By: Deborah Amewoyi
Ghanaian rapper Kenny Ice has added his voice to the growing discriminatory practices in the Ghanaian music industry.
The rapper in an interview on Daybreak hitz touched on the language disparities within the industry. The artist who is widely recognized for composing songs and raps in the ewe dialect recalled a scenario where his song was rejected by a radio station because the lyrics was in the ewe dialect. “I went to a radio station and somebody told me ‘we can’t play an Ewe song. I don’t understand what you say in the song” he narrated.
He further lamented on the extreme dominance of the Akan language in the music industry hindering other local languages from thriving. “When the Twi or Fante or Akan is 70%, and they dominate the industry, how can a Dagbani or Ewe person fight his way into it?” he argued.
Rapper Kenny Ice further added that most rappers in the music industry have strayed from rapping to singing because it is not economically friendly.
At the same interview, the rapper cited various colleagues who have geared towards this trend in order to land deals that involve good money.
“Headless YouTuber (Kula) stopped doing music because when he was rapping he only got compliments for his rap skills but when there are deals that involve money, it is the afrobeat artistes and those that do danceable music that get them” he said.
He also added that, “Imagine if Dr Bawumia wanted to give some deal with King Paluta, he wouldn’t do it if Paluta was still rapping.”
He concluded that in order to earn cool deals whilst doing his rap music, he has adopted a strategy where he sings commercial songs and adds the rap to make it blend.
The rapper then revealed that despite the fact that he sings in the ewe dialect, he has also recorded some songs without no ewe words.
At the back of this, Ghanaian media personality, Andy Dosty have advised the rapper to focus on his music rather than his grievances. “Please, work harder, make sure you keep your focus, make sure you target at your goal and score” he counselled.
He also challenged the rapper to persevere in order land greater opportunities within the music industry. “What’s the problem? It could be from you. It could be that you are not doing enough legwork. It could be that you think you are so big that every door you get to, it must open. But sometimes you need to break it open” he concluded on his remark.
