How a Jehovah’s Witness Upbringing Shaped A-Plus: A Journey of Faith, Conflict, and Self-Discovery

The life story of Kwame Asare Obeng, widely known as A-Plus, is a compelling narrative of contradiction, resilience, and relentless self-definition. In a candid interview, the Ghanaian musician, political activist, and former Member of Parliament revealed that his formative years were spent within the strict doctrinal framework of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. This unique religious background, he asserts, is the foundational layer upon which his controversial public persona, artistic aggression, and complex spiritual reflections were built. This article delves deeply into how a childhood dedicated to preaching and pamphlet distribution evolved into a adulthood characterized by strategic confrontation, political ambition, and an unorthodox, deeply personal faith.

Key Points: The Core of A-Plus’s Formative Experience

• Strict Religious Foundation: A-Plus was raised in a Jehovah’s Witness household, participating in door-to-door ministry and distributing Awake! magazines, an experience he credits with shaping his core worldview.
• Early Drive for Individuality: Even within a comfortable family, he consciously chose divergent paths (e.g., supporting Hearts of Oak in a Kotoko family) to assert his separate identity.
• Accra Transition & Survival: Moving to Accra in the late 1990s involved harsh lessons in independence, including periods of homelessness and using psychological tactics to navigate dangerous environments.
• Music Career Built on “Holding Throats”: He believes mainstream success in Ghana’s music industry requires an aggressive, confrontational strategy, a mindset he attributes to his need to break from his passive religious training.
• Legal & Familial Backlash: His controversial methods led to court cases and familial disapproval so severe his father reportedly pleaded with radio stations to stop playing his music.
• Complex Spirituality: He maintains a belief in a personal God and claims to have had a direct encounter, yet expresses uncertainty about traditional Christian concepts of the afterlife and paradise.
• Political Discomfort: While admiring President Nana Akufo-Addo personally, he criticizes a perceived loss of creativity in his politics and clarifies he never advocated for John Mahama’s third term.
• Conscious “Attention-Seeker”: He openly embraces his role as a polarizing figure who understands and leverages public attention as a professional tool.

Background: The Making of a “Nobody” in a Comfortable Home

The Jehovah’s Witness Environment

The Jehovah’s Witnesses are a Christian denomination known for their strict adherence to what they interpret as biblical principles, active evangelism, and doctrinal separation from the secular world. Children are often deeply immersed in this culture, expected to participate in ministry work, adhere to moral codes (including abstention from political involvement, celebration of holidays, and military service), and socialize primarily within the congregation. For A-Plus, this meant a childhood structured around meetings, personal Bible study, and the disciplined routine of preaching. The organization’s emphasis on separation from “worldly” influences and its hierarchical, community-enforced discipline created a powerful, insular framework.

Family Dynamics and the Seed of Rebellion

Contrary to a narrative of poverty-driven hardship, A-Plus describes a “relatively comfortable” middle-class Ghanaian home as the second of five children. This detail is crucial; his rebellion was not born of material lack but of a psychological need for differentiation. In a household where everyone supported the Kumasi-based football club Asante Kotoko, his deliberate allegiance to Accra’s Hearts of Oak was a minor but significant act of asserting an independent will. This pattern—choosing the opposite path for the sake of distinction—would become a hallmark of his career. The comfort of his home, he suggests, provided a secure base from which he could afford to take risks and seek a separate identity.

The Accra Crucible: Chico and the Loss of Innocence

The late 1990s move to Accra, Ghana’s bustling capital, was the catalyst that shattered his insulated upbringing. He was introduced to the “sales strategy” of street life by a figure he calls Chico—a mentor who represented the gritty, pragmatic reality outside the Kingdom Hall. To survive and avoid predatory influences, A-Plus admits to employing a calculated lie: telling people his parents were absent. This psychological boundary was a survival tool, a direct application of street wisdom that conflicted with the Witness emphasis on honesty. Chico’s subsequent death from drug abuse served as a brutal, firsthand lesson on the consequences of that world, reinforcing A-Plus’s complex views on fate, consequence, and the precariousness of life.

Analysis: Deconstructing the Conflict

The “Holding Someone’s Throat” Doctrine: A Reaction Formation?

A-Plus’s most famous dictum for success—that one must “hold someone’s throat”—is a stark antithesis to the Jehovah’s Witness ethos of peace, non-confrontation, and political neutrality. Psychologically, this can be analyzed as a reaction formation. The extreme passivity and submission to hierarchical authority (the Governing Body’s interpretations) taught in his youth may have cultivated an unconscious, compensatory drive for aggressive self-assertion. His music career, beginning with demos from FOKN Bois and exploding with the controversial hit “Mesuro Mpo Na Merekeka Yi O” (produced by Big Ben), was fueled by “hunger for income and a desire to stand apart, even at the risk of controversy.” The studio of Slim Buster, where he sometimes slept and witnessed the creation of hits like “Philomena” for Tic Tac, was a new temple of a different kind—one where success required cunning, loudness, and a willingness to clash, not to preach.

Legal Battles and Familial Schism: The Price of Separation

The backlash was inevitable and severe. His father’s reported journey to radio stations to beg DJs to stop playing his son’s music is a poignant testament to the depth of the familial and cultural rift. For a Jehovah’s Witness family, a child’s public persona that glorifies confrontation, uses sexually suggestive lyrics, and engages in political discourse is a profound source of shame and potential disfellowshipping (excommunication). The legal troubles—being served court orders in a restaurant setup by journalist Kojo Danquah—brought the conflict into the formal system. His uncle, the veteran journalist Kwesi Pratt, became a crucial bridge to the secular world of law and media, advising him not to flee. A-Plus’s admission that he chose to settle some matters “quietly behind closed doors” reveals a pragmatism that operates outside both his religious upbringing and his public bluster, showing a vulnerable side adept at navigating shadows.

