Thread by @nfreduagyeman

Invisible
————
M.anifest has captured the underbelly of society exposing its rot, hypocrisy & the survival pathways of the unseen. Invisible is an essay on hypocrisy of society & the sweltering sweat of the unseen economic agents in a country

https://twitter.com/Tokersi/status/1638801871493013504?t=X-CNLyYtN9-5X-_UH47spA&s=19

that does not seem to care about the economic & psychological well-being of its citizens.

Mdot paints vivid pictures of the things we will wish to turn a blind eye—the "Invisible".

https://twitter.com/nfreduagyeman/status/1623714516998422529?t=iGaPOjw7r_odo5IwllEbgg&s=19

———
[Chorus: M.anifest & CBC]:

Invisible, nobody sees me
Goodbyes and hi's, nobody greets me
Can I be a member? I do surrender
I have no agenda
Just see me
Ah (Just see me)
———

The chorus is itself a plea for help from someone who feels she's ghosting through life—no one acknowledges her existence but she truly wants to belong—belong to something, someone, some place. To be a member of the human race? Of the visibles?

She has surrendered, given up, everything to belong.

She has no ulterior motive, no agenda, no hidden hideous plan. Just an acknowledgement of her existence. But she remains invisible to all passers-by. They all seem to see through her as they go about their every day duties.

The exasperation ("ah") at the last line of the chorus drums home the pain, the yearnings, the hopelessness, of her situation—ah! Just see me. We use "ah", when we give up, when we feel pain, when something incomprehensible or shocking happens. It's one of those onomatopoeias

that says a lot, carries an entire story, in just one short monosyllabic sound.

The rapper uses repetition, in the form of tautology, to emphasise his message. In the first two lines we have "Invisible", followed by "Nobody sees me", which means the same.

The second line "Goodbyes & Hi's" & "Nobody greets", which is inferential. The repetition of "Nobody" in the middle of the the first 2 lines is mesodiplosis, a form of repetition. The rapper rhymed the end lines too—"me" (repeated in three lines—epistrophe), "member", "surrender"

(internal rhyme), "agenda" (end rhyme). These short syncopated lines are devoid of conjunctions (asyndeton). In addition, "just see me" is repeated twice (anaphora) & it heightens the desire to be seen, to be recognised, the longings, which contributes to the emotional impact.

———
[Verse 1]:

Outcasts and misfits
Lonely dogs throwing bitchfits
What you gon' do when the shit hits?
Let me switch gears on the stick shift
Bus boys and the waitress
Work more e dey pay less
Kayayo with a headload
She dey run at the speed of techno
———

Outcasts are social rejects, those ostracised by society, because of their deviancy or their inability to fit into/follow social norms. Misfits are also are deviants. Their attitudes & behaviours don't align with the social order or norms. Their value systems are different.

They move about in the world, in our societies, like lonely dogs (metaphor) throwing tantrums, or bitchfits (rhymes with "misfits", "shit hit", "stick shift". There's also an assonance on the "i" including "switch" & an alliteration on the "s" in "Let me switch gears on the stick

shift/Bus boys and the waitress". Further, "waitress" rhymes with "pay less" & "headload" with "techno".

The rapper is asking what we will do if the shit hits the fan? What will you do if the neglected, the misfits, the ostracised, the outcasts, rebel? What will we do when

there's a social crisis & uprising arising from this abject neglect? Social crisis leads to increased unemployment, loss of income, increased vulnerability, family breakdown, among others. These result in increased armed robberies, prostitution, among others.

From here onwards the rapper began to list some activities & professions where the actors are overworked & underpaid, are least respected, & the work is laborious & drudgery.

The rapper used a driving metaphor to change the direction—switch gears on a stick shift (manual transmission). He immediately followed this with "Bus boys"—which appears to refer to conductors (or what we call mate) & drivers, thus continuing the "car & driving" motif.

But this is a Houdini-esque trick. A "Busboy" is a someone who clears the table at a restaurant. So a waiter (waitress) serves customers at their table while busboys clears, cleans, & reset the table.

