“Food is music to the body, music is food to the heart,” Australian author, Gregory David Roberts best known for his novel Shantaram is quoted to have said.

But sometimes music is more than just food to our souls; it can be the panacea to some of the worst challenges that face our societies and luckily new artiste, Joshua Pharez Essuman-Mensah better known by his fans as RJZ is spearheading this initiative.

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RJZ wants to affect society positively with his music by donating every pesewa he gets from his upcoming album to charity. This act is something you won’t find even some of the biggest music names who receive fat cheques and six-figure payments for their tours attempt to do.

In one of his usual sessions on the micro-blogging site, Twitter, he shared the big news of his plans to support charity with his over 2.5 k followers which instantly received several retweets, a sign of positive acclamation. The pinned tweet has raked up to 189 retweets and 130 likes as at the time of publication.

According to him, he has always been the guy who is passionate about helping others and this is his little way of helping needy kids especially.

“I've been driven by the purpose to help people in any way & it honestly gets to me when I see kids begging on the street, it's just disturbing & heartbreaking for me. Sometimes I look back at how my parents and everyone around me has shown unconditional love towards me & I feel reasonably beyond doubt that everyone deserves to be treated the same. In my upbringing, I've been thought to give and it's only right that I give a helping hand to children & people who need it. I have unconditional love for children & it's my heart desire to see a smile on a child's face” a very convinced Joshua tells us in an interview.

RJZ is a graduate of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology where he pursued a degree in Graphic Design which is another form of art he takes great delight in. He first shot to prominence after releasing a number of singles including ‘Your Waist’ that hit the club a few months ago later creating the cover art for ‘Tonga’ crooner, Darryl Paa Kwesi Bannerman-Martin a.k.a Joey B’s extended playlist (EP)

“I catered for the visual aspect of the Ep but didn't make any sonic influence or additions to the Ep. What I'm looking to gain from is the recognition is visual art & the appreciation & income from it,” he admits shyly.

‘Your waist’ which has become an instant hit among the new wave of millennials who form the core group of the people who listen to his music is one of the songs that might find itself on his album and was produced by Spacely.

He, however, disagrees vehemently that his music is just for the teenagers of Accra and Kumasi, calling it music for a global audience and describing his style as ‘feels’.

“My musical ambitions have continued to grow, aided by the sounds of Afro-pop that I found all around me. Although traditional Ghanaian music is where Ghana’s roots lie, and there was plenty on offer in Accra, that is not to say that I find myself restricted to this genre. In fact, my influences are vast, which my CD collection demonstrates, providing literally a room full of music from every corner of the globe.” He writes on his website.

The song which is sung in several Englishes and Akan, a local Ghanaian dialect is heavily influenced by Hip-hop and Afro-pop sounds.

In the song, he uses several literary devices to express his desire to hold the waist of his female lover and reveals that “Nothing dey bee pass the feeling when I’m holding your waist”. He also casts several sexual innuendos and employed repetition in the 3 minutes, 34 secs single.

Disbursement of Funds

In an era where people will do anything for fame or retweets,  (ask POTUS Donald J Trump or any member of the Kardashian-Jenner clan about this and they’ll you how they’ve become successful for their social media stunts) we quizzed the young musicians on keeping to his side of the bargain when the album is purchased.

In his answer, he revealed that his manager and himself have started to put systems in place to make sure not all the cash collected would be used in catering for the several charities on his heart.

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“I have already set up a finance management to keep a record of all income made from the album sales. Some of these monies will be used in buying food & other daily necessities for the kids & some will be handed to the children homes to cater for all other necessities that my management & I couldn't cover. I'd prefer to do donations myself to make sure everything reaches the right people (kids)” he submitted

But he is quick to warn that everything will be determined by how much sales he makes from the album especially in light of the new ways people access music illegally which is a bane on artistes like himself.

“This is an issue my management and I are currently tackling & hopefully we will have experts in our reach to make sure these illegal acts are not successful that's why the channels and distribution outlets are limited” he responded

Hopefully, this young man’s dream and passion for feeding young children on the streets of Ghana through his music will come to fruition. And as Shakespeare puts it “If music be the food of love, play on”