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Famous question mark is the titular track from jme's beautiful debut album Famous?*

The track opens with a sample from Reason that me and my brother were immediately gassed about. As serious propellerheads, we relished in hearing that soulful guitar riff that we too had used. The song continues on with cleeeean crisp drums (I don’t know how to describe that type of programming but I feel it). Then the synths, sounding like the gentle push and pull of waves, ease you into the track.

I was too young to understand it at the time but the song is about fame and how jme is treated in relation to other people’s warped perception of it. Specifically airing out romantic connections, he shares how this cloud of poor judgement surrounds the women he's talking to, with their own entitlement being projected onto him. He acknowledges it’d be nice to meet the right one but is happy alone for now. He chooses himself.

I drafted this post back in December and funnily enough, I’ve since had multiple reminders that this weirdness begins way before you're any type of famous. Famous? is people trying to latch on to you, working overtime to manufacture synthetic closeness, on the off chance they can brag about knowing you in a few years time. It's jarring.

they wanna know me cos I’m famous// they only like me cos I’m famous// the truth is I’m not even famous//these girls must be brainless

For the chorus the strings come in strong, as those waves in the beginning rise to a dramatic tide. Julie graces us with backing vocals, I always say the top jme songs feature his sister and I think (I haven't actually seen a credit anywhere) this is one of them. It's a crime we don't have whole albums of this voice.

Lastly, a special mention to the SSSS adlibs. Every time the word famousSS is said the in the chorus a heavy SSSS follows. Outside of Sisqo doing the reverse in thong song with his deeep Hessss, this is truly one of my brain's favourite sounds.

*a 10/10 album. Sadly, this song is immediately followed by the voice of that raggedy prehistoric abuser tim westwood, on a song titled “power”. When a bbc documentary brought a handful of accusations forward (they love a call from inside the house 20 years too late) it opened with a clip of jme praising tim and titled it “abuse of power”. I think about this clip often, how you could live your life right but become stained by someone else’s bullshit due to association and fame.

My dad grew up in Accra, with a lot of the music he loved being a mixture of highlife, trad music and songs exported from overseas. He has excellent taste and blessed me and my siblings by sharing it with us from a young age. We'd listen to records like this one when he drove us to school, enjoying the groove of the track and laughing at some of the lyrics.

Then in adult life, it became a cry for help. The song I'd dance to, going round in circles in my room in whatever shared house or flat in south manny I was in at the time, asking God for a break. Hearing the guitar riff, ridiculous piano solo, the people yelling in the recording and ofc Kurtis Blow on repeat as I played the near 8 min track again and again. Though joyful listening to it, the hardship in the lyrics got louder as I got older. Money, stress, work, stress, grief, sadness. Dancing it off.

More recently this was replaced with Lil Homies by Vince Staples but that's a treat for another day.

A masterpiece. As a producer, it usually takes multiple listens before I hear the lyrics of the song. My ears obsess over everything else done to build the track - the chords, the instrumentation, discreet fx, decisions to places pauses, where tension is built, the drum pattern variation. I love it. But for yeeeeears this track was the opposite.

Why? Because Nate Dogg.

But then, about half a decade after I first heard it in K2rah's DJ set (I think), I somehow heard beyond the beautiful voice and finally got to the instrumentation. I could've shed tears. I don't know what series of events had to take place from his birth for me to hear the work of Warren G but I'm thankful. This song, track by track, stands stronger than whole albums I've listened to.