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Guess who we have for you all today-His Highness The King of Tea. 

Artwork by PLEGISHES
We caught up with Ghana's Bryan The Mensah; an intriguing and revealing conversation we had about himself, his growth as a creative and his Upcoming EP-'Friends With The Sun' was the output. 

Let's cut the foreplay and get to the main deal, shall we? In this article; the use of BTM, MH and FWTS shall be used as abbreviations to Bryan The Mensah, MotionHypeGH, and Friends With The Sun respectively.

Guess what our first question was? LOL, you would be right to say we were so much intrigued by his dexterity and versatility from writing to his production that we did not even want to start with any cliche questions of 'how old are you's and the likes.

We have an audio version of this interview on our soundcloud. 

  • MH: How best can you describe yourself as an artiste? Are you a particular type of artiste or you’re more like a generic all-round artiste?

BTM: Sure. Well, as an artiste I feel like it's a job that allows you to exploit your own creativity as much as you can and since creative juices never really stop flowing, I can't label myself as a particular type of artiste because creativity in itself is undefined that's how come we have so many different forms of it. I just want to be able to create and inspire. That's really it for me.
  • MH:  How long has it been for you already?

·       BTM: How long? Lol. Wow. It's been pretty long though. Lemme see uhh.. probably like 5 years. Cos that's when I started doing music seriously. 

  • MH: What is a typical day like for Bryan The Mensah?

·      BTMBRYAN's day is basically made up a lot of thinking and planning. I'm always trying to think about something. Something different. If it's not a song I'm writing in my head or a beat I'm producing or a design scheme I'm planning then it's definitely a business idea that I'm trying to lay down. A lot of cognitive work on the daily. 
  • MH:       Which stage of the music making process do you love the most and why? The writing, the production, the distribution, the performance etc.

      BTMI personally love the production but more than any other stage cos that's when the true character of the song begins to show itself. Cos most of the time what I am able to lay down as an artist isn't what exactly I had in mind during the writing and composition stage.
  • MH: How and where exactly do you market your products? Do you have any challenges doing the marketing? What are they?

      BTM: SoundCloud, Spotify and Apple Music are my main channels for digital distribution. Physical distribution plans are in the works though. Well yeah there are a few important ones. One challenge there is basically the idea that, as much as we have a lot of people on the internet in this modern time, there are still a lot of music lovers in Ghana that are either not too consistent on the internet or do not even use it at all and plus a good percentage of the people who are already on it are not familiar or comfortable with the idea of streaming music. 

  • MH: You used to be called ‘Denny Made It’ and now Bryan The Mensah. What informed the switch and what has been the transition experience from Denny Made it to Bryan The Mensah by far.

      BTM: Well I switched from being Denny because I had reached that point in my life where I realized that I just wanted to be myself, I didn't want to put up any mask because music had become a very integral part of my personality and I wanted people to know that this is really a lot of what I am about both as a brand and in person. I feel like ever since BRYAN THE MENSAH came on, people feel easier to relate with me and my music now cos it's not too far fetched a name and plus the content is now much more tailored for the African community than before.
  • MH:   Why do you call yourself King of Tea, does it have any connection with your temperament as an artiste?

     BTM: Well the Tea here is actually used metaphorically but in most cases it simply just means purity. King of Tea is basically a reminder for me that being a good person should not a difficult task but takes discipline and as long as I can maintain that aspect of me, I don't have any worries in this life. Temperament? Nah I don't think it gets to that area. 
  • MH: In total, how many singles and music projects do you have out? Could you share the names of these projects?

      BTM: Well I have an old 6 track EP out called Just So I Could Shock Everybody. Was released back in 2015. So In addition to my singles that is Cocoa Faces, That New, Very, King of Tea, Sharp and King of Tea part 3, I'd say a total of 12 songs are currently out at the moment. 

