Obour apologised to me after I criticised his political ambition – D-Black

Rapper D-Black has revealed that former president of the Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA) reached out to privately apologise to him after he criticized his political ambition.

According to the rapper, he attacked Bice Osei Kuffour (Obour) after his posters appeared online that he was vying to be a Member of Parliament because he believed the former MUSIGA president had failed musicians.

D-Black, who has for several years been a strong critic of Obour’s administration, in a post on Twitter in March urged the former MUSIGA president to account for his stewardship as president of the musicians’ body.

“Until he accounts for his time at MUSIGA and how the finances of Musiga were managed and benefited the ‘Musicians of Ghana’ positively, I agree with u 100% percent !!! Very disappointed in how his administration steered the affairs of Of Music Body. Selfish Greedy Unaccountable,” he tweeted in support of a post by his colleague musician Criss Waddle.

Taking the issue a step further, the rapper last Thursday released ‘Take Your Stone’ a song targeted at some leaders and organisations in the music industry including MUSIGA and the Ghana Music Rights Organisation (GHAMRO).

D-Black, who is currently stuck in New Jersey in the US because of the Coronavirus pandemic, told MzGee in an interview via Skype on TV3 New Day that “Anybody who the cap fits should wear the cap…I was talking to the hip hop community and to the music industry and I wanted them to feel what I felt inside.”

“It was just me being angry and I wanted it to be authentic as possible so I said it how I felt… the music industry is very dynamic and there’ve been a lot of changes. The most primary form of revenue for artistes is through streaming. I don’t think MUSIGA, GHAMRO…have educated the music community enough to be able to chase those revenue streams. A lot of people don’t understand…,” he explained as some of the reasons why he recorded the song.

According to him, “Royalty revenue in Ghana has been going on for years…but it hasn’t been disbursed the way they should…”

The CEO of Black Avenue Muzik revealed that for the past 10 years, he has never received any royalty and wondered, “Where is all that money?”

D-Black further disclosed that he once received a message that A-List artistes were going to receive GHc600 as royalties, an amount he said was peanuts.

The rapper recalled that in 2011 “or 2012, I think it was my first year in the music industry I met Obour and he asked me and other artistes to go with him to the Ministry of Finance to convince the government to fund the music industry.”

When he asked what the money was going to be used for, D-Black said he was told it was to set up royalties system for artiste, writers, producers, and others to make money.

Following that meeting, the rapper and businessman said the music industry was given GHc2 million and it has been nine years but he is yet to see the impact of that money.

“When I started speaking on this I think about two-three weeks ago on social media, Obour reached out to apologise and said that if he had another opportunity he would do things differently and try to explain to me that it was the government that asked him not to invest in royalty collection but to invest in research,” the musician revealed.