FOR BOOKING:
Contact Ashanti Abdullah - booking@manifestmc.com or 612.282.3112
"Gentleman" Live
Been a long time coming!
Spell the name right!
Influences
Mom, Love, Pain, Struggle, hurt, Drums that speak Soul (Talking Drums?), truth, dreams, serenity, Fela Kuti, Manu Dibango, Shuggie Ottis, Peter Tosh, Otis Redding, Nas, Mc Lyte, Curtis Mayfield, Dilla, Tupac, Timbland, Eugene Mcdaniels, Kool Herc, Treach, Krs-One, Afrika Bambaataa, Obrafo, Nina Simone, luciano, culture, dub, hi-life, Reggie Rockstone, yellow man, BDP, mad lion
Miriam Makeeba, Ayi Kwei Armah, Nkrumah, Cabral, folk songs, Yaa Asantewa, Koo Nimo, J.H. Nketia, Lauryn Hill, A Love Supreme, Amandla, P.E, Roy Ayers, Africa Dreamin', Memories, Mobb Deep, Hov, silence, Chaos, outkast, E-40, Blackstar, Ananse stories, The message, Bu me Be, Wu-tang, 4 shades [O-D, G MoBeatz, Katrah-Quey, M.],Tony Allen, Fanon, Poor Righteous Teachers, Mr Meth, K'naan, I Self Devine, Mensa
Drums, Pharoah Monch, Donny Hathaway, Osibisa, E.T. Mensah, rainy days, Marvin Gaye, EPMD, Rakim Allah, David Axelrod, David Ruffin, Brasil 66, Sankofa, Adinkra, Home Cooking, Sun Ra, Dead Prez, Isaac Hayes, Garvey, Achebe, Smokey Robinson, Badu, Prince, P-Funk, Pharcyde, Busta, Rah Digga, Slick Rick, Sun Ra, Black Thought, Meshell N'Degeocello, D'angelo, Isaac Hayes .... and the list and the beat goes on
Songwriter of the year: 2008
"Look, we like capital-S Songwriters as much as anyone—those cute indie chicks and dudes who bare their souls with just an acoustic guitar and a microphone, delivering masterful lyrics on the whimsical nature of love and life in a well-developed falsetto. But this year the word craft and songsmithing that blew off our headphones were delivered by someone a little different: Ghanaian immigrant Kwame Tsikata, known more widely as rapper M.anifest. The most obvious themes of his lyrics, race and Afrocentrism, serve as a canvas against which he paints smaller moments. His simple but clever rhymes had us hitting rewind to listen to the turns of phrase a second time, as in Against the Grain. It's a song where M.anifest lays down his vision of both a personal utopia and "the black man's paradise"—but the big dream begins quietly and elegantly: "The cold days and silent nights/Some days I don't write/I sit back and let my mind take flight."
"His observations culminates into some incredible songs where you feel like you’re listening to someone with an incredible gift. I’m not saying gift in a special way, as if everyone should bow down and worship the man, even he might agree with me. But rather he knows how to speak and write, a hip-hop craftsman in a field that has been lacking... craft. -The Run Off Groove-
"What's a rapper from Ghana who's as smart as Talib Kweli and as funky as Kanye West doing in Minnesota? Who cares? As proven on his just plain entertaining debut CD, "Manifestations," (No. 5 on our recent year-end Twin Cities Critics Tally), the 25-year-old African transplant is as at home laying old-school rhymes and Afrocentric grooves as he is at keeping up with the Joneses (as in Nas and Mike), and his songs are positive and thought-provoking." - Star Tribune -
"But the more important thing that sets M.anifest apart from his peers is his polished, commercial appeal—at least, commercial in a way that rap might be if everyone in the East Coast bohemian Native Tongues movement had all gone triple platinum in '96 and Rawkus had Roc-A-Fella chart presence. ...And with an outlook that left pop vs. hardcore concerns out of the equation, he eventually developed a style that could straddle both: Even inflected with the hint of a West African accent, M.anifest has the kind of assured, joyful, ruminative voice that made Mos Def into Hollywood's favorite conscious-rap star." - City Pages
Peace Manifest. It would be great to catch up. I hope you are doing great. Attracting great thoughts as reality. Making power moves. Much respect to the Continent and to the Universe. Hit me up. Lata, Jessica
Also just wanted to extend an invite to our next show. My band "The Nation" will be Playing at The Nomad for the Hip Hop BBQ...On Cedar and Riverside (West Bank) Saturday June 13th Hope you can make it.....Peace
what up Amet! it's ya boi Trev. I'm here holding it down in Iraq. waiting for the new album to come out! Apprecaite everything that your doing man...keep up the good work and the encouraging lyrics.
well tank ya... i am definitely pleased with stumbling upon your music today...thank you for the inspiration to keep it moving...black man.give thanks.
i just listened to the album again today. classic material!!! what up with the new album? you already working on it? eagerly waiting for this to come out!!! peace! jannis
your doin good thangs with the music ya makin. that is what tru music is about. reachin out to others and just fillin there souls with the goodness of whatcha makin. Respect.
"Gentleman" Live
Songwriter of the year: 2008
