Rapper Manifest Eulogises Legendary JH Nketia

Ghanaian rapper Kwame Tsikata popularly known as M.anifest has showered praises on Ghana’s Music composer and ethnomusicologist Professor Emeritus Joseph Hanson Kwabena Nketia describing the late life’s experience as “A life well lived”.

Prof. Nketia, who retired from the University of Ghana, Legon, in 1979, sudden death was confirmed to the media by a family source last Wednesday, March 13 at age 97. He died at the Legon Hospital while seeking medical attention.

Remembering Prof J. H. Kwabena Nketia, who was his grandfather, M.anifest said in a post on Instagram that, “Overwhelming legacy. A life well lived. Grandpa, thank you.”

“Your humanity was your greatest composition ❤️✨?,” he added.

The rapper also shared a video of one of his fondest times with the music professor.

In the video, Prof Kwabena Nketia is seen showing off his rap skills – a rap he wrote while in school in London in the 1940s – to the delight of M.anifest.

Born on June 22, 1921, Prof Kwabena Nketia was a well-known ethnomusicologist and composer. He was the first African Director of the Institute of African Studies of the university.

The Kwabena Nketia Centre for Africana Studies on September 27, 2017, organised a festival to celebrate him for his scholarly contributions towards the development of African History.

At the event, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo described the late as “one of the legends of the ages”.