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Ghanaian Child Prodigy Samara Osae-Asare On Interviewing Chance The Rapper & Other Celebs
Mar 23, 2023
Samara Osae-Asare from Kids Arena in Ghana stopped by Sway In The Morning to talk about her flourishing career as a journalist. The young prodigy gives insight into her life in Ghana.
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0:00
[Music]
0:01
yes indeed give it up for the DJ as we
0:04
uh we selected today the one and only uh
0:06
summer friends DJs summer friends that's
0:08
Martin too smooth and home alone you can
0:11
follow them at my summer friends all
0:13
right
0:14
I'm really excited about our next guest
0:17
although we do have the legendary
0:18
Naughty by Nature coming up in about 10
0:21
minutes or so
0:22
I learned a lot when I went to Ghana I
0:24
haven't been able to stop talking about
0:26
it right Heather B I've just been gone a
0:28
daily day in and day night day in and
0:30
day out very true gagne call me gagne
0:33
now
0:34
uh because uh I had such a spiritual
0:38
awakening in Ghana and I was able to
0:42
meet a lot of people from different
0:43
places and I had an Enlightenment an
0:46
intellectual Enlightenment in Ghana as
0:48
well I had a cultural breakthrough in
0:51
Ghana
0:52
um and I made a lot of great new friends
0:55
I even learned a lot about the
0:57
profession that I do there was moments
0:59
there
1:00
um as a as a journalist or a person who
1:03
works in a journalist field that I got
1:06
reinvigorated about what it is that we
1:07
do here on a day-to-day basis and it was
1:10
not only because I was able to see
1:12
different things and have different kind
1:13
of conversations with LED to different
1:15
questions but I was actually inspired by
1:18
a a young lady that I saw working in
1:21
Ghana with the bike a camera and an
1:25
audio recording device and I just looked
1:27
at this young lady working I caught her
1:29
I caught her in my eye line and I was
1:31
like yo she is out here hustling like
1:35
she's you know to be a journalist man
1:37
you got to have a lot of gall you know
1:38
you got to step into people's faces you
1:41
got to be prepared at all times you got
1:42
to be equipped you have to be well
1:44
studied and probably one of the most
1:47
efficient journalists I've seen was in
1:50
Ghana okay and uh I went to this event
1:53
with Chance the Rapper was interviewing
1:55
Dave Chappelle Dave Chappelle was
1:56
interviewing Chance the Rapper Michael
1:58
Blackson was there Toby and wigweig fat
2:00
everybody was there and we're all
2:02
hanging out and I was like wow this is a
2:04
great place to grab some content hmm I
2:07
wonder if anybody's doing that and sure
2:09
enough man I saw this 10 year old
2:11
superstar in the corner of the stage
2:14
just snatching up people and putting a
2:17
mic in front of their face and I watched
2:19
her and one of the things I was taught
2:21
as a journalist is to make sure a radio
2:25
at least make sure you enter the break
2:26
make sure you end the break the way you
2:28
enter it with that kind of energy right
2:29
saw her really captivating people with
2:32
her energy and uh I went up to her and
2:35
her mom who's also her manager her
2:38
father who was behind the camera I mean
2:41
this was a family outfit it should be
2:43
yeah a family outfit that was like hey
2:45
would you mind interviewing with our
2:48
daughter and I was like that's your
2:50
daughter they was like yes I said surely
2:52
I'll do it I had to wait in line Mike
2:55
knew so many people was lined up to
2:56
interview with this young lady all right
2:58
I saw it and uh and I got a chance to
3:01
talk with her and I'm gonna play a clip
3:03
from one of the interviews that we did
3:06
uh where she had a chance to go
3:07
one-on-one with me it was at an event at
3:10
the concert that uh Chance the Rapper
3:12
through and we were backstage and I saw
3:15
her just talking with a lot of different
3:17
people and let's play a clip from that
3:19
you got that
3:21
I can look at the event how you like the
3:23
festival it's crazy like I just told
3:25
chance I want to say thank you so much
3:27
it was wonderful but I want to ask this
3:30
question it's not the one that's
3:31
supposed to be interviewing here I mean
3:33
you know I just admire what you do so I
3:37
want to know how the experience been
3:38
here at the Black Star Line Festival
3:40
it's been um enlightening it's been a
3:43
game changer for me
3:44
it's for a lifetime I've been wanting to
3:46
come to Ghana and make a pilgrimage to
3:48
Africa and I think for a lot of us in
3:50
the black community in the states
3:52
um I think it's a necessary journey to
3:54
make to fully understand who we are and
3:56
where we came from
