Musicians Can’t Buy Food: Abodam

Award-winning hip-life artiste Kwaw Kesse, known in showbiz circles as Abodam, has revealed that most of his colleague musicians in Ghana cannot afford a decent meal and have to literally beg for food.

According to Abodam, most Ghanaian musicians, especially those who fall within the hip hop category, are living a false life. He said they pretend to be okay by dressing in expensive designer clothing when they appear in public but actually have nothing in their bank accounts because their songs are not doing well on the market and they have no other means of income.

Speaking to Delores Frempong Manso on her Delay TV show, Abodam said there were many times he had to buy food for well-known musicians whose songs are enjoying some good airplay.

He explained that having “your song played on radio does not mean there is money in your pocket” because Ghanaians generally do not buy original CDs as most people rather prefer to pirate the songs.

“So they rely on shows but how many shows are even held for a whole year in Ghana and at each show, how many musicians can be invited. So that is the problem. They wait to be invited to shows and if for a year there is no show, then they start to hustle but cannot openly admit this in public,” Abodam explained.

“The problem is that they do songs that do not last and we tend to copy foolishly. We always copy the Nigerians and they laugh at us and ask us to be original. How can a Ghanaian musician sing a song in Ghana and say ‘I dey kolo’? That is rubbish because it is a Nigerian expression and the Ghanaian fans would not fully understand the actual meaning of your song. If you are singing in Ghana, just go straight to the point and say ‘I dey craze’ or ‘I dey mad’ and your people will like you because you are original,” Abodam added.

When asked to mention the manes of the musicians he was referring to, Abodam said there was no need to drop any names because that would be below the belt.

He however said the musicians doing hip-hop and twi-pop are the most affected.

The host then mentioned the names of VIP, D-Cryme, Zigi (U say Wetin) and Stay Jay (Shashii wow o) for him to choose which of them fall within his category.

Abodam responded that VIP and D-Cryme are very good musicians who he has lots of respect for. Abodam said he has never heard of Zigi and his ‘U Say Wetin’ song because he does not listen to such songs. With regard to ‘Shashii Wowo’ by Stay Jay, Abodam said the ‘Shashii Wowo’ is a people’s song that would not last.