Jesus Muhammad interviews Boyd

Boyd is a crooner who’s carving a niche for himself and gaining a reputation as one of the alternative scene’s most distinct voices. Jesus Muhammad linked up with him at the serene Jamestown Coffee Co., located within the Nyaniba Estates in Accra, for an in-depth conversation.

 

My introduction to the name Boyd had been in my early teens. Do you know of Pattie Boyd?

Pattie Boyd? No, I don’t.

 

Ok. How about Eric Clapton? Or George Harrison from The Beatles?

Naah, never heard of any of them. I know of The Beatles, but I’ve never heard of George Harrison.

 

Ohok. So Eric Clapton developed a crush on George Harrison’s wife; Pattie Boyd, who was a fashion model. Eric and George were good friends so Eric was honest to him about it. To cut a long story short, George agreed to let Eric have Pattie, and they ended up getting married. Oh, and divorced as well. Haha…

Hahaha… Interesting. That’s some wild stuff!

 

Haha… But yeah, that was my introduction to the name Boyd. That was just by the way tho. So what’s your name? Full name I mean, obviously. Haha…

I don’t want to mention my full [government] name. Hahaha… but the name is Boyd Larmie. Musically, it’s just Boyd, but on my socials, it’s Boyd Larmie. I’d been using Boyd Larmie before pursuing music professionally tho. There was the possibility of the name Boyd being already taken on social media. So, in order to stand out, I just decided to go with Boyd Larmie.

 

Ok. So what’s your background, Boyd? Where were you born, where did you grow up? Education?

I was born in Accra. I grew up initially in Dansoman, but the family later moved to La in my teens. I attended Christian Home for a while, before moving to St. Martin de Porres, then went to Pope John for my secondary education. I was a science student. Haha. Following that, I was awarded a scholarship to study architecture in Russia; in Voronezh, a town 8hrs away from Moscow by road.

                                                  Photo courtesy of Boyd 

Nice. How was it in Russia?

I think for a lot of people, uni is the most defining moment of their lives; where they find themselves. And I think that’s exactly what it was for me. It was kind of tough. There’s a whole lot of stuff I had to deal with chale; from racism, and depression, to trying to fit in [with the crowd]. It was a lot of stuff to deal with and as a result, has actually defined who I am today. But it was also eye-opening and I eventually found my tribe there.

 

Oh yeah?! That’s crazy. Were you the only African?

Eh, not really. I wasn’t the only African studying in my school. There were a few other Africans, but at a point, I was the only African in the architecture faculty. So there was a huge problem with trying to fit in and get stuff done. I had a course mate from Burundi who ended up becoming a close friend, but he left after the first year.

 

So considering the struggles you’ve mentioned, were there ever moments where you wanted to quit and return home?

Oh yeah chale! So the thing is, first of all, I struggled with the transition from studying science to studying art. And the course was art-intensive. So I had to learn to paint, draw, sculpt, all those things; and that was difficult because most of my colleagues came from an art background. The first year was the language year, and I’d say it was fairly smooth. I had to take a language exam, which I passed. Then I had to take another exam to get into the architecture faculty. If I’d passed the language exam and failed the architecture one, I’d have had to choose another course. I remember my first lecture in the architecture course. Hahaha… It was an ethics class. All my Burundian friend and I could understand throughout the lecturer’s speech was “Good morning”. At a point, we just looked at each other and burst out laughing. Everything else he uttered sounded like gibberish to us. We eventually closed our books and just sat watching him. And this continued for a year or two. Haha…

 

What?! A year or two? So how did you pass your first year exams, especially as you’ve said that there was a lot you didn’t understand?

It took time chale. At a point, we just realized we had to take what we could from the lectures, and make up for the rest we lost by reading…

 

English books?

No chale! I studied in Russian. Everything! Haha… Luckily tho, for exams, it was oral…

 

Wait! You didn’t have written exams?

