Rappers’ transitioning to singing hinders growth of rap music — Ex Doe

Celebrated Ghanaian musician Ex Doe believes the new trend of rappers transitioning to singing is affecting the growth of Ghanaian rap music.

According to Ex Doe, Ghana had a reputation for generating outstanding rappers on the African continent, but the current trend has made rap less appealing to aspiring artistes.

In an interview with GNA Entertainment, Ex Doe recalled how rap music was once quite popular, with plenty of airplay for both rappers and singers.

“I believe the Ghanaian rap game is being weakened by rappers doing more singing nowadays. For me, a rapper should stay a rapper, even though you might do some little singing for your choruses.

“But you can’t blame rappers in the modern era because there is more airplay for singers than rappers in recent times. In the past, it wasn’t so because there was enough radio play for both rappers and singers,” he told GNA Entertainment.

Ex Doe further asserted that rappers doing more singing had limited the variety of music in the Ghanaian music market, with more artistes sounding “one-way.”

“Nowadays, everyone wants to sound the same because singing is selling. Upcoming artistes want to sound like Black Sherif and Kuami Eugene, among others, and for me, this is not a good sign for our music,” he said.

Ex Doe emphasised the need to give rap artistes an equal chance in Ghana’s music space so that they could realise their potential.

“For me, I believe we should focus on rap music and build on it because we have an upper hand over other countries like Nigeria, whose artistes are focused on doing more singing,” he added.