3:58
that voice on the other end of that
4:00
interview goes by the by the name of
4:03
Samara osai asari give her a big round
4:06
of applause she's here with us today
4:10
yes welcome to the show tomorrow
4:18
thank you so much guys yes indeed get
4:21
that energy
4:22
it's amazing well how old were you when
4:24
you learned how to talk
4:27
so how so how old are you 10 years old
4:30
I'm 10 years old you live in Ghana yes I
4:32
live in Ghana but what's your connection
4:34
to the states
4:35
well I was born and raised in the state
4:38
but we moved to Ghana because my dad's
4:41
family's gunyin and my mother wanted to
4:43
immerse us more in the culture
4:45
what age did you move to Ghana I moved
4:49
in 2020 okay so you've been living there
4:51
for two years it guys ups and downs but
4:53
it's lovely I love it what are the UPS
4:55
the UPS
4:57
basically like the food okay especially
5:01
the restaurants like in tsunam which is
5:04
a fish a seafood and Fish restaurant
5:07
it's a French infusion and Ghanaian
5:10
Cuisine Pomona which is an Italian
5:12
restaurant and Bandai which is an Asian
5:15
and Mediterranean restaurant I love to
5:18
try different foods
5:20
I love just exploring different cultures
5:22
I love the people they're very
5:23
respective the schools they teach you to
5:26
respect your elders I mean it's not
5:28
something you get for me at least in a
5:31
lot of other schools in the US like the
5:34
one I want to here it didn't teach you
5:36
that yeah but it came to like when I
5:39
went to the school in Ghana they're like
5:41
respect your elders so much so that our
5:45
motto is excellent respect and
5:47
responsibility wow and why is that
5:49
important to you tomorrow expecting
5:51
Elders if you don't respect your elders
5:53
it's basically like you don't respect
5:55
yourself or you don't even respect your
5:57
parents because they're your elders you
6:00
have to respect everybody else you're
6:01
not respecting yourself in the end wow
6:03
like that now how do we them are we
6:05
saying your name correctly yes tomorrow
6:07
saying sorry okay great because she you
6:09
know you connect you corrected me over
6:11
in Ghana a couple of times I remember
6:12
this but you know I learned so much from
6:14
you education so what is schooling like
6:16
how is it different other than you know
6:18
respecting your elders like the actual
6:19
Scholastic part of it what is it like
6:21
well at least from my school I'm under a
6:25
British curriculum and the school I used
6:27
to go to here in New York it was an
6:30
American Straight Street yeah we have to
6:32
write with blue pens and we have to take
6:35
checkpoints and it's like
6:37
almost like a standard state test but
6:41
this one gets sent to the UK you never
6:44
get your papers back you only get your
6:46
marks and then the highest Mark you can
6:48
get is a six so in my class we're
6:51
preparing for it and it's a really big
6:53
test it decides like how a teacher said
6:57
it decides what type of job you're gonna
6:58
get and if you're good enough for the
7:01
next grade which is why it's so
7:03
important to us
7:05
maybe how the entire school is set up we
7:09
have assembly every Monday and Friday
7:11
and then sometimes they even have to do
7:14
marching because we're getting closer to
7:17
like our marching drills for PE and
7:21
it's like
7:22
and if you get to the oldest I have like
7:24
14 different subjects yeah so that's a
7:27
bit different 14. wow so so how are you
7:31
doing with the language have you learned
7:33
to speak the language what's the native
7:34
tongue called in Ghana it's true tree
7:36
but in our class or anything in our
7:38
school we don't learn that we learn
7:39
French
7:43
what in the geopolitical
7:47
why do you know why why that is I don't
7:50
know it's like France well why they
7:53
don't get their papers back and I'm
7:55
still stuck about that what are they
7:56
doing with the paper so it seems like
7:58
it's a it's like it's a British
8:00
educational system from uh and then the
8:04
father is here is French a native
8:06
language to Ghana
8:10
yeah
8:12
so why do you know what French is I
8:13
think
8:14
we were in countries
8:15
they're all francophone countries so
8:18
you want to go across the border to
8:20
another another particular country you
8:22
have that native French top not native
8:25
yeah just standing here where the
8:28
paper's at yeah it ain't no native what
8:31
happened with them
8:32
I swear
8:36
somebody answer that question for me I
8:39
can't keep it in third grade is
8:40
paperwork I don't know I guess that they
8:44
do it to I guess Mark other kids and
8:47
compare it but you never get your papers
8:49
back they say that they burn it not
8:52
enough that's big data they selling it