Oh, the written part was only like 10%. Then you’d have to go defend yourself orally. What they sought to ensure with that method was the prevention of copying or plagiarism, and also to find out if you actually had a grasp of whatever concept it was you were learning. So the practical aspect made things a bit easier for us.

 

Interesting. So is this when you started music? Before you answer that tho, did you do music in PJ?

Ermmm… Well, in my 2^nd year in PJ, I started experimenting with music; with a group called AOW.

 

AOW?

Yeah, the group was called AOW. Short form for Armz of War.

 

Haha… That’s interesting. A rap group?

Yeah. It was comprised of Nana Benyin; formerly known as Rumor, Kyos; pronounced chaos, and Loonee [TKR]. They approached me saying they’d heard that I could sing and they thought it’d be cool if I joined them. At the time, I’d also written stuff so I was like "yeah, why not?!”

 

Ohok. So how many songs did you do with them? And any performances?

So I actually don’t remember performing with them, but I sang on about six (6) songs. Honestly, secondary school was a blur chale, so I don’t actively remember any performances with them.

 

Was AOW big tho?

Oh yeah! Initially, for me, it was just like “chale, me too I dey do something.” But it turned out bigger than I’d ever imagined. Our CDs were everywhere. So yeah, that was literally my first experiment with music. We recorded with JaySo.

 

What?!… JaySo?! Then your experimenting sef, e b big tin. You were experimenting on hard drugs in high doses. Sake of, experimenting sef wey you dey record with JaySo dier… Haha.

Haha. Truth be told; I didn’t even know who he was then. It was more like, the guys said 'let’s go here,' and we were gone. I was, you could say a greenhorn that whole time. Haha.

 

Haha. So back to Russia. I read somewhere how you started singing there.

Yeah, I actually quit everything creative after secondary school. Also, when I arrived in Russia, I decided that since the course I was about to pursue was serious stuff, also considering the switch from science to art, I needed to fully concentrate without any distractions. But the music wouldn’t leave me alone. Haha. So in the first year, I danced; I actually taught dance to survive.

 

Dance?

Yeah, dance! Hip-Hop dance. Then the music came in the second (2^nd) or third (3^rd) year. There’s this thing they call ‘Student Spring’, which was a platform for student creatives to showcase their talent(s). And I was [kind of] blackmailed [by the architecture faculty] into participating because I was failing in school. The workload was a lot so it was hard to keep up, and that’s when I was also hit by depression. The whole dance thing, and even taking part in this competition was a way to buy myself more time to sit exams I hadn’t written, and stuff like that. But things kept getting worse.

 

Whoa! So you were involuntarily pushed to join the school group?

I wouldn’t call it the school group. You see the way we have Interco here? Something similar, but on a creative level. There’s stand-up comedy, music, dance, stuff like that. And it starts from the faculty level, to the inter-faculty level, then to university level, regional, national. You get it? So even though I was in the architecture faculty, because I was a foreign student, I was also a member of the International Students Faculty. So I represented the International Students Faculty, which was made up of students from countries like Moldova, Congo, Turkmenistan, Mongolia, all over chale.

 

Ohok. Nice! How did you guys’ fare in the competition?

I think there was some kind of bias in there. Haha. We did well, but racism, you know? Instead of awarding the best student or group in whatever category, they’d rather segment it and award best international student, best Russian student, etc. But I’m glad I took part because that’s what helped me slowly phase out of my depressive state. It just went on and on from there; from winning awards for the faculty to winning awards for the school. Then I started the music thing with two friends; a Congolese and a Russian. We started travelling around Russia to represent our school, with all costs [of travel] covered, and it was amazing to see something like that come up just from deciding to take a chance. It was after that that we decided to form our own cover band, The Jazzis. We played weddings, restaurants and cafés, we dey travel go other cities go play gigs. Paid gigs chale. Haha. And eventually, we became well-known in our city.

