him a peek into his lifestyle, offering his perspective on life and how he dealt with certain things; younger women and single life in the city (“How Love Feels”), life as a celebrity (“Pretty Nightmare”), the weight of legacy (“Throne”), the relationship with the mother of his child (“Share The Blame” & “It Will Be Okay”) etc.
In my opinion this approach is just as effective as outright “this is what you should do” songs. I believe Scar thought if he took him through his life it would offer his son some sort of understanding of how and why he dealt with certain situations the way he did. Songs For Adrian is definitely a repository of personal experiences but what the son gleans from it will depend on the openness to listening to each song because like all music and art, the audience decides the meaning of each piece based on their own personal bias. The fact that the album comprises 10 songs means Scar was cognisant of making this a compact and punchy body of work that captures certain stories rather than being a long drawn out epic.
While Songs For Adrian encapsulates his thoughts perfectly there are failings in here and there. Firstly, there was failure to offer a sequential timeline. While it can prove to be a tedious task for the not-so-diligent, it would certainly have given the album an edge and impetus had the experiences been relayed in a clear and sequential timeline. At this time, the audience is forced to pick up nuggets here and there and piece together a narrative. By the standards of a concept album this was fragmented and off-putting.
Secondly, since the production was single-handedly produced by Drak, the lack of diversity in the production personnel was a bone of contention. Though production manned by one person can be seen as a positive because it makes the album feel like a complete thought, a complete sentence, it had a habit of sounding monotonous, leaving the listener with sonic fatigue towards the tail end of the project. In this regard, the length of the album at 10 songs totalling 33 minutes, kept it from meandering into the superfluous territory.
Thirdly, there was an air of disingenuity or insincerity on some songs. Though you can tell Scar is passionate especially in delivery of stories, I feel the chip on his shoulder from the constant chatter that his best years are behind him, keeps him from offering a level of sincerity needed for this type of concept album. These inklings can be felt quite clearly on “Maybe I’m Dumb” which — much like the song “Voices” from his sophomore album Happy Hour — echoes the anxiety that comes with the public’s expectations. While on “Voices” he was 4 years removed from the debut album that made him a teenage phenom, on “Maybe I’m Dumb” he’s a 36-year-old veteran in his own right whose last album was released in 2009. This comes with two opposing yet complementary realizations; firstly, he is free to do what he wants because his legacy has already been cemented and secondly, he is under pressure to create work on the same level as before lest he taint his legacy. Both of these realizations may have worked in tandem to inform the album’s conception.
There’s a lot of truth telling but the believability is dashed by the thick air of bravado. But what is bravado if not armour developed over years of being counted out in addition to dealing with the waves of life. Where this confidence comes from is not difficult to trace. With three albums to his name, two of which are widely considered classics, he is still a big voice within the culture via presenting on the most popular urban breakfast show. Owing to a solid legacy in rap he is also a big brother/mentor of sorts to many artists young and old. He is a mainstay in entertainment so magnanimous that artists like Mosako who can be considered his peers, still profess their fandom to this day. His propensity for winning can be traced back to 2001.
According to this article, Scar’s first introduction to Hip-Hop culture came by way of rapper Kast who was his senior in high school at St. Joseph’s College. His participation in the culture landed him a spot on two songs on the now iconic P-Side compilation album in 2001, the brainchild of Sidney DJ Sid Baitsile. From this momentum Scar was able to release his debut album Illegal Act a year later through Vivid Vision. At only 17 years old, this was unprecedented as it was Botswana’s first Hip Hop album released by a solo act. Prior to this, the album ushered itself in a landscape dominated by underground rap and Hip-Hop albums by groups such Tribal Monks, 3rd Mind and Wizards of the Desert.
Though it is poorly documented, the history of Hip-Hop in Botswana is illustrious, being home to highly talented individuals and regarded as the training and crowning ground for Motswako artists in the region. From Scar’s debut album emerged the smash hit single “My People” which to this day gets people on their feet. Illegal Act received two nominations at the now obsolete Botswana Hip Hop Music Awards (BHIPMA) in 2004, ultimately winning the coveted Lyricist of the Year and Track of the Year for “My People.”
He followed this up with his sophomore album Happy Hour released under Breakthrough Records in 2007. The album spawned lead singles Metlholo, Psycho, Khenya, Hae! and the title track Happy Hour which are also hailed as cult classics. From this album, Scar received three Channel O Awards nominations in October 2007; Best Newcomer, Best African Southern and Best Hip Hop Video. He eventually won the latter on the night. As luck would have it, on the same award show Botswana House group Acid won Best Dance Video for Banyana le Basimane, another cult classic.
The critically acclaimed album added to Scar’s accolades and propelled him from national to regional star. He would later see his star rise exponentially when he was selected to be a judge on Idols East Africa complete with wide travel across the continent for the talent search and appearances in productions such as Big Brother Africa and the 2009 Road to MTV Africa Music Awards in Nairobi, Kenya.
A year later he was lured to radio, co-hosting a breakfast show in 2008 at youth radio station Yarona FM where he has been to this day, punctuated by absences due to differences with management. In 2009 his third album Open Bar, cheekily titled not long after a liquor price hike by the government was followed by the single “Biri” -Setswana for beer- which not rub officials the right way but was on-brand for his man-of-the-people, tongue-in-cheek persona. Since Open Bar, Scar has focused on ventures in the eventing space while dropping singles and features sparingly that have kept his name current yet teasing an album which prior to this, was titled REDemption. In 2020 this titled changed to Songs For Adrian after his son. From the title and social media posts such as the one below, it was expected that it would be heartfelt and show a softer side to the usually confrontational rapper.
Against the backdrop of this illustrious career comes Songs of Adrian, an album which is already receiving rave reviews from fans parched for a full-length Scar album for 11 years straight. “Parenting is hard but the album has enough stories to my son about who I am as a man, as want him to be” Scar said in the same Gazette article. Scar’s Songs For Adrian is similar to James Joyce central character Stephen in his seminal 1916 novel Portrait Of An Artist As A Young Man; He threw himself in “sensual pleasures” that come with infamy because as they say, to the victor all the spoils; he has a reckoning brought about by a crisis of faith, but these times of sobriety and clarity of mind and conscience come in ebbs and flows. Amid all this he is forced to consider and reconsider purpose while dealing with family ties and fatherhood. Unlike Stephen who flees the restrictive Ireland, Scar’s exodus is of the mind where he tries to free himself of expectation and come to terms with this new animal divorced from his old life yet using those experiences of old as fuel to propel him to this new life. Maybe this still is REDemption. It’s clear from this album that Scar has a lot on his mind. This is his truth to tell and he will tell it however he sees fit as he has always done before.
Stream Songs For Adrian
Words by Kwaku Gyanteh — Researcher & Consumer of Culture.
Twitter: @KwakuGyanteh
