Kwesi Arthur’s clean rise to the top; a lesson to up and coming artistes

It was in August 2017 that my then head of productions for the Big X Show on Radio Univers 105.7fm, Kenneth Awotwe Darko informed me that we had a guest artiste who is coming from Tema to promote his EP.

I asked the name of this artiste and I was told he’s called Kwesi Arthur. The first thing I had to do after the said meeting with my boss was to hit YouTube to find out who this guy was. That was when I first heard of this talent, Kwesi Arthur by watching the video of his hit song, Grind Day. Even though my favorite track on the EP he released then was, Back on the Wall, even though it was not the song that caught the public eye as Grind Day shot the young man to fame.

To be honest, his rise from being the artiste who walked on foot from Pentagon Hostel to the studio of Radio Univers at JQB to an artiste who is now chauffeur-driven to shows in Accra or beyond and even shooting a video in Los Angeles after gaining a BET Nomination in his maiden season is remarkable.

But how did this happen? Did Kwesi Arthur use the ‘dirty’ ways to make it to this stage? No. Did he take advantage of others to get to where he is now? No. Kwesi Arthur has gotten to this stage through the ‘cleanest’ way possible. After dropping ‘Live From Nkrumah Krom’ two years ago, he has won the Hip Hop Song of the Year award at the VGMAs, multiple nominations with at the VGMA and the biggest of it all, Viewers Choice Best International Act at the 2018 BET Awards.

Kwesi Arthur currently has over 316k followers on Twitter and 533k on Instagram but barely do you see tweets and posts that will make the media go hay-wire for trends. The most you will see from him on social media is tweeting about his new release or the release of a colleague.

Hence, the life of Kwesi Arthur in the music industry now is testament to the fact that, talent supersedes all. For two years now, least have been heard about a brawl between Kwesi or any other person in the industry or outside it. The zeal and hunger this boy has to succeed and focus on polishing his talent is crazy, if I’m not exaggerating.

Moreover, the respect the young prodigy has for his fans and his predecessors has kept him going and will keep him going If he sticks to that. Interacting with his fans, tweeting and retweeting posts from his fans is kept that bond between himself and his fans. He has humbly accepted requests to feature on songs of people which has been another catapult to his success. Feeling by M.anifest, Abena by DJ Cuppy, Kpo Keke by Stonebwoy, Dont Keep Me Waiting by himself featuring Kidi, Wiase Y3d3 by Quamina MP have all been blessed by the silky voice and dope punchlines by King Arthur.

In logging out, I would just encourage up and coming artistes to make their brand more important than the other side.



The writer is a presenter with Radio Univers, University of Ghana