                                                     Photo by Jesus Muhammad 

Wow! That’s sick. About the bias part, I can’t say I’m surprised, to be honest. Let’s talk about your interests. What kind of stuff are you interested in?

First and foremost, it’s music. I’m always actively looking for music. I’m also into observing pictures, buildings and stuff, and without doubt, that’s because of my architecture background. I also love to edit videos and pictures; most of the stuff you see on my IG, the editing was done by your boy. Then the beach. I love the beach. Haha…

 

Haha. It’s interesting that you’ve mentioned this because I’d actually planned to ask you about your love for water later in the interview. So let’s go on. We’ll return to that. Haha…

Haha… No p!

 

So what got you into music?

I’d say it’s my dad. He’s super into music. So that’s where I’d say it’s from. All these guys, Earth Wind and Fire, Sade, Fela and all dem people, he was the source. Even those from our generation like Missy Elliot, he was the one.

 

How about musical Influences? Would you say Sade, Fela, Earth Wind and Fire?

Oh naah! They probably may have been, but it was definitely Hip-Hop for me. Missy Elliot, Busta Rhymes, that was it. I realized that even though I listened to Hip-Hop, it was the choruses, the melodies that really got me. When Fabolous released Street Dreams, that album was the one that made me get it. Then there was Ginuwine, Usher, Ne-Yo, Mario Winans, Jagged Edge.

 

OG stuff. You’re really an R&B guy. Haha.  What genre of music would you define your music as tho?

R&B, Soul and Afro Fusion, because there’s obviously those elements in there. But yeah, it’s still alternative.

 

Ok. Let’s delve into your projects. So you say ‘Blues of Us’ was released in 2018?

Yeah, in October I think. Blues of Us started off as a poem. “I’ve fallen into you, there’s nothing you can do, and the skies are blue…” But I decided not to complete it because anytime I write poems, they tend to get really dark. So that’s what made me decide to sing it out instead. And I think to the core, that was me addressing certain things that had happened in my life, like in terms of relationships and stuff like that. I’d never addressed them or faced them head on, and that was also me trying to actively put a part of myself in my music; not just writing about some random stuff. So most of the lyrics are tied to an experience; either something I saw or something that happened to me. I decided to stick to that name for the EP after I realized that [almost] all the songs I wrote after that were kind of connected.

 

What would you say are your favourites on ‘Blues of Us’?

Initially, I thought it was ‘Blues of Us’ and ‘Call Me’, but after mixing, everything changed. That’s when I realized how amazing ‘Eye Candy’, ‘Awula’ and ‘Outro’ were. I think to the core, ‘Outro’ embodied Blues of Us for me. It was an experiment which turned out uber fantastic. Also, big up to [Sammy] Qube for the magic he performed on mixing ‘Awula’. He blew my mind chale. And big, big, big up to Worlasi as well for connecting me to Qube.

 

Ohok. Interesting. I’ve got to say tho… ‘Blues of Us’ has an iconic cover. Super dope art.

Haha. Thanks chale. My guy Kobby Taylor created that. 

                                                      Photo by Jesus Muhammad

Yeah, so how about the other projects?  

In 2019, I released a single called ‘Taa Ni Bu’ with Nana Benyin. Then in 2020, I dropped Boys with Broken Hearts.

 

Is ‘Boys with Broken Hearts’ a sequel to ‘Blues of Us’?

