Ghanaians can’t appreciate my songs – Kwaisey Pee

Highlife artiste Kwaisey Pee has said Ghanaians do not appreciate him and his music, hence his inability to make a breakthrough in the music industry after more than a decade as a musician.

The silky voiced artiste, whose style has been consistently likened to Afro pop and highlife legend Kojo Antwi, noted that he had contemplated switching from highlife to another genre of music but decided against it because that was what he was best at.

Talking about his inability to win Ghanaians over on Entertainment Capital on Accra100.5FM on Saturday, 17 June, 2017, he said: “We [Ghanaians] don’t really appreciate good music. If not that, then it’s me as an artiste that people don’t appreciate. Ghanaians are not appreciating Kwaisey Pee as an artiste.”

He told show host Bismark Boachie (DJ Premier): “I don’t think I’m at the height I’m supposed to be. I have been in the industry for a decade and so looking at the time I started up until now, I think I have to be at the point where if I organise a show there should be a full house with an overflow, but that is not the case. So because of that, I feel Ghanaians are not appreciating me as an artiste and the music I do.

“Sometimes I think of leaving highlife but I’ve been taught not to give up in whatever I do or turn back and say, ‘because I’m getting frustrated here, I need to move there’. It means you don’t know your stand, so I still say I will move on and do what I do best and make my name.”

The Mehia Odo hit maker blamed Ghanaian DJs for killing highlife music while dancehall and hiplife continue to thrive.

“Highlife is not thriving like hip life and dancehall because of DJs and radio presenters. Last week I had an interview in a radio station in Kumasi and while waiting, the DJ was playing Nigerian songs instead of my songs. It doesn’t make sense,” he lamented.

The award-winning male vocalist, who is out with a new single called Kyei Baffour, said that song should be an instant hit but DJs prefer playing hiplife and dancehall songs over highlife.

He called on radio presenters to prioritise Ghanaian music over Nigerian or foreign tracks.