It's known that restaurant workers are paid low wages & have to depend on tips—work more e dey pay less (antithesis (more, less), irony (work more but paid less)). Sadly, this phenomenon, a culture in the US, is gradually spreading throughout the world.

cnbc.com/amp/select/new…

Kayayo, are headporters. They help carry goods at the for shoppers (from point of purchase to their cars) or help unload trucks. They're mostly located at the markets. "Kayayo with a headload" is a great imagery & anyone can easily picture this.

Given the load they carry, their speed (movement) is slow (speed of Techno—metaphor). Sometimes called kayayei, kayayo, actually means "a female porter or bearer" (in Ga).

aljazeera.com/amp/program/wi…

———
Trotro mate count with vim
He coulda been a mathematician
And in addition, he knows well social division
We all dey eat fish
Careless whose doing the fishing
At the chop bar I dey chop bad, but how's the chef faring?
———

Trotro—is public bus, & mate—is a conductor. The trotro mate is responsible for getting passengers onto the bus/van, getting them off at designated/preferred stops & collecting the bus fares.

The dexterity with which they calculate the fares and handover change is something that's always amazing. Given this skill, it's clear that they aren't dumb or can't function in a formal setting or even in private business. The "mathematician" is a metaphor for the

possibilities of what they could have been, including actually being "mathematician", which is based on their arithmetic abilities. Further, these "trotro mates" understand the social divisions—they understand the classes in society given the behaviour of people they had to deal

with everyday. In fact, specific group of people prefer the front seat by the driver. There are those who will wait for those seats. Also, how these mates call & respond to people in their buses/vans is testament to their understanding of social class.

The rapper employed arithmetic operations as metaphors—"count", "addition" & "division" (all of which rhyme with "mathematician" & "fishing").

Most often we don't think about, or even consider, those through whose efforts the economy thrives, we get our

sustenance, we get to our destinations, among others—market women, transporters, headporters, traders, etc. However, if we pause to think we will appreciate the complex interactions & actions of individual, seemingly invisible, economic agents responsible for our comfort.

The rapper brings to light some of these invisible agents—the scrum crawling underneath society's underbelly. We all eat fish but we care less about the fisherman. We eat good at chopbars (local eateries that mostly serve local dishes) but care less about the cooks? The farmers?

"Chop bar" rhymes with "chop bad" & "fishing" with "faring". These lines—Careless whose doing the fishing/At the chop bar I dey chop bad, but how's the chef faring?—also emphasises the socioeconomic differences that exist in society.

We enjoy the benefits of an unequal society & hardly, if ever, consider the harm.

———
Invisible man with visible fears
At airports is when I appear
Belt buckles and shoes off
Small London wey I want see
Faceless with a face mask
In the train holding my day pass
As the day pass and the hand ticks
On the Big Ben, I'm a hostage
———

The song transitions from the local to the global in its treatment of the topic at hand—invisible.

"Invisible man with visible fears" can me considered as an antithesis, of sorts. The phrase emphasises the paradoxical nature of the person's situation—

he is unseen by others, yet his fears are tangible and apparent. The use of antithesis in this phrase helps to highlight the complex emotional state of the person, and adds depth and complexity to the lyrics.

In addition, "Invisible Man" is a metaphor for Ralph Ellison's novel "Invisible Man," where the man is unseen by the world around him but experiences his own fears and insecurities. It emphasises the feelings of isolation and vulnerability.

There's a movie of same title but any reference here will be tenuous. In the movie, a woman's husband fakes his death, when he found ways to become invisible, just to continue to torment his wife.

The invisibility isn't only restricted to hustlers. Post-9/11 and its travel changes have made air travel an adventurous escapade. The trouble of check-ins—remove belt, wallet, shoes, laptop from bags,put phones into bowls, pass through x-rays, metal detectors, metal scanners;

sometimes you know you're clean but still you shiver internally for fear of what could go round. Has someone slipped something into your hand luggage? These are questions & checklists you go through. Once on the plane, the fear turns to the over 100 people in that cabin with you.

Are they so clean? Are they all genuine travellers? Is there anyone who has a terroristic agenda? All these just because of "small London I want to see".

"Faceless" person in a "face mask" is an antithesis. Since this song was on the 2016 album—Nowhere Cool, the face mask reference has to do with the 2009 H1N1 Swine Flu, which led to a limited use of face masks, thus, compounding the invisibility.