8:55
to somebody they're selling it to
8:57
somebody I can see that all right use it
8:59
against you later on you see the third
9:01
grade you couldn't spell
9:05
cats so how did you discover broadcast
9:09
journalism well I always wanted to be a
9:12
journalist since I was six years old
9:13
okay I came home from my kindergarten
9:15
graduation and said to my parents I went
9:18
into people I want to have my own
9:20
YouTube channel I want to learn about
9:21
the who what when where why and how in
9:24
fact they're the very people I
9:26
interviewed on that day and from then on
9:29
I knew I wanted to so fast forward two
9:31
years later we moved to Ghana and I had
9:34
a homework assignment to do a podcast
9:36
many people decided to do like your
9:39
daily routines and everything but I
9:40
decided to interview because that's my
9:42
passion I had two episodes of it one
9:45
episode I was interviewing my mom asking
9:47
her about how she finds her experience
9:49
in Ghana and then another one I
9:51
interviewed my uncle who was
9:52
entrepreneur a few weeks later after
9:54
that I ended up hearing that my uncle
9:57
was talking to my parents about he's
9:59
talking to someone from the TV station
10:01
and now work at TV3 about getting
10:04
another person to go on the new kids new
10:06
show okay they had two of co-hosts but
10:09
they just needed one more to round out
10:11
the show and he suggested me so I did
10:13
the real he asked my parents talked it
10:15
over a few weeks later my parents and I
10:17
went to go discuss that's what the
10:19
producers of the show and they had they
10:23
ended up liking me
10:25
we said they signed the contract over we
10:26
talked about it the rest is history the
10:28
rest is history I like that Samara
10:30
what'd that contract look like
10:33
did you read the contract yes I did okay
10:36
do you believe that if you read the
10:37
contract you know what's going on so you
10:39
don't have to get finangled out of it
10:42
okay so kids arena is that the name of
10:44
the show yes it's the name of the show
10:46
that's huge in Ghana right
10:48
yeah yeah and then go ahead and speak on
10:51
it so kids arena is a kid show that's
10:54
for kids by kids and all about kids we
10:58
discuss about education information
11:00
entertainment for the education we
11:03
invite robotic people that study in
11:05
robotics for example we had kids come on
11:08
to program their robots to do many
11:10
different things like draw shapes or
11:12
sizes of anything
11:14
and for the information we have topics
11:18
about let's say hygiene how to prepare
11:21
for exams how to stay safe on the
11:24
internet because you want kids to have a
11:26
lot of knowledge about these type of
11:27
things and for the entertainment we
11:30
highlight kids that are rappers singers
11:32
dancers musicians poets authors because
11:36
they want to inspire kids and say you
11:38
can do anything you want to as long as
11:39
it's good
11:51
talk about your upbringing and like how
11:55
your parents raised you because you also
11:56
have like a very extensive vocabulary at
11:59
your age and I don't think it's just
12:01
school what was what was your school
12:03
like inside the home from your parents
12:05
my parents love to teach us my parents
12:09
are amazing writers they love to read
12:12
they love to teach us a lot where a
12:15
family that loves each other we spend
12:17
nights playing cards or if not our
12:19
parents teach us new words my mom
12:22
especially was
12:24
extensive on the vocabulary because she
12:27
wanted me to learn more because she saw
12:29
my potential as being a great student
12:31
because before I could read I was I
12:33
think in kindergarten I didn't really
12:35
know how to read so my dad taught me the
12:38
basics on how to read and then
12:39
eventually my mom saw that I was getting
12:42
better at it so she wanted to extend my
12:44
vocabulary and my comprehension so she
12:47
introduced me to the book called The
12:49
Alchemist by by Paulo Coelho yes by far
12:52
my favorite book and author you're 10
12:55
years old Alchemist yes 55 year old
12:58
rappers are reading it for the first
12:59
time now
13:01
I love books so she introduced it to me
13:04
actually when I was in first grade and
13:07
my vocabulary was extended but I just
13:10
need help with the comprehension yeah so
13:12
later on Fast Forward I'm 10 years old
13:15
now and I asked her can I read it again
13:16
so she let me read it and it's a
13:19
beautiful book I was able to not only
13:21
extend my comprehension but my
13:23
vocabulary again and now look back at it
13:26
I want to say thank you to my parents so
13:28
much because they had increased
13:31
everything if it wasn't for them I
