Pop Culture dictionary
sco pa tu mana
or Skopatumana [skoh-pah-too-mah-nah]
What does听sco pa tu mana mean?
Sco pa tu mana is a nonsense phrase made popular by a rap by the Ghanaian musician Patapaa. The phrase inspired the Skopatumana Challenge, where people post videos of themselves rapping Patapaa’s lyrics.
Where does sco pa tu mana come from?
Sco pa tu mana鈥攁mong other spellings, such as sco pa tu manaa鈥攂ecame popular starting in April 2019 thanks to Ghanaian musician Patapaa. Patapaa was featured in the song 鈥淒aavi Neba鈥� by fellow Ghanaian artist Kawoula Biov, which was released on YouTube on April 3, 2019. On it, Patapaa raps what became transcribed as sco pa tu mana.
But what does sco pa tu mana mean? Nothing meaningful in Akan, a Ghanaian language Patapaa听speaks and performs in. It’s complete gibberish, apparently, but curious fans have discovered that sco pa tu mana coincidentally resembles expressions in Hawaiian, Malay, and Indonesian.
Patapaa鈥檚 lyric became a hit among Ghanians (to the point it caused friction with the song’s actual artist, Kawoula Biov) because it’s fun to say but also gets people wondering what it’s supposed to mean. In late April, Patapaa seized on the song’s popularity and on Instagram, initiated an internet challenge, tasking people with attempting to sing along with his gibberish rap.
View this post on Instagram
Challenge is getting hotter and bigger 馃挭… Winner to be awarded soon !!! Bless up 馃檹
鈥� #THE_PA2PA_ALBUM 馃殌 (@patapaa_amisty)
Becoming called the Skopatumana Challenge (among other spellings, including as the hashtag #Skopatumana), it spread in popular Ghanaian culture and was covered in Ghanaian media. It gained further attention online as people new to the song and challenge around the world puzzled over what sco pa tu mana听is. The phrase earned a Know Your Meme entry in late June 2019 and Urban Dictionary entries in July.
Examples of sco pa tu mana
Who uses sco pa tu mana?
Sco pa tu mana is used in reference to Patapaa’s section of “Daavi Neba” among those familiar with the song, artist, internet challenge, Ghanaian popular culture. Patapaa himself favors Skopatumana on social media.
Nobody :
Absolutely no one:
Patapaa: Sco pa tu mana. Don zon Ton manaa Go cat mouse fa lo zo ra canto banto bom waakye
— Fashion (@Yvonneexgh)
Outside of fans of Ghanaian rap, sco pa tu mana听bewilders people not-in-the-know about what it means. Sometimes people (apparently familiar with sco pa tu mana) will use the phrase randomly.
can someone pls explain WTF DOES SCO PA TU MANA MEAN? ITS BEEN ON MY TL SINCE DAYS NOW AND I SWEAR I'M GONNA GO MAD IF I DONT FIND OUT WHAT IT MEANS
— ShutUp,You're Haram! (@HandleWidCare_)
Sco pa tu mana DONT MEAN NOTHING, it is is GIBBERISH
— SIRichmond馃嚦馃嚞馃嚦馃嚞 (@richmond_si)
Note
This is not meant to be a formal definition of sco pa tu mana like most terms we define on 亚洲网紅露点, but is rather an informal word summary that hopefully touches upon the key aspects of the meaning and usage of sco pa tu mana that will help our users expand their word mastery.