However, we can employ anachronism & apply this to the recent COVID-19 pandemic, which led to the enforcement of mask-wearing worldwide.

Otherwise, it's the result of winter clothes, which sometimes lead to the covering of one's face, covering their identity in the process & making them physically invisible.

The rapper describes the person as a hostage (of time)—an economic migrant possibly, holding his day pass (ticket) on the train as the day pass (time winds down) [Antanaclassis—using a word/phrase in different places with different meaning in each instance],

indicated by the movement of the "Big Ben" (symbolism in the line)—the famous clock. These economic migrants are invisible.

There's a repetition of the "a" sound in the lines "Faceless with a face mask/In the train holding my day pass".

———
[Verse 2]:

I was out one night for relaxation
Young lady flagging me down, I had hesitation
In East Legon, near where they sell medication
You know well same place where they sell fornication
———

The rapper turns the story back home in verse 2, to a specific place—East Legon, the place where they sell medication & fornication (both rhyme with hesitation & relaxation). Actually, anyone who knows East Legon knows where Mdot is referring to. I mean, this is Atemuda—it's my

usual route. And yes, they flag you down when your are passing. Sometimes they pretend to move a bit so you can see what you are enticed to pay for. That the rapper had a hesitation to the flagging is funny. But it speaks also to the scene.

"Sell fornication" is an euphemism, which means there are prostitutes, ladies of the night, parading the streets looking for pickups. The juxtapositioning of "fornication" & "medication" emphasises two things—medically, the practice of prostitution will be discouraged.

At the same time, it'll provide the services needed to protect them from diseases & unwanted interruptions in the line of work (pregnancies). And yes, there's a pharmacy on that stretch.

These euphemisms help to create a sense of irony and humor, while also highlighting the taboo nature of the subject matter.

———
I'm not judging
Just something to touch on
You know how the economy dey
Boys pay to get a hard on
Girls dressed for the nightwork
And felatio? that's light work
Get a mini skirt and it might work
———

But the rapper isn't judging. He's not stating these to pass a moral judgement on them. If you listen to #ENoEasy on #MTTU, there are similar storylines & no judgement. On No Shortcut to Heaven, Mdot raps

Some of the boys dey do fraud
Sakawa tings but dear Lord
Who do you blame, economy lame
—#NSCTH

No judgement. The economy is lame &, because survival is a basic human instinct, people will do everything possible to survive.

He's speaking about them because they're things that must be said. After all, if there's no demand there will be no supply. As long as boys will pay to get a "hard on" (euphemism for payment for sex), there will be girls dressed for the night (euphemism for prostitutes), mostly

mostly in mini skirt (their somewhat uniform), to keep it hard & on, through felatio (euphemism for oral sex), which is considered to be light work (rhymes with "night", "might").

———
But back to the young lady, I mean
Couldn't have been more than seventeen
Maybe in the daytime, she's Hadijah wearing a Hijab
Transform in the nighttime wearing secular garbs
Nobody see ein pain
She's just up for grabs
Me too, I'm minding my business
I hit the gas and pass
——

The lady who flagged the rapper couldn't be more than 17 years. This is an metaphor for innocence. It also shows how the bad economy has forced young girls into dangerous & dire situations.

The rapper exposes the irony of the situation & the hypocrisy that's engulfed us. In the day time, these girls could be from religious homes (Hadijah is a metaphor for religious adherents), wearing hijabs (religious apparel), which cover their entire face (modesty).

This is antithetical to miniskirt (secular garbs, rhymes with "hijab", "Hadijah", "grab", "garb") they wear at night, which exposes their entire body in all its curves, enticements, & transforms them from innocence to guilty pleasures—up for grabs by those with the economic means

As invisibles, no one sees their pain—emotional pain (the conditions that pushed them into this state) & physical (the possible pain from the sexual act).

Ironically, the rapper describes himself as one of the people who sees through them—though he feels it's "something I must touch on"—ironically, "touch on" could be "physical touch" or "address"

He minds his business, steps on the gas & moves on, perhaps after that rump

THE END

ADDENDUM I

On the last point, the rapper used "touch on..." & "hit...& pass". These lines are either benign or diversionary.

The rapper is either addressing this issue (touch on) & then drive onwards (hit the gas & pass) or literally pick one (touch), hit & pass (you get it?).

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