From packed concerts and raves to sold-out festivals and cross-border celebrations, “Detty December” has become the cultural shorthand for end-of-year festivities across Ghana, Nigeria, and the African diaspora. But before it became a global hashtag and lifestyle, the phrase had humble, distinctly Ghanaian beginnings.
Bernard Kafui Sokpe, known in showbiz as Mista Meister, is a seasoned marketing professional and founder of a creative agency. His day-to-day work involved building campaigns, crafting slogans, and shaping culture through language.
“My background is marketing and I run an agency for close to six years. My day-to-day was basically coining marketing slogans, captions, campaigns — things like that,” Mista Meister told YFM’s Rev Erskine and DJ Ganj on the Myd Morning Show. “Coining ‘Detty December’ was like another day in the office.”
The roots of “Detty December” trace back to Mista Meister’s time working closely with award-winning artist Mr Eazi. Within the team, the playful nickname “Dirty Boy” had become an inside joke.
“Anytime Mr Eazi was going on stage, we used to say, ‘go and dirty yourself,”‘ Mista Meister explained. “And it’s a very Ghanaian thing, like ‘We go dirty wana self,’ y3 b3 y3 y3hu fi; to go all out, no holding back.”
While planning the December concert in Lagos, originally titled Life Is Eazi in Lagos and Life is Easy Abuja, Mista Meister suggested the phrase. “This is going to be an epic December and since Mr. Eazi is the Dirty Boy, why don’t we call it ‘Detty December Edition’? So it was Life is Easy Lagos and hashtag, Detty December Edition. In as much as it was coined by me, a Ghanaian, its first use was in Lagos.”
A week later, when the tour came to Accra, the branding evolved. Instead of another Life Is Eazi concert, Mista Meister suggested Detty Rave. “It was something I coined, but it caught fire and it is not something that i coined thinking about how it was going to evolve to what it is now. People ran with it, used it as hashtags, event names, and it just kept growing,” he admitted.
Years after, “Detty December” has exploded beyond a phrase, becoming a movement that drive concerts, travel, and cultural tourism across Ghana, Nigeria, and the diaspora.
As the term gained traction, Mista Meister acknowledges the challenges of visibility. “In conversations between Ghana and Nigeria, numbers matter. Nigeria has over 200 million people, many digitally savvy and active online. When they run with something, it sounds louder,” he noted.
Yet, he emphasizes that Ghana has not lost the story but the storytelling must improve. “Small countries have owned big cultural exports before. Look at Jamaica. It’s about intentional PR and telling your story well. If we are deliberate about pushing our tourism narrative, telling the story as Ghanaians, it’s very possible to own it.”
Today, “Detty December” stands as a shared cultural celebration, uniting Ghana, Nigeria, and Africans worldwide in music, movement, and memory. And at its heart is a simple truth: a Ghanaian phrase, born from creativity and culture, sparked a continental phenomenon.
This revealing conversation with Mista Meister forms part of YFM’s Holiday Havoc, the station’s flagship festive season coverage spotlighting the stories, sounds, and moments that define December in Ghana.
By: Joel Sanco
