Multiple award-winning Ghanaian rap act, Derrick Sarfo Kantanka, widely recognized in showbiz as Amerado, has disclosed that his prime concern as a musician is to make money to feed and cater to his family and not to fill the O2 Arena in London.
The rapper’s comment comes days after popular Nigerian artiste, Asake, made history by filling up the 20,000-seater O2 Arena with thousands of music lovers singing, chanting and dancing to his hit songs while performing in the auditorium.
Unfortunately, some netizens took advantage of the history made by some other African artistes to troll Ghanaian musicians, saying that nothing of the sort has been made or can be made by a Ghanaian.
However, according to the ‘Abotr3’ hitmaker, social media trolls and music competition from Nigeria have no major impact on his music career or his state of mind. He opined that Ghanaian musicians are very capable of achieving similar feats, especially filling up such events grounds just like their counterparts from other African countries. However, he noted that this possibility often feels distant due to the lack of internal support that propels talented artists to prominence.
Speaking on UTV’s United Showbiz last weekend episode, August 26, 2023. Amerado said;
“It’s fine, I’ve watched Asake’s O2 performance and the way he carried himself on stage. It’s nice. What I can do is just applaud him and continue to work harder, and strive for the best but I can’t say Asake has filled O2, so Stonebwoy who is hosting shows and going on tours, Stonebwoy is not good. King Promise has the number 1 song on Boomplay, the whole of Africa. Are we talking about it enough?”
He continued; ‘I’m struggling to even secure shows to perform, let alone think about filling the O2 Arena. As an artiste, my top priority is to feed my family and not to fill O2 Arena. The boys are hungry! We can’t even get shows to perform. The shows that were organized in December, how many of them was I billed to perform for me to worry about O2?” he queried.
“In Ghana, even if we organize free shows, check the numbers and compare it with paid shows. They don’t attend. When you host a show abroad, they would rather use the money to attend a funeral or wedding because there will be free food, but the same Ghanaians will say a Nigerian has filled O2, so Amerado is not working hard because he is doing a video with his mom to promo his song. If I don’t promote my song, how will I fend for myself?… Let’s support ourselves. We should stay united and push ourselves to the top,” he concluded.