13:34
wouldn't be here right now because they
13:36
helped me when I felt like oh man I'm
13:39
tired they were like somehow you can do
13:41
it I know you can I know you can because
13:42
you saw my potential so without them
13:45
without my parents without my
13:46
grandmother without any of my family
13:48
members that have been around me since I
13:50
was born I wouldn't be here to this day
13:52
I wouldn't be sitting here with you guys
13:54
so I Gotta Give A big thank you to them
13:56
yeah man so for kids your age because
13:59
because you grew up in days I can say to
14:02
you for some kids if you grow up in
14:04
Brooklyn and you have to move to like
14:06
the Bronx you're devastated I'm gonna be
14:08
missing my friends you're taking me to
14:10
another world but you literally moved to
14:12
another world were you afraid were you
14:14
was it easy to adapt were you scared
14:16
you're going to miss your friends were
14:17
they gonna like you in school
14:19
I had those fears and I was a little
14:21
worried because we're not talking about
14:23
moving from Brooklyn yeah we're talking
14:26
about moving from the United States to
14:28
an entire different continent yeah and
14:30
I'm like yo I am so scared because I
14:32
didn't know anything about it but
14:33
something in me said Samara you got to
14:36
do it and I for one like taking risks
14:38
although as long as I can be safe at it
14:41
I might take a risks wow
14:45
yo one so when my mom said it I was like
14:48
okay I understand because my dad decided
14:50
the family is gone in and she wanted to
14:52
immerse us more in the culture like I
14:53
said earlier so when we went there we
14:55
didn't take no trips no visits we went
14:57
in their culture straight there it was a
14:59
bit different too because when we have
15:02
rainy season and dry season no winter no
15:05
fall no Spring right in fact all we have
15:09
is hot and hotter
15:13
[Music]
15:14
hot and hotter I missed the I missed the
15:17
Snow White yeah and I like rolling
15:20
around in the snow you can't walk around
15:22
like a winter fashionista anymore
15:25
you can't do that though Samara I know
15:27
yo winter fashionista yeah stuff risks
15:33
the summers are steroids yeah it's like
15:36
summer all year long the time zone is
15:38
different five hours ahead yeah and the
15:41
mosquitoes
15:43
yeah the mosquitoes they are vicious
15:45
it's like you have you're going to war
15:46
with them wow grab your repellent and
15:48
grab it quick yeah they will race after
15:51
you if they like to smell your blood
15:54
fascinating yo Samara is reading
15:57
comprehension in action and so parents
15:59
are listening out there this is a lesson
16:01
the importance of reading to your kids
16:03
we always talk about these always talk
16:04
about the importance of being uh being
16:07
able to read at the end of third grade
16:08
going into your fourth grade and if
16:10
you're not able to read at the fourth
16:12
grade level with time you enter if you
16:13
have a comprehended and mastered reading
16:15
by the end of third grade going into
16:17
fourth grade you're in trouble and
16:18
you're in difficulty you are
16:20
comprehension so what I mean by that
16:21
folks is Samara when you broke down when
16:24
sway asked you talk to us about your
16:26
talk show the way you broke down what
16:28
the talk show was in digestible bites
16:31
and you gave the context of it you gave
16:33
examples that is what comprehension is
16:36
and that is a benefit of reading in
16:38
order to get the comprehension to take
16:40
something to steal it down to be able to
16:42
explain it and talk talk about it
16:43
because you've mastered it
16:44
congratulations yeah not only is that a
16:47
good journalist which is most
16:48
journalists can't do what you just did
16:50
mind you thank you uh but also true is
16:53
good comprehension and so audience you
16:55
can have many Samaras too if you just
16:57
read to your children and use words we
17:00
don't use full sentences with our
17:02
children together black and brown kids
17:04
we do Google gaga
17:06
no say the word say the word and over
17:09
and over and you too could have a
17:11
summary you're such a good role model
17:12
shout out to her parents well the
17:15
parents are standing right here I need
17:16
it I needed to see I've met him before
17:18
but I still don't believe it you know
17:20
take introduce yourselves real quick I'm
17:22
gonna make sure people know your name
17:24
all right so I'm a samara's Daddy my
17:26
name is kwaku assai asari and my wife is
17:30
um Mama jerus Stacy osai Azari and
17:33
you're from where so I from the Bronx
17:37
yeah we both grew up in the Bronx the
17:39
boogie down yeah that's why you stand
17:41
like that
