What is Sco Pa Tu Manaa?

Sco Pa Tu Manaa is a nonsense phrase from Ghanaian rapper Patapaa's verse on 'Daavi Neba' that Twitter users adopted as a caption asking followers for their opinion or associations with an image.

Where did Sco Pa Tu Manaa come from?

It came from Patapaa's guest verse on Kawoula Biov's single 'Daavi Neba,' released on YouTube on April 3, 2019.

What does Sco Pa Tu Manaa mean?

Patapaa invented the syllables as rhyming filler and even forgot the words himself in a later interview, so there is no official translation. Online users assigned joke meanings like 'what experience does this remind you of' or 'believe me'.

How do you use Sco Pa Tu Manaa?

The common convention is to post an image, screenshot or random object with 'Sco Pa Tu Manaa' as the caption and let followers reply with whatever opinion or memory the picture brings up.

Is Sco Pa Tu Manaa still popular?

The caption had its biggest run on African Twitter in May and June 2019 after the song went viral, with the lyric challenge compilation alone passing 170,000 views.

Sco Pa Tu Manaa

2019catchphraseclassic

Published October 27, 2026

Sco Pa Tu Manaa is a nonsense catchphrase from Ghanaian rapper Patapaa's verse on the April 2019 song 'Daavi Neba' by Kawoula Biov. After fans failed to decode the gibberish lyrics, Twitter users began captioning random images with the phrase to ask followers 'what experience does this remind you of,' turning the hook into an opinion-prompt meme across African Twitter in mid-2019.

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Overview

Sco Pa Tu Manaa works less like a joke template and more like a prompt. A user posts a photo, screenshot or random object with 'Sco Pa Tu Manaa' as the caption, and followers reply with whatever opinion, memory or association the image triggers in them3. Urban Dictionary contributors describe the usage as asking for an opinion or experience about a particular subject, with laptop photos and selfies cited as common examples1.

The phrase itself has no agreed translation. Ghanaian entertainment site GHPage transcribed Patapaa's verse but noted that even Patapaa muffed the lyrics when asked to repeat them in an interview, confirming the words are closer to vocal filler than a sentence2. Twitter users have jokingly attributed meanings in Hawaiian, Gujarati and other languages, which only fed the running gag that nobody actually knows what Patapaa said3 1. That ambiguity became the point, and shitposts of signs, shoes and video game screenshots with the caption worked because they played against the earnest 'what do you think' reading3.

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Origin & Background

Platform

YouTube music video (origin) / Twitter (viral spread)

Creator

Patapaa

Date

2019

On April 3, 2019, Ghanaian recording artist Kawoula Biov released the single 'Daavi Neba' on YouTube, featuring a guest verse by fellow Ghanaian musician Patapaa4. Patapaa, already famous for his 2017 hit 'One Corner,' delivered a stretch of rapid, phonetic nonsense syllables that fans transcribed as 'till patu pataa, skoska to mana, till da pop dada, sko pa to mana'2. Within two months the music video passed 629,000 views3.

Ghanaian listeners nicknamed the verse 'Skopatumana' and treated the garbled syllables as a challenge to pronounce. GHPage published a lyric sheet specifically because fans were struggling to sing along, noting that Patapaa himself missed words when asked to repeat them2.

How It Spread

The verse crossed from music fandom to meme format over April and May 2019. On April 25, YouTuber GOLDEN TV uploaded a 'SKOPATOMANA CHALLENGE' compilation of fans attempting the verse, which drew more than 170,000 views within two months1. The same day, Vibez TV posted a reaction video titled 'OMG!! Patapaa New Song Skopatumana Challenge Goes Viral,' adding another 22,000 views1.

Twitter picked up the phrase as a caption format in early May. On May 1, user @MercedesSlimBoy tweeted it alongside a photo of a sign reading 'Run for Your Life Int. Chapel'1. Four days later, on May 5, @ajeezayGH paired the words with a picture of a shoe and collected over 200 likes and 40 retweets1. By May 29, @aliyu_omarr had attached the caption to a Grand Theft Auto: Vice City screenshot, earning more than 300 likes and 100 retweets1.

Confusion about the meaning drove engagement as much as the posts themselves. On May 27, Twitter user @mickyyebscon tried to settle the debate by replying that 'co pa tu manaa is a word in a song by Ghanaian artists named patapaa no one knows exactly what it means,' adding that Patapaa 'was kinna rhyming with words'1. Urban Dictionary entries from the same period catalogued competing claims that the phrase meant 'believe me' in Gujarati or 'what's on your mind' in internet usage, cementing its status as a running joke about untranslatable slang2.

Timeline

2019-04-03

Kawoula Biov releases 'Daavi Neba' on YouTube with Patapaa's gibberish-filled guest verse.

2019-04-25

YouTuber GOLDEN TV uploads a 'SKOPATOMANA CHALLENGE' compilation that reaches over 170,000 views.

2019-05-01

Twitter user @MercedesSlimBoy posts the earliest documented image caption using 'Sco Pa Tu Manaa.'

2019-05-05

@ajeezayGH tweets a shoe photo with the caption, racking up 200+ likes and 40+ retweets.

2019-05-27

@mickyyebscon publicly explains that the phrase is nonsense rhyming by Patapaa.

2019-05-29