For Fella kuti and Bob Marley music was always a revolutionary moment, the most immediate and decisive transformative weapon available to the human experience to liberate itself from mind imprisonment and material bondage. The O’jays’s ‘message in our music’ anthem perhaps best captures the self-consciously activism of those rare artists like Kuti and Marley who grasped the great historical moment of human struggle they were a part of. They consciously used their art to engage with the aspirations of their publics to free themselves from the oppressive forces of exploitation, oppression and domination.
Nas Man Saccoh, a young artist imbued with formidable talent and seemingly endless creative resources has set his visions high and the transformative goals of his music even higher.
He states “Whether I write an inmate love song or one about climatic destruction the aim is the same; to awaken our consciousness to a higher level of understanding and feelings to transform and change how we think inside, and behave outside of ourselves.”
Nas Man says his music heroes are too many to mention because he sees himself as a multi- genre head- case. He nevertheless lists his most prized music ancestors as Fella Kuti, Bob Marley, Michael Jackson, Ali Farka Toure, and music elders as Salif Keita, Youssou N’Dour, and Toumani Diabate. He also claims a particular fondness for J Zee & Beyoncé, Drake, and Sona Jobarteh.
Nas Man burst on the Salone music scene in 2016 with a self-produced single entitled ‘Expensive baby’. The song was well received throughout the country so much so that he was given a new moniker namely; ‘Expensive Nas Man Saccoh’ by a growing body of young admirers. The name stuck! But for Nas Man, not in a pejorative way like a showy display of extravagant ostentatious materialism.
Rather, in a positive way where the term ‘expensive’ links virtue to excellence, something that is high in value (costly) and not easily achieved except through excellence, hard work, and humility.
From 2016 to 2020, Nas Man has been tirelessly working on his craft with innovative insights and creative experimentation as a song writer, vocalist, and stage performer. In 2019, he teamed up with a young producer/song writer called Splendid, considered by many to be Salone’s most creative and pioneering music producer. Together they have created and produced a body of work coming out of Africa they believe the rest of the world is ready to hear, feel, and enjoy. On signing with FSL Music UK in 2020. Nas Man said “I ‘m about the climb the endless mountain of my art with supportive courage, determination, creativity, and success.”