Case Study: What does it take to be a fan

Every Musician has a fan base, no matter how big and small they may be, they have a group of dedicated loyal supporters who genuinely admire the work of the artiste. From what I have observed over recent years, many of these fan bases have sprung up example of some are the Bhim Natives, Sark Natives, Shatta Movement Family, Manifans, Tiptoers and Gingams to name a few. I really admire the passion at which some of these fans have in supporting their acts but what I don’t like is, fans are first to praise the achievements of their “boss” but are last to comment on the bad the act the love so dear has done, whether intentional or unintentional.

What Must You Do As A Fan?

What to do as a fan is not rocket science, you just support and motivate the artiste you like. Not that difficult, but what we forget is we are not supporting whomever we intend to support for that person to fall in the gutters. We want to see that person rise and in so doing, we have to call a spade a spade sometimes.

For example, recently when Shatta Wale and Stonebwoy had their misunderstanding early this year which sparked various controversial music between the two. Now my biggest problem is all what their fan base could do was to urge the two on an unhealthy path. What I expected was that these loyal supporters would call their artiste to book rather than argue who is the better musician. For me, I believe whatever each artiste does, he/she is Ghanaian first so whatever they do, they do to promote themselves and country. So as fans our job is to see if what those that we support are doing things that would promote country positively. If not, bring them to book. We are all Ghanaians first then fans second and we can’t be true fans when can’t address the negatives of our Artiste.

The Way Forward

The way forward is simple, let us try to bring out the best in our acts. We can do that by addressing the “bad” they have been doing. Rivalry is within every institution and is what makes individuals in it better because of the competitions they bring but we mustn’t confuse healthy competition for enmity. If we are always allowing these artiste to waste studio time to produces music that jabs another, we are not doing any justice at all as fans.

Rather let us encourage our acts to produce music that would earn them international recognition. This would not only help gain international awards but it would also sell Ghana to the world. As fans if we want our artistes be the best, lets encourage them to work hard to improve on themselves.