APPIETUS FIRES BACK AT RANA…

Sound engineer and producer Appiah-Dankwa, a.k.a Appietus, has described as “hypocritical”, utterances made about him in the media last week, by Rana, a trio he once executive produced.

Speaking to Hi Newspaper on Sunday, he appeared very infuriated at headlines made by Rana in two newspapers and on the internet claiming, they (Rana) 'dumped' him. According to Appietus, he rather did the dumping.

“I had a contract with them for 3 albums which included producing and promoting them. I executed my part of the contract expecting to reap some benefits not knowing I was being ‘fooled’ by these boys”. He continued: “I trusted them so much I made them deal with event promoters directly. They negotiated deals themselves, played shows and pocketed the money only to tell me 'cock and bull' stories”

According to Appietus, when he was out of the country Rana did several personal jobs, including soundtrack for the movie, Shakira and later told him they did not charge fees for those jobs.

As their Executive Producer\Manager, according to the popular sound engineer, he got to know about shows they played, only on TV. “Anytime I asked, they told me lies. I got fed up and decided to abrogate the contract. I asked them to go, they didn't dump me.” Appietus says.

The 3-time Ghana Music Awards producer of the year said he had a contract with the R&B group and can take them on but has decided to settle things amicably with them by asking them to walk away free”

Asked to comment on why Rana said he (Appietus) referred to them as “bad investment”, the owner of the Dansoman-based Creative Studios said: “I spent over a year working on the 'Baby Baby' album but made nothing from it hence my saying it was a bad investment I made. I never said they were a bad investment. Rana is a talented group and that is why I invested in them in the first place but their bad attitude made me not reap from my investment and as a businessman, any investment that doesn't yield results is bad.” Appietus said in defense of his 'bad investment' comment which sparked the whole controversy.

The beatmaker also made the assertion that, Rana's submission on Asempa FM last Saturday is an indication of the fact that, they weren't well-informed to react to the comment he made on Hitz FM the week leading to last week's controversy.

Appietus stormed Asempa FM last Saturday to spark an argument with the group when they were on air because he “had to clear himself. Referring to me as tight-on-resources is a blow to the reputation I have built over the years’, he said.

“They said on radio they didn't say that when Graphic Showbiz has it on record”. In parting ways, Appietus said Rana owes him 15,000 Ghana Cedis for 8 songs he produced for them. “They should come and pay my money and stop using my name to promote their new album”, he said.