Sarkodie frames “Deja Vu” as a message to Ama, a lover who has stopped answering his calls: “so I put it in a song”. Born Michael Owusu Addo in Tema, he has been the leading figure in Ghanaian hiplife since the late 2000s, rapping largely in Twi over beats that draw on highlife and hip-hop. On this track he switches to English for the hardest confessions, admitting that Ama loved him for who he was while he stabbed her heart and watched it bleed. In the final verse the apology becomes a proposal of marriage.

KiDi opens the song and sings its chorus, “Oh, baby, just take me back”, a melodic refrain that returns between Sarkodie’s verses and gives the confession its hook. Born in Accra, KiDi won Ghana’s MTN Hitmaker talent competition in 2015 and has since become one of the country’s leading afrobeats and highlife singers, with hits such as “Touch It”. Their partnership goes back several years: KiDi featured on “Hello” from Sarkodie’s 2019 album Black Love, while Sarkodie appears on “IDK” from KiDi’s third album, Where Do We Go From Here, released in August. On 24 October the two performed together at Rapperholic, Sarkodie’s annual concert, which ran at Kumasi’s Baba Yara Sports Stadium until 6.30 the following morning.

“Deja Vu” was released on 16 October on Sarkcess Music, the label Sarkodie founded in 2014, as the title track and first single from a five-track EP. The Deja Vu EP follows on 27 November, completed by “Antigua”, “Nobody”, “Cold” and “Promises”.

Stream “Deja Vu” HERE