What I enjoy most about great conversations is the ease with which the stories flow, like one river into another, like day into night. At the base of every great conversation, there is respect and mutual understanding, even before the larynx is engaged and a word is said.
This understanding and respect is what Mutombo, better known as Mutombo Da Poet from his early days as a poet and spoken word artist – and his equally illustrious scribe and co-host, Frederick, bring to the ‘If More Let’s Divide’ podcast.
If More Let’s Divide, now in its 4th season, debuted on all platforms in August 2022. The opening episode had musician, producer and uncoincidentally, Mutombo and Fred’s former classmate and childhood friend, M3NSA as its guest. The podcast has been built upon – familiarity, respect, love, and family. Everyone who has graced the If More Let’s Divide pod has been an acquaintance, collaborator, icon, or admirer. And this is what gives the show its impetus.
Why is this pod the most relevant conversation in the country? Culturally, it is so rich. If you are in tune with the Ghanaian culture, you will realize that most conversations and spaces are exclusive. There is a world that people in certain spaces occupy that is hard to penetrate. Unlike musicians who tend to appeal to the masses, other art spaces are never explored, ever.
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Fred and his co-host bring this exclusive and genius to your doorstep, to know more about all the disciplines and players that make up the Ghanaian cultural space. Knowing them as individuals, knowing their art and how far in they are on their journey.
Randomly sampling the podcast, I got to listen to other sides of people like Wanlov and M3NSA, which I thought I fairly knew from consuming their music – I was wrong. I got in-depth with the Talking Drums and the music scene when they started, Prof. John Collins (who has been chronicling High Life since the 70s), Afua Rida, who embodies fashion in Ghana, the legendary Panji Anoff, Francis Kokroko of Accra Photo, Okuntakinte – an artist and a mental health advocate, Rania Odaymat who is a creative coach, and so on, the guest list is immaculate and the roles these people play in the Ghanaian culture is important although unbeknownst to many.
The stories on If More Let’s Divide is not like anything you’ve heard. Again, I go back to what makes a good conversation and there’s something I have yet to touch on—genuine interest and curiosity. The hosts do a good job of not forcing this interest. They are very curious and just want to know what you’ve been up to and why you feel the way you feel if you feel anything at all. Interest breeds empathy and this is something that the pod has lots of. The hosts do a simple job of asking how you are doing or what you’ve been up to ‘what dey go on” and this simple ice breaker with the right personalities opens to great conversations like you’ve ever heard.
Everybody has a story to tell, only if they feel they can trust you with their stories, and the hosts have proven their mettle. At certain points, you feel like eavesdropping on somebody’s therapy session, and I say this in the most positive way. You connect to the stories easily even though you might never have lived that experience. Through this pod, I have gained more humanity, understood varying perspectives better, and appreciated people’s journeys more.
If More Let’s Divide is as educative as it is inspiring. The range of the guests, from age, to experience to career choices makes the average one hour and 30 minutes that you spend on it one of the most important periods of your week.
There has been an influx of podcasts and YouTube shows in the past few years. Ghana has a documentation problem and these new shows documenting our now is great. It is good that other podcasts or shows talk about the trending stuff. There is a lot of backtracking that we need to do though, and If More Let’s Divide does some of this quite well by inviting the greats like Reggie Rockstone, Panji Anoff, and the Prof Collins’s who at the start of their generation, were heavily involved in the cultural change then whilst still keeping tabs on the Baaba J’s and Bright Ackwerh’s doing incredible things now.
As a culture enthusiast, listening to Mutombo and Fred go into detail with guests feels like I am in the conversation, conversations with friends that go on forever. Unlike the pretentious living that has become synonymous with Ghana, on If More Let’s Divide, nothing is off the table – unless you don’t want to make that journey.
If you have yet to listen, go to your favourite platform and immerse yourself in the most relevant conversation in Ghana.
