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According to Billboard, the full-length project debuts at No. 12 on the World Albums chart this week. The sensational musician\u2019s debut album, \u201cThe Villain I Never Was,\u201d was released on October 6th and sees him extend the raw delivery and the overcoming-self-sabotage philosophy he introduced on pop hits like \u201cKwaku The Traveller\u201d and \u201cSecond Sermon\u201d into a 14-track manifesto.<\/p>\n
The Villain I Never Was, which is about making sense of a difficult life, plays like a collection of Sherif\u2019s personal affirmations, which he uses to battle inner demons and fuel his ambitions. Blacko balances the realities of his upbringing in Konongo, Ghana, and the lessons he\u2019s learned since with a fresh take on the sounds that shaped him on the album.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like inside myself, I am my own villain,\u201d the artist born Mohammed Ismail Sherif tells Apple . \u201cEven outside, with things that happen to me, and situations that I\u2019ve been through\u2014I\u2019ve always been the villain in my own head. But when I sit down, and start to realise and explain things to myself, then I know I was never that villain. I\u2019ve been trying to survive that. I am not actually that villain that they say I am, or that my mind tells me I am. So the album is actually inspired by pain, anger, perseverance, and self-actualisation\u2014being aware and standing your ground. Most of the words in the album are commands to my spirit, and it tells my story.\u201d<\/p>\n
Black sherif joins other Ghanaian music elites: Stonebwoy, Shatta Wale, who have made Billboard World Album Charts entries with their full-length projects: \u201cEpistles Of Mama\u201d and \u201cReign\u201d respectively.<\/p>\n