No, I wouldn’t say that. What I’d say tho is that it’s a continuation of putting more of myself in my music. It’s a reflection of things I’ve experienced since I returned home, mostly concerning relationships. ‘Feels’ is a song which addresses that aptly, and it’s not even just romantic relationships, but friendships as well. ‘Games’ was inspired by a friend in Russia who called me one time while I was in the studio with Nii Quaye, to tell me that his [longtime] girlfriend had woken him up from his sleep with a phone call one night, only to inform him that she was pregnant for another guy. It was mad because only some months before, he’d told me that he was going to wife her. He explained to me how heartbroken he was and how he had to deal with his emotions. Right after getting off the phone with him, I wrote the song and we recorded it. I’ve mentioned my love for experimentation, so lemme tell you. The first song on BWBH, which is ‘Private Show’, was my attempt at making a Ga falsetto song; there’s also the myth that Ga isn’t a romantic language and that was my contribution to changing that narrative. ‘Lost’, which is currently my song with the most listens, describes a space which I was in. So I’d returned home from work one day; I was exhausted so I poured myself a glass of wine and laid up in bed to cool off while drinking and staring up at the fan. I dunno if it was the wine, haha… But I started reminiscing about certain things. That’s where the line “stuck with my ceiling, lost in my feelings” originated from. Haha.

 

Hahaha… It’s a good song, honestly. Well no, it’s great song. Solid stuff! Yeah, so you’ve dropped two EPs so far. That’s great chale. Congrats! But who are some of the people you’ve worked with?

The first guy I ever recorded with; well, aside JaySo, haha… was Elman. He’s an EDM producer in Russia. We made a song called ‘Pleasure’. Then after returning to Ghana, I did a song called ‘Dare to Dream’ with EL, Gemini and Nana Benyin. That was in 2018. One of my frequent collaborators is Kobby Taylor, my guy who I said designed the Blues of Us artwork. He also did the artwork for ‘Taa Ni Bu’ and produced it as well. We’ve been close friends since our PJ days; and he’s the guy behind Akolabone. Then there’s Hxdi Stross, a South African; he featured me on his song called ‘Pretty Scars’. Nii Quaye is my main producer and manager now, but before that, we created songs like ‘Mi Lobi’, ‘Bad’, and ‘Juju’. He produced most of the songs on BWBH. DJ Kwamzy featured me and Nii Quaye on ‘Love’. Nana Benyin is another frequent collaborator; I’m on ‘Bittersweet’ on his Happy Place album. Kojo Cue featured me on ‘Never Mind’. Kwame Koda does my photography, and Zed Benson and Odartey Mango direct my videos. I’m also doing some stuff with Mike Millz and it should be out soon. Looking to collaborate more this year tho.

                                                       Photo courtesy of Boyd

 

Who do you aspire to collaborate with?

Worlasi. Asi Renie. Sizz the Truth. [Obed and AnsahLive from] Super Jazz Club. Drvmroll. Joey B at some point; I believe he’s one guy whose [laidback] style will blend perfectly with mine and we’ll surely make some magic. Amaarae. Marince Omario, that guy is hard chale; I love what he’s doing with Ga. Tolu Dadi; this amazing Nigerian guy. Moliy. Tripcy. Mega EJ. M3nsa! M3nsa chale! ‘Fante Love Song’ was an eye-opener for me; it made me realise that making beautiful love songs in our native languages is freaking possible. There’s also Y’akoto. Ria Boss. Kkeda. Yung D3mz. King Promise. Camidoh. All these guys are amazing.  

 

How about your successes and struggles?

Oooh… Money bro. Money chale! I’m doing what I’ve got to do regarding my music, but money!... And I’d also say finding a good team. I’m lucky to have found the guys I’m working with because it’s really hard to come across a good team.

 

I feel you on that. Would you say you get radio love tho?

Oh yeah. I’d say I do. A couple of stations show me love. YFM. Recently Guide Radio, Citi FM, Class FM are also showing me love.

Let’s talk about YouTube. What’s Your YouTube like?

The first video I put on was ‘Taa Ni Bu’ in 2019. I’ve got about three (3) videos on there. I’ve got a video that’s almost reached 10k views, that’s ‘Lost’. ‘Weird Space’ is just out so we’re eager to see what it holds in store.

 

How about interviews? Of all you’ve done so far, are there any standouts?

