It’s 12.57pm and I’m still trying to figure out what to do to my hair. If I leave my braids up, I’ll have to gel down my baby hairs, which will take an extra five minutes I don’t have. However, if I leave it down, it’ll be all over my face, and I’m not in the mood to constantly brush hair out of my face.

“Men never have to worry about their hair,” I murmur to my reflection.

I check the time again.

12.59 pm.

It’s almost time to get into a Zoom call with Twitch 4eva. The budding Ghanaian musician has just released the first single to his upcoming debut EP Lost. ‘Baby’ is a low tempo, guitar-licked afropop song about love, which joins three other similarly laidback, tender cuts on the release.

What has fixated me most though is the cover artwork. From a series of photos shot by a member of the Ground Up collective of rising talents to which he belongs, it shows Twitch in a popular traditional hairstyle involving partitions of hair wrapped with thread to stretch it out. His small eyes gleaming out from his calm face, they remain a background focus for me as I concentrate on these skinny antennas poking from his head.

Ironic isn’t it? That I was just generalising about the easy hairstyles for African men when the one I was about to speak with was quite intentional about his.

At exactly 1 pm, I see the request come in from Twitch to enter the meeting. As he adjusts his camera, I can see that today his hair is neatly braided in a corn roll. He looks tired but smiles into the camera anyway. He was just in the studio, he tells me. Yung D3mz, one of the producers from Ground Up, had sent his some beats the night before, and he got some idea he had to try out.

First up, I ask him what motivates his music.

“I write my music based on my emotions. All of the songs on the EP details my journey in relationships. From all the girls I’ve fallen in love with, tried to be in a relationship with and gotten heartbreaks from,” he responds over his crackling mic.

Which then begs the question, what’s his current relationship status?

“Right now, I’ve decided to focus on my hustle. Perhaps when I’m wealthy enough, my girl will come back to me… then I might consider taking her back,” he says, followed by a laugh. Twitch is only in his early twenties, and already he’s realising that in a patriarchal and capitalist world, money fuels a lot of things, even love.

As a wise man once said, ‘Love is sweet when money enter love is sweeter’.

However, he acknowledges that there is no straight path to anything in life. Whether in romance, in business or in education.

“Not everyone’s 1 +1 is 2,” he comments, “There’s no formula for life.”

This simple ideology is what led to the title of his EP. In bold type, ‘Lost’ highlights his journey so far.

“I’m lost in my love life. I’m lost ‘cos I don’t know where that is going. Sometimes I think a relationship is going to end in a long-term relationship and it ends in a break-up.”

I wonder why a guy like Twitch would not have girls falling at his feet. He’s quite handsome with dark skin, pretty eyes and long eyelashes any girl would die for. So what’s the issue?

“I wouldn’t consider myself a romantic guy. I’m not great at translating my emotions into actions so I put them in a song. A lot of guys think it’s yawa (not cool) to show affection to your girl, but I think you should just find the best way you can do it,” he explains. “I call myself a romantic gangsta… I put all my emotions on a track and tell my girl how she makes me feel. It’s not a grand gesture but it’s me expressing myself.”

He pauses and adds with a chuckle, “I guess that’s maybe the reason why I keep getting broken up with”.

Twitch is sincere in an almost nonchalant way. I pick up during our conversation that he’s not afraid of being himself or speaking his thoughts. Let’s cut to it, then – why has he chosen a feminine hairstyle the EP cover?

He immediately corrects me, “The hairstyle is mostly done by girls, but it’s unisex. I used the style as a reflection of myself and the people I look up to. I wanted to represent my African self, but also to bring honour to my mom and my grandmom. It’s my way of appreciating the women that raised me as well as my culture.”

Twitch grew up in a Lapaz, a middle-class neighbourhood in Accra. To keep him and his siblings out of trouble, his mother would teach them songs whenever the lights went out, which was often.

“My mother would teach us to sing in parts and she would be the lead vocalist on songs,” he tells me, his voice pregnant with nostalgia, “kind of like a mini-family choir.”

I picture a little Twitch with his siblings singing in the shadows of Lapaz’s concrete shadows, the horns of cars passing by contributing to their melodies.

I’m brought back to reality by a small ping on my computer. Just the Zoom app reminding me that my 40-minute limit is almost up.

I thank Twitch for his time. He has recordings to go back to anyway.

As we sign off, I wonder if he’ll ever find a girlfriend that would appreciate his love language. Perhaps she’d be an audiophile that appreciates thoughtful songwriting. Or maybe he’ll make the money or figure out the formula.

But one thing I know for sure is that for someone who thinks he’s in the wilderness when it comes to figuring out women, it looks like he’s figured out himself just fine.

I think that’s the most important formula of all.

Photography Erdy Yung
Words Benewaah Boateng

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Published on 08/08/2020