BET snub a wake up call – Gabriel Myers Hansen

Editor of Entertainment website, enewsgh.com says the snub by BET Ghanaian artistes is a wake up call.

According to him, artistes in the country need to sit up and work very hard.

Read what he wrote on his Facebook timeline.

This year’s BET Ghana “snub” is a much-needed reality check for our acts to do more, and not merely bask in near- Grammy nominations and brief Billboard/ iTunes appearances. It is a wake up call for them to see themselves as truly global acts, and put in the required commitment.

Davido dems are covering magazines everywhere, selling out London venues by themselves alone. Cassper is doing stadium shows (with hiphop of all genres) like it’s not a big deal. Meanwhile, Ghanaian acts don’t even honour interviews because they think if they do, they would be doing journalists “a favour”. Other African acts release just a single, and embark on a continent-wide media tour. GH acts release a whole album, and they don’t even go to Nigeria or Togo.

Let a Ghanaian act chalk a decent international accolade as good iTunes numbers or a common photo op/ endorsement with a global icon, or even shoot a music video in snow. All hell will break loose – as though it has never been done on the continent…like it’s they who have been picked out by God himself. “First Ghanaian act to do this…first Ghanaian act to do that”‘. Ok Carry on.

How many GH acts have ever covered FADER, or COMPLEX, or even featured in FT, or Genius, or Noisey? Some sef, common Wikipedia profiles dem no get, not to talk of websites. What do you expect when anyone googles you? They lift stories by journalists and paste them under their YouTube Videos & SoundCloud links, and then come back to paint these same journalists as unprofessional…

Davido’s whole new “Back to Basics” wave is inspired by Ghanaian highlife. Indeed, the biggest African records in the last few years have all turned to Ghana for inspiration, so why are the real highlife heirs not claiming what is theirs? A GH act will call himself an Afropop act first, before a highlife act. Smh. Davido tours large arenas, as well as intimate gigs. GH act wan perform to thousands every single time, putting money first, and forgetting that every performance furthers his brand, however small.

A whole Wizkid lost out on nominations. A whole Wizkid. Let that sink in.

You make I stop..

PS: Don’t you even mention Stormzy. When it is convenient for us, we want to associate with anybody with the least Ghanaian ties. Cool down kraaa.