New Guy (song)

Development for "New Guy" began in early 2015 when Sarkodie paid a total of $25,000 to cover the production fees associated with recording.[1] He also wanted American musician Ace Hood to appear on the track because he considered him "one of the world's most powerful rappers".[2] A sneak peek of both the song and its official music video were shared with the public on 15 May 2015 via Ghanaian music website NYDJLive.com.[3] According to Ebenezer Donkoh from the aforementioned website, the single was extremely sought after by radio stations shortly after being available for digital consumption.[1] "New Guy" was originally intended to be a part of the track listing for his first live album, Mary (2015),[4] but its inclusion never occurred.[5] Sarkodie reflected on the unexpected success of "New Guy":

That is one of my biggest records ever, hype-wise, the music itself, I love it to the core. I don't do songs thinking this has to be a hit. I do music based on how I feel from my heart and that is typically New Guy. New Guy is like a heart fulfilling type of record and to me, I think it actually hit the major impact that I wanted it to hit and people are loving it . My fans love it.[1]

An African hip hop and hip hop song,[6][7] the track was written by the two musicians while production was handled by disc jockey CedSolo.[8] The recording lyrically finds Sarkodie discussing that he's the "new guy" in the music industry.[9] "New Guy" displays Sarkodie and Ace Hood alternate verses atop several synth chords and military drum-like sounds, which drew comparisons to the works of the track's producer, CedSolo.[4] Sarkodie sings during the track's refrain: "Ace, let me take you to Africa / My people, they'll love you".[10] He also believes that his music is for the Ghanaian people and has the motivation to become a leader in the industry: "So I grind Sunday to Monday / Because there's no role models, there's no true leaders left / So it's up to me to make sure the world know that I'm that new guy / I'm that inspiration".[7]

"New Guy" received a mixed response from music critics. Jimmy King from tooXclusive claimed that Sarkodie "killed it with his trademark fast rap" and concluded with: "'New Guy' is a song you should have on your playlist."[11] Ovie O. from NotJustOk claimed that the track proves that Sarkodie is "better than your best African rapper".[12] KC Roberts from Hip Hop Honesty furthered the praise for the singer having his "own style and sense of deliverability"; he also predicted it to be successful in the United States and compared it to several songs on American rapper DJ Khaled's second studio album, We the Best (2007).[13] David Mawuli from Pulse awarded the single four out of five stars and declared "New Guy" to be extremely impressive.[7] Multi Media Outfit Luv FM, a radio station in Ghana, reported that "New Guy" was too loud: "It's either I'm not good at appreciating rap music or Sarkodie's new song [...] is just noise." She concluded by saying that she does not qualify that as music.[6]

An accompanying music video for "New Guy" was released on 14 June 2015 through Sarkodie's official YouTube account;[14] a sneak peek of the video's production was released one month prior to create hype for its release.[3][15] It was directed by Justin Campos from Gorilla Films, while its production was administered by his wife, Candice Lee Campos.[14] Much like the song, the two singers take turns performing their verses while standing in dark-coloured rooms.[16] Ace Hood appears without a shirt and stands next to Sarkodie while visual of female dancers performing choreography are randomly displayed. Towards the end of the video, they appear outside wearing black and white suits; Sarkodie's T-shirt from earlier is shown and displays: "They got money for wars but can't feed the poor", which is a lyric from 2Pac's 1993 single "Keep Ya Head Up".[17]

• Sarkodie – "New Guy" (Official music video) on YouTube