Yeah, I’ve been interviewed on Citi TV; Breakfast Daily I think. I’ve done Joy Prime. Metro TV. TV3. YFM. Class FM, Prince Benjamin’s show. These are what I remember. I think the TV3 one stood out. I’d like to add that all these guys have been focused on my music and not trying to pry into my private [love] life, as happens with some of these other stations, and I really appreciate that.

 

Haha… Within the music scene, there’s issues sometimes. Are there any of them you consider as industry drama?

I dunno ooh. I dunno about that. The industry no dey rec[ognize] me sef, so I can’t say. But I knorr say everywhere hard. So…

 

Slick Boyd. Haha… You’ve said that you’re constantly on the search for music. Any artistes you’re feeling?

Oh yeah, there’s a lot of them. I’m a big, big altéhead. Haha. So typically, people like Odunsi, Santi, Amaarae. Tyler the Creator. And some of these names I’m mentioning are the people I’m listening to now. But in two (2) weeks, everything go fit change. Haha. There’s also Sunni Colon, Jordan Ward, Kota the Friend. Childish Gambino is always on my list; top top guy! Frank Ocean too. Zaya. The Cavemen too dey there.

                                                       Photo by Jesus Muhammad

 

How about fashion? Which brands are you currently digging?

Ermmm… I dunno. I stopped being big on big brands like that. When I see something I like, I get it. But Nike and Adidas would no doubt be in my list. But I’m defo looking at owning more stuff produced by Ghanaian-owned brands. Akolabone, Tribe of God, they’re tight. I believe I’ll switch to having a majority Ghanaian-owned wardrobe soon.

 

What are your views on the current Ghanaian fashion scene?

I don’t think I can speak on that. I just know that there’s people doing dope stuff, like I said. But I can’t actively speak on that.

 

Ok. So I’d like us to play a game…

A game?

 

Yeah! A game. Haha. Nothing complex. I’m just going to ask you to choose your preference between two options. That’s all.

Ohok. Cool!

 

Nice! So let’s go. Kenkey or Fufu?

Oh Kenkey!

 

Shorts or Trousers?

Trousers.

 

Netflix and Chill or Go Dancing?

Netflix and Chill. Ridee, dancing make hard chale. If you’d said “go out and do something” dier, yeah. But dancing make hard. Haha

 

Haha… Ok. Read a Book or Watch a Documentary?

I’d say Watch a Doc.

 

Pop Corn or Plantain Chips?

Eish! Both!

 

Hahaha… All Black or All White?

All Black, n*ggaaa!

                                               Photo by Jesus Muhammad

 

Beach Front or Lake Front?

Beach.

 

Drink and Drive or Smoke and Fly?

Huh?! The f*ck?! Hahaha… Let’s just say drink chale!

 

Hahaha. Android or iOS?

Honestly, I no dey biz! But I dey use iOS now. Once e dey do what I dey need dier, I’m fine. But it has to be said, iOS b top.

 

Haha… Ok. Tall or Short Women?

Hahaha… I’ve never had a preference. Haha.

 

T-shirt or Buttoned Shirt?

T-shirt or Buttoned Shirt?! Hoodie and Sweatshirt! Hahaha…

 

Haha… Interesting. Golden Tree or Niche?

I dunno Niche, so I’d say Golden Tree.

 

Ok. Now, let’s return to the part about your love for water. What’s it about water?

What is it? Honestly, I can’t say what. But I’ve always wanted to know how to swim; I’m currently learning. But the beach, you see how you’re at the beach and hear the waves and winds, then the next second, it’s just calm? Juxtaposing that with my life, there’s been chaos and there’s been calm, so it kind of resonates with me. Also, since the beginning, the sea has been what it currently is, and it’ll continue to be that. Haha…

 

Last question. What’s your favourite meal?

Eii! Sorry, that one dier, you can’t get me. I’m one of those who eats everything. I just for sati. But I’d say I have a thing for waakye. I can eat it every day with no qualms at all.