“I am Not Yvonne Nelson”, authored by the ‘almighty’ Yvonne Nelson (a.k.a. “21st Century Yaa Asantewaa”), would go down in the annals of Ghana’s history as the book that nearly caused “Tsunami” in the country.
The first two weeks after its launch witnessed so much public outburst and outcry across the country that, if this had extended a wee bit beyond that period, the Government probably would have declared a “state of emergency” and eventually shut down the Internet/social media (the actual “battlefield”) temporarily for the agitations to simmer down.
What even stoked the fires of the controversy surrounding this explosive autobiography was the release (or should I say “leakage”? LOL.) of Sarkodie’s distasteful “Try Me” diss track which was directly directed at Yvonne Nelson.
Many were those who came out, all guns blazing, of course, to castigate Sarkodie for going too hard on Yvonne Nelson. Contrarily, there were scads of folks (especially Sarkodie’s diehard fans) who also came out to vehemently defend him and patted him on the back for “making the brotherhood proud” (whatever that means). The furor subsequently waned a bit.
But the recent interview Sarkodie granted Angela Yee in America seems to have resurrected this brouhaha to the extent that two popular entertainment personalities almost ‘fought’ on live TV last weekend during the dissection of Sarkodie’s interview on Angela Yee’s show. And I am talking about the fracas between Pappy Kojo and “some Mr Logic” (in Pappy Kojo’s voice. LOL.) on UTV last Saturday.
It is obvious that if Sarkodie and Yvonne Nelson (likewise their rabid supporters and fans) don’t call a truce and settle this issue amicably, it would never die off completely. Just like a restless ghost, it would keep appearing from time to time till the kingdom come. It is in view of this that the two feuding former lovebirds ought to bury the hatchet for peace to prevail in Ghana.
One individual who can aptly lead the path to reconciliation and serve as the perfect peacemaker between Yvonne and Sarkodie is no other person but seasoned musician, Obrafour – a distinguished showbiz figure both Sarkodie and Yvonne Nelson venerate as an idol.
After the two finally let bygones be bygones, they could leverage this incident by joining forces to start a public awareness campaign and educate the masses, especially the young ones who form a huge chunk of their fan base, on dangers of engaging in “unprotected sex” and “abortion”, using their “fling” as a case study.
There is no denying the fact that Yvonne Nelson is a good public speaker and activist. Sarkodie on the other hand is a lyricist cum rapper par excellence. And together, these two could harness their individual inborn skills and abilities to pull off this campaign.
Since the campaign would be geared toward educating and edifying the public on sexual health, and “unprotected sex” being a major mode of transmission for HIV/AIDS and other venereal diseases, this Sarkodie-Yvonne Nelson crusade could become like a sequel to “Stop AIDS: Love Life” – a campaign launched in February 2000 which was aimed at fostering compassion toward those with HIV/AIDS and also facilitating efforts to prevent the disease.
Like the “Stop AIDS: Love Life” campaign, Yvonne and Sarkodie could bring en masse their colleagues in the entertainment industry and use the medium of music (a song and music video, to be precise) to drive the campaign’s message home.
It’s worth mentioning that this would not be the first time Yvonne and “Michael” or Sarkodie (as he’s popularly known in showbiz) would be working together on a song for a campaign, as in 2010 when Yvonne Nelson was working on her “Glaucoma” project, Sarkodie was one of the musicians and showbiz personalities whose support she enlisted for that project.
It cannot be gainsaid that music comes in handy and thus has always been a tool in awareness-raising campaigns throughout the world. The “Stop AIDS: Love Life”, for instance, was chiefly successful owing to its enthralling music video and song, which aired on television (GTV and DStv’s M-Net channel) and radio throughout the campaign’s phase in the early 2000s.
And it was out of the “Stop AIDS: Love Life” campaign that the award-winning youth talk/radio drama programme “Speak Easy”, which was broadcast on Joy 99.7 FM for about 1 year, was created. The success of “Speak Easy” led to the development of the popular Ghanaian youth TV series, “Things We Do for Love” (TWDFL) – a prequel to YOLO (You Only Live Once).
Talking of YOLO, Sarkodie and Yvonne could also approach Ivan Quashigah (the creator of TWDFL and YOLO TV series) and pitch the idea of playing a cameo in the next season of YOLO. And YOLO, just as its prequel “TWDFL”, being a show aimed at advising and directing the youth concerning the challenges they face in their adolescent years/youthful stage, the duo of Sarkodie and Yvonne Nelson could make a guest appearance in some of the episodes as mentors to the young folks in the series.
Perhaps, through all these social engagements and activities, both Sarkodie and Yvonne would land ambassadorial deals from local and foreign governmental and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that are into youth/adolescent sexual and reproductive health.
Companies like Ebony Condoms might also engage them as “Faces” and “Ambassadors” of their products.
All these moves would definitely boost and improve the public image of these two beloved Ghanaian celebs. Society at large would also benefit from this immensely. Ain’t this far better than the cacophony???
A word to the wise….
By: Eugene Selorm Owusu
