Reasons why budding Artistes struggle to hit mainstream

It’s an undeniable fact that in as much as the well established acts are always perfecting their arts, upcoming artists are practically doing the best they can. 

The only difference is people do not mostly pay attention to them, it will amaze you the kind of ear candy records they have.  Other major heartbreaking reasons why most of these upcoming artists aren’t getting the buzz are,  lack of financial support, no record labels, lack of proper team management and other displeasing reasons. Some who are signed to record labels are not professionally handled, people can attest to the fact that, talent without proper management can easily be wasted. 

BeenieWords.com decided to run an interview with some of these talented artists who are potentially successful if the get the exposure and the right people around them. The following questions were the criteria used; how long they have been doing music, collaborations they have and would like to have, their thoughts on industry beefs, challenges, how well reggae/dancehall is doing in the country and their advice to the younger generation of artists. We highlighted more on acts who are within the sphere of reggae/dancehall. 

• Linguakat:

He has been in the industry over a decade and a half, he has over 100 songs. He is one of the striking acts who had the opportunity to work with A listed artists like Samini, Shatta Wale, Stonebwoy, Blakk Mexxiah, Jah lead, Sugar Ranking, Jah Amber and Kaakie. The future for Linguakat is to get the brand internationally recognized and achieve all there is in music.

His melodies, style, and the African vibe makes him unique. He sees  reggae/dancehall genre getting bigger and better by the years. Beef to him is beef yet he only loves healthy beef amongst various artists. He is not beefing any for now. His advice to the upcoming artists is to stay strong positive and stay away from negative vibes. Talking of the challenges, finance  is his biggest challenge.

• Qwame Decash:

He has also been around for the past decade, with lots of singles out there that he has lost count. His versatility has earned him opportunities to work Dr Cryme, Jupitar, Stonebwoy, Wisa Greid, Gallaxy just to mention few whereas he is looking forward to work with Shatta Wale, Samini, and all the great musicians in the country.

The future is brilliant for him based on he how envision things. His hard work will definitely take him to unbelievable heights. His versatility and magnitude of message his lyrics carries makes him stand out. Reggae/dancehall to him is making grounds than before, it’s currently the most popular genre in the capital, on the other hand beef to him is fun when it’s just lyrical. He is not beefing no artist. According to him he believes he has the mandate to sing about peace, love and unity so he can’t waste time on beefs.

Talking of upcoming projects, he has a lot to do in the year (2018) under review. Upcoming artiste should keep pushing and God will see them through and the mainstream artiste should make way for the younger generation because they hold that key to the future Ghana music’s main gate is his advice to both mainstream and upcoming artists. To get his songs played is a bit of a problem, also to be able to finance his songs is difficult. Finally to be able to convince the masses to turn and look at his direction is also a challenge since the radio constantly plays already made artiste songs. These are some of the challenges he faces as an artist. “We always appear to be new in terms of songs and brand as a whole”, he ended. 

• Konkarah:

With 50 songs release so far, he started doing active and professional music from 2003. He has other countless music under his sleeves. He has worked with the likes of Ras Kuuku, Iwan, Black Mexxiah, Rashid Metal, Eye Judah and Obibini Boafo. He is looking forward to work with Sizzla Kalonji, Queen Africa, Capleton, Stonebwoy, Samini, Shatta Wale, Edem, El, Obrafour and more artists doing different genre of music.

The future for him according to his own words is Jah vibes, to reach to  the world market and beyond. His positive message he puts on record to uplift people makes him a king in his zone. Ghana Reggae/Dancehall according to him is getting bigger and better, whereas beef in the industry is bringing lots of disrespect and violence in  the country and he does not support it. Furthermore he is beefing no artist.

Rise From The Slum Album is an album  project he released latter part of 2017. Stay positive, work hard, read more, be patient, persevere and put good lyrics in the belly of your music is his advice to the youths who want to venture into music. Getting record labels and getting big gigs to play is his major challenge.

• Willing Wanna:

He is one of the few artists holding down the reggae/dancehall genre in Ashiaman for a decade like golden egg and still counting. With uncountable songs, he has collaborated with Reddman, Karamanti, Shatta Rako and Gallaxy. It’s his dream to work with Samini, Shatta Wale, Stonebwoy and all the mainstream artists. The future for him is as bright as the scotching sun. He sees himself headlining most of big shows nationally and globally in the near future and scooping all the awards both yard and foreign. Mostly his songs are based on deep storylines. He doesn’t approach his pen and paper without a storyline that doesn’t really make sense, that alone makes him distinctive from others. 