17:43
50 years of hip-hop swing throw it up
17:45
throw it up
17:47
what made y'all decide to move to Ghana
17:50
like that's a long story that's okay
17:51
that's a good one oh it's a good one
17:53
quick real quick okay so I'll condense
17:55
it
17:56
um for me I looked at the demographics
17:59
of what we're surrounded by in the Bronx
18:01
and I saw like the crime rates going up
18:04
and I was like access is key like if
18:07
brown kids have access to stuff imagine
18:09
the possibilities so I just long story
18:12
short there was something in me I can't
18:14
really articulate it it was just like
18:16
get up and go I had to trust God because
18:18
I was like I don't know what this is wow
18:21
I was like but if I can quiet the voices
18:23
in my head and not tell anybody we moved
18:25
literally in silence I literally did it
18:28
in about eight months we quietly packed
18:30
up packed our three children put them
18:33
over there
18:34
I'll just say this for those who are
18:36
listening obedience to God Is So
18:38
imperative I can't explain it no better
18:40
than that when you get up and do
18:42
something that he's he she or it or
18:44
universe or however you relate to it
18:46
tells you to do something and you're in
18:49
alignment with it even if it sounds
18:50
scary and crazy and you don't have all
18:53
the the parts to it just go with it
18:55
because when we went there everything
18:57
fell in samara's lap no lie I can't make
19:00
it up her uncle did the podcast with her
19:02
was moved by it brought it to somebody
19:04
at TV three they were like oh we need
19:06
somebody for a kid show she would be
19:09
perfect she got it on the spot they
19:11
honed her talents next thing I know
19:13
shout out to her auntie yep Jackie I
19:16
know you're listening you're probably
19:18
crying I'm about to cry and mess my
19:20
makeup done but
19:23
um Jackie being uh lecrae's publicist
19:25
that's her aunt oh wow wow so what she
19:28
did was she was like okay so this is
19:30
what samara's doing let me throw her in
19:31
the headies
19:32
no the Nigerian Awards okay I know
19:36
nothing about it never heard of it she
19:38
was like yo you got two hours to get
19:40
ready I'm throwing her and she got
19:41
credentials I was like what's this so
19:43
she was like sink or swim so I take her
19:46
there she does all these interviews she
19:48
did Jacquees she did a whole bunch Lynn
19:50
Whitfield everybody they loved him Jacob
19:53
Latimore he saw her again in Ghana Toby
19:55
and we're going fat she saw them twice
19:58
so she got everybody so the whole point
20:01
is is that when we moved in direct
20:03
obedience and we did what we were
20:04
supposed to do you now see that it
20:07
wasn't really for me and kwaku it was
20:09
for her and she might open doors for her
20:11
brothers and everything limited
20:12
listening and watching that sorry family
20:15
y'all sorry family thank you thank you
20:18
thank you you know Auntie uh
20:20
communicated quite often all right and
20:23
she hooked me back up with Lecrae so
20:25
thank you we've been communicating ever
20:26
since so listen
20:28
um if people want to read to Citizens
20:30
follow her have your kids follow her how
20:32
can they follow you you can follow me on
20:35
YouTube Instagram Twitter Tech talk
20:38
was everything you can follow me on
20:41
summertime
20:42
[Music]
20:44
s-a-m-a-t-i-m-e then the number 12.
20:46
summertime 12. that's what you were
20:49
saying to me in Ghana I could not is
20:51
that the year you were born 2012 2012.
20:54
okay summertime
20:56
s-a-m-a-t-i-m-e 12 right I gotta put you
20:59
to work we got the legendary group
21:01
Naughty by Nature coming up right
21:02
outside citizens follow her at
21:04
summertime 12
21:06
s-a-m-a-t-i-m-e-12 she's one of ours we
21:09
got a supporter okay Naughty by Nature
21:12
is celebrating 30 years of 1993 album
21:15
goodness we're gonna uh come back with
21:17
Naughty by Nature I'm opening up the
21:19
phone lines to True hip-hop hits only
21:21
yes true hip-hop hands only y'all claim
21:24
it you want to say something else I want
21:26
to say something I want to ask you guys
21:27
questions because I also want to
21:30
interview and one day we gotta have the
21:32
AC and crazy show okay
21:44
we gotta do something we'll do something
21:46
that's my word we'll do something else
21:48
you got some questions but we can't we
21:49
can't do it now we got a guest coming up
21:51
I love how he's about to take over the
21:52
show though Samara in the morning y'all
21:54
all right
21:56
ask them some questions all right okay
21:58
Naughty by Nature or up next the phone
22:02
lines are open
22:04
888-742-3345 let's celebrate there
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