  • MH: Fast Forward to ‘Friends With The Sun’; your upcoming EP. Let’s cool of a bit, Are you Friends with the Sun though? Why friends With The Sun though?

         BTM: Oh loool. Am I friends with the sun? I'm not sure how to answer that but Friends With The Sun is based on the concept of facing your fears and your challenges. The sun here represents the fears and challenges cos I'm sure we can all agree as Ghanaians that the sun is one thing we've always never liked cos it makes us uncomfortable and weary. To be able to overcome your challenges you have to be friends with those challenges in order to understand how you can use it to your advantage to change your unfortunate situation into an opportunity to grow. So yeah based on this explanation I actually am friends with my sun. 
  • MH: One thing I could love more than your music is your cover arts. How do you get them to be this perfect? I know you paint too (I’ve seen some of your works: they are amazing), does it mean you create these cover arts yourself?
        BTM: Thank you for that. Really appreciate it. Actually, most of the physical work is done by me but the concept development for most of them which is virtually where all the real hard work is, is done by my PLEGISHES team. That's my design and planning team. They actually most of the time feed me with a sense of direction to take my art and it's been working great ever since. 
  • MH: As an artiste, what informs the titling of your music projects? More so, how do you come up with the number of songs on a particular project? What is the relevance of having 8-tracks on Friends With The Sun?

         BTM: Well I pick my titles based on how best I can summarize my emotions that inspired my to create the music. Well, Friends With The Sun has 8 songs because I felt like 8 songs were enough to get my messages out clearly and precisely without talking too much.

  • MH: Which ingredient would you say is the most essential in getting this album done? The ingredient that makes your style and sound the way it is on this album.

         BTM: The first most powerful ingredient is the level truth in lyrics that the songs contain. All the songs are based on real life experiences by me. Nothing in there was just made for fun because it sounded nice. Everything collectively adds up to become a piece of my personality that I'm willing to share to the rest of the world. The next powerful ingredient is the amount of collaborative work that went into the making of the EP. From the music itself, to the design scheme to the concept development for some of the add-on features that the EP will have. It's all very inspiring cos this is the first time in my life I'm working with this many talented and dedicated people. 
  • MH: Are there any specific feats you seek to achieve with “Friends With The Sun’? Could you fill us in on some of these feats?

        BTM: Well I can't lie, a lot of planning and organization has gone into this EP and the efforts keep rising up to a new level every single day. I really pray that it gets the recognition it deserves and inspires other creatives to be bold and encouraged to keep creating beautiful art that'll drive the culture forward and collectively help as all grow as a people.
  • MH: You have it out that Road to Hastafari will be out in 2021. We know how big a deal Road To Hastafari is for you. We are gradually treading down the Road to Hastafari. Does Friends With The Sun have any particular role to play down this road? What could that role be?

           BTM: Yes. Friends With The Sun is actually the beginning of the Road to HASTAFARI. It'll all come together as the years go by. You'll see. I don't really want to talk too much and ruin the experience for everyone. Lol. 
  • MH: Are there features on Friends With The Sun? Who did you feature and why; (Should there be a reason)?

            BTM: Well For now, I can't disclose anything that has to do with any part of the content of the EP. 
  • MH: Friends With the Sun, comes out in August, Why should people cop it when it comes out?

            BTM: FRIENDS WITH THE SUN comes out in August. Everyone and I repeat, Everyone should cop it because there's something in it for everybody. Whether you like to think deep about weird and abstract stuff all alone in your one corner, whether you like to make power moves that add up to your success story, whether you like to go out and have fun or whether you like to talk about love and relationships, whoever you are or whoever might be, there's a copy of the Friends With The Sun EP with your name on it. I know you are good to be entertained, exposed to a new way of enjoying your music and I pray you are inspired by the content. It's whole new experience on a whole different level. You really can't afford to sleep on this. Thank you guys. You're wonderful. Follow me on twitter or instagram at @BRYANTHEMENSAH for more updates on my music. Let's link up. 

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