Kawabanga picked his date with care. The Kumasi drill rapper released his new album, 11:11, on 11 November, and there are eleven songs on it.
It is his first album since Been One in 2023, and it pulls together the singles he has been releasing all year with a run of new songs.
Kawabanga 11:11: a title fit for a president
The album opens with “Osagyefo Dr. Kawabanga”. Osagyefo, often translated as “redeemer”, was the title taken by Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first president, so the rapper is not starting small. The song was produced by Remy, who also made two of the year’s singles.
“Mefiri Santa” comes next. Mefiri is Twi for “I come from”.
The singles: Geeking, Foreign and Sama Me
“Geeking” is the album’s best-known song. Its official video, released in July with Yung NB and 21 Kelly, has passed 42,000 views on YouTube.
“Foreign”, another Remy production, followed at the end of July.
“Sama Me”, produced by Thrxll, arrived on 4 November, a week before the album, and now sits at track seven.
The new songs around them include “Bayie”, “Salaga”, “Locced In”, “Holiday” and “Adom, Pt. 2”, and the album closes with “Sound Of A Blick”. There are no guest verses this time.
Kawabanga is one of the Asakaa Boys, the Kumasi crew that put Ghanaian drill on international playlists. His 2020 song “Akatafoc”, with O’Kenneth, Reggie and Jay Bahd, was one of the records that carried the sound beyond the city. 11:11 follows God Bless Kawabanga (2022) and Been One.
