With his newest single released last week titled Free Press, Sarkodie
seems to have gone the full distance in throwing insults at the media
in Ghana. He takes the media to the cleaners in a way that perhaps no
Ghanaian artist has ever done, not even Shatta Wale, DKB or Bull Dog.
In his song, Free Press, Sarkodie demonstrates his own “freedom of
the press” to launch a multi-pronged scathing attack on the Ghanaian
media whom he accuses of being mediocre and not doing enough to support
artistes.
He also laments how the media tends to focus solely on the negative
side of artistes’ careers instead of promoting their positives.
In the song, which was recorded over the instrumental of Busta
Rhymes’, Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Can See, Sarkodie sings about the
frustrations he has encountered working with the Ghanaian media and
criticises them for their lack of ambition.
He raps on the song that the media has developed a pull-him-down
attitude, and asks them to emulate the late Komla Dumor, whom he praised
for using his (Komla Dumor) influence at the BBC to get him on a show
on that television network.
“Since Kwame Nkrumah we are proud of nothing else; daa pull me down
cos negativity sells; they don’t f**k with me cos me I know them really
well. Only give you interviews to show you how I really felt”, he raps
on the song.
The, multiple award winner, says in the song that he is speaking on
behalf of all Ghanaian artistes and tells the media bluntly to “get off
his back” since they have done nothing to support him throughout his
career. He attributes his success to his own hard work and the support he receives from his fans.
“Listen I’m a
poor
boy coming from the street, all I have is my fans and the flows on the
beat. Obi firi ne kurom beyé biribia yé hu no huge, we are looking for
superstars but we still sleeping on fuse, how? That’s international,” he
says.
Sarkodie, whose resentment is apparent in his tone throughout the
song condemns the opinions of panelists on television entertainment
review shows describing their comments as “silly views.”
He challenges the media to put their
money
where their mouth is, adding that entertainment show panellists who
accuse him of not performing on bigger platforms, should themselves
aspire to host shows on big platforms such as MTV.
“I go through the stress and you still have the guts to tell me I
perform for cleaners, blacks, what the f**k is wrong with you. I did it
on my own,” he says.
But in an interview with Sarkodie’s manager, Sammy Forson, he
predcictably rallies to the support of his artiste by saying that the
issues Sarkodie raise in his song were not peculiar to Sarkodie alone
but it was a general problem faced by most artistes in the country.
He explained that the song was not targeted only at the negative
elements in the media. He said that Sarkodie was not trying to pick a
fight with the media but rather he was being blunt and letting the media
know his views.
“Artistes are creative people and so derive their energies from the environment in which they reside, so if all they face is
constant negativity it becomes hard for them to continue with their work,” he added.
He questioned why some elements in the media did not seek
clarification from Sarkodie or other artistes whenever they had rumors
about artistes but instead rush to publish these as facts.
Sammy Forson compared the situation in Ghana to what pertains in
Nigeria where, he said, the media throw their weight behind local
artists and asked the Ghanaian media to emulate that example.
Sarkodie real name,
Michael Owusu Addo, is a multiple award winning
hip life artiste who has worked with some of the biggest names in the
Ghanaian music industry. He is the first Ghanaian rapper to win the BET
Award for the “Best International Act (Africa) and has performed on some
of the biggest international platforms with international artistes like
Jay-Z, T-pain, Chipmunk among others.
