JOEWACKLE: I was having this conversation
with my friends the other time about what we
wanted to be when we grow and where we are
now. What did you want to be growing up as a
child?
PAQ: Growing up I wanted to be a lawyer.
Wearing the suit and the wig – I don’t know
what they call it these days. Fast forward I’m
here as a music producer; I’m now trying to go
back to law school and live that dream.
JWK: How did you find yourself as a music
producer?
PAQ: Somewhere in
2010, I came across
this music software
called Fruity Loops
which I experiment-
ed with. I will say I’m
someone who has
always loved music
although I never
thought of having
a career in music so
when I got this soft-
ware, I will only play
with it. It was my
encounter with Mag-
nom that changed my
perception about the
whole thing. That’s
when I realized I can
actually make a living out of music production;
besides I have the passion for it so I pursued it
from there.
JWK: Do you remember your first project with a
major artiste?
PAQ: I would say it’s a song by Wyper ft Guru. I
couldn’t believe it. It was surreal. It was the first
time someone had properly laid a version on
my beat. The song got a lot of airplay on radio
especially YFM.
JWK: Do you think Ghanaian music has a
sound?
PAQ: I believe we do. Every country has a
sound that is indigenous to them. For us, I will
“
say it is our congers and trumpets. We love the
native sound.
JWK: In the entire spirit of Afrobeat, who will
you say owns the right of claim to the genre?
PAQ: I will bring it back home to Ghana. Al-
though music is diverse and we often rob off
elements from other producers from other
countries, I believe Afrobeat is a genre that
originates from Ghana – it’s for us.
JWK: Describe your production style to me.
PAQ: I like heavy bass – it’s called 808 bass. I
like to fuse the 808 bass with Afrobeat. The
808 bass is more of a
western sound so it
becomes something
like Afrobeat fused
with Hip Hop beat.
With all my projects
I try to create that
balance.
JWK: Which song did
you hear that made
you wish you pro-
duced it?
PAQ: Illuminati by
Sarkodie produced
by Magnom. I like
the bass in the song.
For me it’s like an
anthem which calls
your attention. If that
song is played with the right speakers, you will
just switch to it. I once mentioned to Magnom, I
wish I had produced that song.
JWK: Lately you will see DJs like Mic Smith
owning a song and other producers are do-
ing same. Do you think that’s the new wave
or that’s the way for producers to cash out as
well?
PAQ: I mean it’s been a wave for long, it’s just
that we are now hopping onto it in our part of
the world. There are other ways people can
monetize their craft and I think this is one of
them. You can always have the conversation
about a possible collaboration with artistes for
I KNEW the song was
done and was dope,
however I
wanted to add some
touch to it but time
wasn’t by my side.
I decided to go home
and continue the next
morning, only to find
out the next morning
the song was out”
48 | Colossium . March 2019