Ebony was our answer to Rihanna – Root Eye

When the death of the 2O year old dancehall musician, Priscilla Opoku Kwarteng surfaced the internet, many saw it to be one of the usual concocted stories from bloggers who are always desperate for ‘traffic’ for their sites.

The truth however, was hard for some of us to bear when pictures of the accident car and the lifeless body of the dancehall diva ‘Ebony Reigns’ circulated on the internet to affirm the said stories.

Though death is no respecter of age, many believed Ebony, was too young a celebrity to be in the never ending list of death for the year 2018.

The industry came to a standstill as pain, doubts, trauma were the order of the day. Industry gurus both on TV and radio were mesmerized with the news.

Looking at the records, Ebony was if not the only, one of the hard working musicians in the year under review giving hits after hits.

Many tipped her as the Artiste of the Year winner as she conquered all in the year under review.

However, she couldn’t wait to be crowned for her hard work. Death placed its cold hands on her and took her from us on her way back to Accra after visiting her family in Sunyani, according to reports.

As tributes keep pouring in for her, one of Ghana’s foremost reggae musicians, Mr. Kwasi Offei Nyarko aka Root Eye has added his voice.

Speaking to www.flexgh.com, Root Eye explained that, Ebony was the only female musician to have rocked shoulders with the male musicians and even conquered most. To him, her demise is a huge loss to the industry and Ghana as a whole.

“Of course, her demise causes the scene a huge loss. She had become a massive force to reckon with. She had completely taken over the space where no female had ever risen to, and was going to get even bigger. She was our answer to Rihanna and she represented her brand to the core. She had just signed her first ambassadorial deal for a product. And all these resulted from the rotation she had on radio and TV also in the night club and pubs. In the latter part of 2017, she couldn’t make enough stage appearances, obviously, for the fear of the threat on her life by the prophecies. That notwithstanding, her brand’s dominance made her the best candidate for ‘Artist of the Year’ in the forthcoming VGMAs, which many believe would be awarded her posthumously. Ebony has caused a huge void. It’s obvious her career hadn’t even peaked yet. But the domineering posture she assumed last year was evident that she was going to grow into a mighty artist. Unfortunately, we’ve been denied the privilege of experiencing a female at that pedestal of performing arts” he said.

“Ebony’s persona, he continued, is quite rare. It takes a bold and courageous female to represent what she represented. She was a great talent, yet heavily criticized but she was able to find a balance with her latest look and the single, ‘Maame Hw?’ and the gospel song she just released. That’s not an easy PR strategy to pull. She was in the process of exhibiting her subtle side that would have neutralised her hard core dancehall image, a move that would have turned most of her critics into fans and made her fans love her even more. She was natural at all that she did, original, authentic and real. It’s a very hard combination to find,” he finally uttered.