Offei vows to give it all till success calls

Singer/Songwriter Derrick Offei – Awuku was born in the music mecca of Tema and grew up in Dansoman and back to Tema Again. A chance of being a dancer jump-started his love for the recording studio and writing songs. The turning point for the ambitious singer occurred in 2020 when he featured one of Nigeria’s music stars Patoranking on a single dubbed ‘Fi ma no’ which is still enjoying relevance in the media space after it’s released.

Being a Medical Laboratory Scientist, Offei, also love the entertainment space with his perfect genes for dancing, rapping, singing, and songwriting. He recalls that after he discovered his ability to put words together to rhyme he took advantage then of it and started rapping, not long people started noticing, He said “I had a nice unique voice and started talking me into singing, I finally yielded and haven’t regretted it.”

Offei is a native of Amanokrom Akuapem in the Eastern region of Ghana and also a Ga maternally. He describes his kind of music as afro-fusion / Afropop, which he says it is a blend of genres such as Highlife, Afrobeats, R&B, soul, and Jazz. “It is basically making music with a core base of African elements, be it instrumentation or language”.

His silky, soulful vocals are woven throughout his songs like ‘Fi ma no’, ‘Santorini’, ‘LowKey’ ‘Maria’ ‘Body Whine’ and all of his 9 songs since he started his music career. Stepping aside to hone his writing skills he began working on his own songs and collaborating with other musicians, due to the unique skills, he ultimately landed a feature with Patoranking on ‘fi ma no’ and Kwesi Arthur on ‘ Human Being’.

Offei’s collaboration with Patoranking on ‘ Fi ma, no’ came through when the Nigeria music superstar Patoranking mistakenly heard the song from his producer Ctea, who was in South Africa at that time, “the song wasn’t initially supposed to come out because it was a remake of a Ghanaian classic recorded 20 years ago by a legendary group called BLACKSTONE, Ctea on the other hand in an attempt to play some of his new beats to Patoranking in the studio mistakenly played the song to Pato and Patoranking said he loved the song and gave me a free verse, I then reached out to the original makers they also loved it and gave me a verse.”

According to Offei, the original the song ‘Be fi mano ‘ by BLACKSTONE was his all-time favorite song, and so was it to his producer Ctea, “so one day in the studio after recording three songs, we were just relaxing and having a ‘convo’ about childhood memories when we realized we both shared the same interest in the song, Ctea being a producer started playing the melody on the keyboard, the singer part in me couldn’t help but to start singing a verse to it, Ctea then said we should record it and that will stay our little secret we recorded it and the rest was history.”

The versatile artiste, who believes his unique voice and his versatility makes him different from other artistes says the music business is very lucrative and he is yet to make more impact with music and from music. His music is targeted to anyone who believes in LOVE and good music.

Talking about his fear in the music space, he said, “Not being accepted used to be my biggest fear, but I now understand that as an artist all I need is to believe and accept my own craft and that energy will be transferred to my Audience.”

Offei takes inspiration from music legends like; Daddy Lumba, Freddy Meiway, Prince Bright (buk bak), Terry BOnchaka and Mrs lauryn hill. The currently crazed world in which we live is the perfect inspiration for Offei’s songs he normally moves with the vibe and mood the instrumentation gives him he gains inspiration from his personal experiences and other stories he hears around me. I sing about diverse topics such as love and other experiences from society.

He looks forward to being releasing a new musical project before the year ends. Offei encourages his fellow artistes to keep at the hustle, and always seek to improve their craft, “they can’t afford to give up no matter what, help will come, recognition will come, pay attention to the one or two people feeling your vibe, they will spread the word very soon the world will hear about you.”

(Source: Erica Arthur)