Theology of Uncertainty: A Personal God Without Dogma

His spiritual stance is perhaps the most revealing contradiction. He declares belief in a real, accessible God and claims a direct, one-on-one encounter. This resonates with the Jehovah’s Witness teaching of a personal relationship with God (Jehovah). However, his uncertainty about “reaching paradise after death” directly challenges a core Witness tenet: the belief in a literal, earthly paradise for faithful adherents after Armageddon. This suggests he has retained a theistic, experiential core from his upbringing but has shed its specific eschatological (end-times) doctrines. His faith has been individualized, stripped of institutional guarantees, and exists in a state of personal, unresolved questioning—a significant departure from the denomination’s prescribed certainty.

Practical Advice: Lessons from a Life of Calculated Contradiction

While A-Plus’s methods are unique, his journey offers transferable insights for those navigating restrictive environments, building a personal brand, or reconciling a turbulent past with present ambitions.

1. Channel Your Formative Constraints into Strategic Fuel.

A-Plus did not reject his upbringing; he metabolized it. The discipline of preaching became the discipline of crafting and delivering a message. The emphasis on separation became the strategy of differentiation. Actionable Insight: Identify the core skills or perspectives instilled in you by your background (even a restrictive one). How can that work ethic, that outsider perspective, or that communication skill be redirected toward your current goals?

2. Master the Art of the Psychological Boundary.

His use of the “parents are not around” narrative was a conscious tool to control interactions and deter exploitation. Actionable Insight: In new or high-stakes environments (career, social), assess what information about your background or support system is necessary to share. Curating your narrative can be a legitimate protective and strategic measure, not necessarily deception.

3. Understand That Notoriety is a Tool, Not Just a Stigma.

A-Plus has fully embraced his role as a “professional and skilled attention-seeker.” He recognizes that being hated means being seen. Actionable Insight: If you find yourself controversial, analyze the source of that friction. Is it tied to a unique value you offer? Can you own the narrative and leverage the attention toward a defined objective, as he has done in music and politics? Control the frame.

4. When Conflict is Inevitable, Have a “Quiet Room” Strategy.

Despite his public persona, he acknowledges resolving issues “behind closed doors.” Actionable Insight: Cultivate a private network for dispute resolution (legal, familial, professional) that operates with discretion. Public battles are costly; a private, competent resolution mechanism is an essential counterpart to a public confrontational strategy.

5. Allow Your Faith to Evolve Beyond Doctrine.

His journey shows a separation of personal spirituality from institutional religion. Actionable Insight: If you have a religious or philosophical background that feels constricting, distinguish between the universal principles (e.g., compassion, justice, a sense of the sacred) and specific human-made rules. You can honor the former while critically examining or leaving the latter.

FAQ: Common Questions About A-Plus’s Journey

Q: Is A-Plus still a Jehovah’s Witness?

A: Based on his statements, he no longer actively participates as a member. His life choices (political involvement, music content, public persona) are fundamentally incompatible with active membership, which requires political neutrality and adherence to moral standards he openly defies. However, he speaks of a personal, reflective faith that seems to retain a monotheistic, experiential core from his upbringing.

Q: Did his family disown him?

A: The interview indicates severe familial conflict, notably his father’s active attempts to censor his music. This suggests a painful schism, likely formalized through disfellowshipping procedures common in the denomination for serious sin. However, the involvement of his uncle, Kwesi Pratt, in his legal matters suggests not all family ties were completely severed, though the relationship with his immediate family, especially his father, was profoundly damaged.

Q: How does his religious background specifically influence his politics?

A: Indirectly. The Witness emphasis on moral absolutism and a clear, unwavering message may inform his own certainty and directness. His critique of Akufo-Addo’s politics as having “lost creativity” hints at a desire for bold, uncompromising vision—a trait he may have seen in the certainty of his religious teachings but finds lacking in contemporary politics. His venture into politics via “The People’s Project” is itself a break from his non-political religious past.

Q: What does “holding someone’s throat” mean in practical terms?

A: In his own context, it means an unapologetic, relentless pursuit of one’s goals and space in the industry. It involves strategic confrontation, refusing to be sidelined, and using controversy to maintain relevance. It’s a metaphor for aggressive self-advocacy in a competitive field, born from his belief that a passive approach (like that taught in his youth) would lead to obscurity.

Q: Are his claims about encountering God verifiable?

A: No. This is a matter of personal, subjective religious experience. From a journalistic and factual standpoint, we can only report that he makes this claim. Its truth value is a matter of personal faith, not external verification. The significance lies in his retention of a theistic, experiential belief while rejecting institutional dogma.

Conclusion: The Unignorable Synthesis

A-Plus’s story is not a simple tale of religious rebellion. It is a complex case study in how a rigid, insular upbringing can forge a personality defined by its opposition. The Jehovah’s Witnesses provided him with a powerful, negative blueprint: a world of strict rules, emotional suppression, and enforced conformity. His life’s work appears to be a conscious, often chaotic, construction of a self that exists in direct dialogue with that blueprint—using the discipline learned to master a craft, employing