Talking of the rise of reggae/dancehall in Ghana, he thinks it’s not doing bad at all compared to previously where people don’t pay much attention to reggae/dancehall but now the acts spearheading the genre have won the hearts of music lovers to gain much attention. When it comes to reggae/dancehall beef it’s good but must be healthy. On the other hand, there’s a disadvantage that makes it difficult for upcoming artist to shoot to limelight especially when it involves A- listed artist. In general he thinks it’s good for the music industry. As an upcoming artist, first you have to seek the face of God, hard work as the saying goes pays, determination, strategic thinking and  timing is vital as to when and how to release your songs and also the last but not the least is, get a publicist to get a good rapport with the media, is his advice to the upcoming artists. For the already established acts, all he has for them is they should try helping potential  talents when they see one. Finances is a major challenge not him alone but to almost every upcoming artists. 

• Mega Saw:

He is another budding talent who has been around for a decade with 45 singles. Mega Saw is effortlessly working so hard to perfect his craft as an artist so he could become king of dancehall worldwide. He does not have any major collaborations yet but he is trying to work with some major artist very soon. According to him the grace of God makes him special, further stating reggae/dancehall been his passion, it has long deep roots in his blood. 

“We need each other, let one love for another man prevail with equal right, be humble and keep up with the work” is his advice for both upcoming and mainstream artists. He has a album underway he’s working on with 8 songs. Beefing is never part of his music strategies. He has a concrete mind that life is a journey so nothing comes to him as a challenge. 

• Sean Taylor:

He has quite a lot of projects in the pipeline, he recorded three solid songs with Mix Master Garzy and working with Dakay and Ibee on a couple of songs plus he is voicing on Jamaican riddims as well. He’s about to spice up the industry as his name suggests. He started writing songs in 2006 but he recorded his first song in 2008 with Magnom Beatz. That means he is in the industry for a decade and still counting since he realised music chose him. 

He has lost count of the songs. He still has some songs at certain studios that he doesn’t even remember. Once in a while some of the engineers of these studios link him up and ask when he will come for his songs. He attributes this to the fact that he does impulse recording many a time. By impulse recording he means, he could go to a studio with the purpose of not recording a song but before he realizes, he has recorded a song or songs before leaving. 

As it stands, he hasn’t worked with any Ghanaian A list artist but he urges his fans and the whole Ghana to expect a couple of huge collaborations between himself and some A list Jamaican artists. In Ghana, he would like to work with Sarkodie, Samini and a few others. 

You will need an eclipse eyewear to see his future. As he recently got signed to Paper4Life Music – a UK based record label, the possibilities are endless. He urges all his fans again  to stay close to his social media pages @seantaylorgh to see his future unfold because he might understate it. They should just ride along as he progress. He also want to use this platform to inform all and sundry that his camp name changed from #TaylorGang to #TaylorEmpire. His lyrical dexterity and depth of thought embedded in his lyrics is what sets him apart. Being a Second Class Upper degree holder from the University of Ghana, the onus lies on him to epitomize intelligence in his compositions and that always puts him on the spotlight to write sensible stuffs. It basically has to do with his lyrical prowess and his ability to sing different voice parts in one song. Reggae/Dancehall in Ghana is not getting its due recognition. He thinks most of the artists who rose to fame by their claim of the genre let it down as they sat on the “comfortable seat”. His heart bleeds when Reggae/Dancehall is kicked to the background and disrespected whiles if it hadn’t been for this same genre, some artists could not even afford to put food on their tables. 

Beefing is part of the business. It spices up the game a little bit, he added. Nevertheless, the fans should not blow it out of proportion since the artists involved always get the blame. As the saying goes, monkeys play by sizes, hence until someone his “size” draws him out, he is not responding. At the moment no beef but if ever there is any coming his way, his “dawgs” will be glad since “dem mo nyam from mawning u zimi”.  You cannot achieve anything good and long lasting if you undermine the power of God. God rules all things and he has everyone’s life blueprint. Once you submit to His authority and put in a little more hard-work, you will become unstoppable and untouchable. He doesn’t joke with God and he urges everyone to do same; musicians and non-musicians alike. The expectations people have about you as an artist are high and you cannot afford to drop your standard that’s basically the challenge he faces as an artist. Aside that, everything else to him comes with the job. 

Judging from what these artists are expressing, it’s very obvious these acts are thought provoking with different dynamics in their own respective bragging rights. What could possibly be holding or hindering these talented artists from reaching the spotlight?Industry heads should kindly look into this and feel in the loop holes. 

(Story By: John Claude Tamakloe)