Nana B. just released his first EP, “Rm 102”

Kim Schmitz

Features Editor

Nana Boamah-Acheampong ’11, known professionally as Nana B., always knew he wanted to make it big in the music world. A recent graduate of Wooster, he has made impressive strides towards that goal since he joined the real world in 2011. Nana B.’s first EP, “Rm 102,” came out one week ago on Sept. 13.

The EP is based on Nana B.’s four years at Wooster. His first dorm room, Babcock 102, is the inspiration for the title. The EP is representative of his time at the college, particularly how “a bunch of different things [are] happening at once.” Much of the music follows this pattern, always with several elements layered on top of each other to form a cohesive sound.

Nana B. grew up in the Columbus area, but his family is from Ghana. He was recently featured in Vibe Magazine, who praised his track “Work For You” as “a cool, trippy tune that could give The-Dream a run for his money.”

At Wooster, Nana B. wasted no time trying to advance his music career. He and a friend started a production company called “Deydreamin Productions” while they were at school, Nana B. as the artist and his partner as the manager. They proceeded to apply for and receive a grant from the Wooster Center for Entrepreneurship so that they could work on the project while they were still in school.

After graduation, Nana B. returned to Columbus to work for Nationwide Insurance, while continuously working on his music during off hours. He focused on making connections so that he could get his material out there. He moved to Chicago at the beginning of this year and continued to try to advertise his name.

Finally, Nana B. contacted a group called Fly Union, one of his favorite hip-hop groups, through Twitter. He gave them samples of his work and the group decided to produce his EP for him. Nana B. wrote the lyrics and chose from Fly Union’s original beats and they all collaborated to apply additional elements. From then on it was a process of working and reworking the compositions which was complicated by a prolonged illness of Nana B.’s. He regained his health soon before Fly Union was supposed to leave the windy city for California, so after that they worked harder than ever to get the EP out on time.

When asked to describe the style of his music, Nana B. replied, “I’d call it ‘ill pop.’”

According to Nana B., Wooster has a lot of talented people who have the potential to be successful in music. His advice is to “let as many people hear your stuff as possible, and never be satisfied.” He emphasizes the importance of meeting people (“it’s who you know”) and of revising over and over.

Nana B. is confident that his music career will continue to gain momentum. Though he’s in the early stages of breaking onto the scene, he already has some promising reviews. He hopes that his first EP, as a tribute to his time at Wooster, has the potential to inspire musicians on campus to follow in his footsteps.

“Rm 102” can be found at soundcloud.com/nanabcool/sets/rm102.