4×4 FIGHTS GUINNESS OVER AKON & WIZKID

The decision of Guinness Ghana to include two foreign musicians in the upcoming ‘Big Eruption Concert’ has got award-winning music trio, 4×4, raging with anger and bitter complaints.

Coded, one of the 4×4 trio, went ballistic on TV3’s New Day over Guinness’ decision to include Senegalise singer Akon of Konvict Music fame, American Rapper Big Sean and Nigerian rap don, Wizkid in the list of performers for the show scheduled for Saturday November 23 at the Accra Sports Stadium.

According to him, when Guinness organized the same concert in Nigeria, only Nigerian artistes were contracted to rock the show but “the same company comes down to Ghana organizing a big show like this and then you tell us that let’s all converge at the stadium and then you add Wizkid, Samini and Shatta Wale on it.”

The status quo has been that event organisers are at complete liberty to exercise their discretion in deciding which musician they want to perform at which event.

“It looks like we have never been able to come out and speak so every time they take us for granted and they just come and disrespect musicians and make us look little. They belittle us. It has been 10 years now and we don’t want to take anything for granted no more. It is high time… we need to respect musicians in Ghana. Why are Sarkodie, R2Bees, Edem, EL and VIP among others not on the bill?” he quizzed.

Coded expressed the belief that local acts are enough to entertain Ghanaians in various ways that the two foreign acts will not be capable of doing.

“Let us enjoy our own thing. If you ask me, those three boys, they will even kill Akon and Big Sean. If people are asked to tweet lines from Big Sean’s songs, they don’t know Big Sean. At least I know of only three giants in Ghana who are Amakye Dede, Daddy Lumba and Kojo Antwi. These people could have headlined that show because Guinness is a big brand,” he added.

The group recalled how the dancehall king Shatta Wale wowed the crowd with his electrifying performance during the BASS Awards when the headline artiste Elephant Man failed to show up.
“If you can remember, the same thing happened with Shatta Wale at the BASS Awards. They said we were going to see Elephant Man who was never in Ghana but Shatta Wale killed the show. We want to tell Guinness that they are not doing enough. They are really disrespecting we the musicians,” Coded stated.

The Big Eruption Concert is expected to attract a lot of people across the country to the Accra Sports Stadium to enjoy great tunes from Samini, Wizkid, Shatta Wale, Akon and Big Sean for free.

I WON'T BE DRAWN BACK - BECCA SAYS AFTER 'SNUB' AT GHANA-ZAMBIA MATCH

She saw it as one of the high points of her steadily blooming singing career but popular  Afro-Pop star, Becca found the words stuck in her throat as she got ready to sing the national anthem at the Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi  last September during the  Ghana versus Zambia Brazil 2014 World Cup qualifier.

 Somebody had apparently pulled the rug from under her feet at the very last  moment  and she expressed her displeasure at the incident when she spoke at the UN Cultural Night at the Alliance Francaise in Accra last Friday.

“What I, the stadium announcer and pressmen who had relayed the information that I was about to make history did not know was that, a directive had come from an authority or perhaps authorities, that I do not sing the national anthem anymore.
 “Reason? I was a woman. The authority had, at the last minute, remembered that my being a woman apparently was bad omen. In other words, because I could menstruate, I was unworthy of singing our anthem.

“At least that was the explanation given to UNAIDS when they sought to know why an event that had cost precious time and effort to conceive and hatch was dumped,” Becca painfully said.

She became a  Goodwill Ambassador for  UNAIDS a few months ago and said the arrangement for her to sing the national anthem at the football match had been done through  UNAIDS under its Protect The Goal campaign with FIFA.

“The visiting team mimed their  anthem with support from the stadium's public announcement system. I was going to sing ours live through the cordless microphone made available for my act . The stadium announcer acting as emcee for the occasion introduced me because he had the official match day programme and was sticking to it,” Becca said.

Obviously disappointed that the only reason why she was not was allowed to sing on the occasion was because of her gender, Becca described the incident as ‘psychological abuse.’

According to Becca, she did not recount her ordeal to  create a platform for cheap political points. Rather it was to bring to light, a challenge that women have had to deal with for generations and which must cease.

“I have refused to be drawn back by such events and believe my urging all women to do same is a positive step in the right direction. I’m determined, competitive, confident , ambitious, courageous and productive just like any other person and that is why I will not be suppressed,” Becca  asserted.

A spokesperson for the Ghana Football Association (GFA) who was part of the planning for the Ghana-Zambia match, told Showbiz it never cropped up in any of their pre-match meetings that Becca was to sing the national anthem.

“What we knew all along was that the Ghana national anthem would be played over the stadium public address system. If some arrangements had been made is some quarters for Becca to sing live, the GFA was definitely not aware of that,” the spokesperson said.

I WROTE ALL THE SONGS ON THE FIVE ALBUMS WE PRODUCED AS AKYEAME - OKYEAME QUOPHI

The Akyeame duo of Okyeame Kwame and Okyeame Quophi related to each other like the best of buddies until the end of their working relationship about 10 years ago.

The pair that brought us beautiful songs like Masan Aba, Asa Aba So and Menko Medo didn’t give details of what led to their break-up.

A recent interview Okyeame Quophi, now Quophi Okyeame, granted to Agyemang Prempeh, host of Gh Entertainment on Rainbow Radio has, however, revealed that some serious cracks might have existed between the two men.

Quophi Okyeame sounded like Okyeame Kwame had little or no songwriting ability during their days together. He said on Rainbow Radio that he (Quophi Okyeame) wrote all the songs during the Akyeame days.

“I wrote all the songs on the five albums we produced as Akyeame because Okyeame Kwame is not a writer. The only song he wrote was Tintinto and even with that, I wrote almost all the lyrics,” Quophi Okyeame said.

Despite the superior sort of stance he had tried to assume on the programme, Quophi Okyeame seemed unhappy when he realised the producer of the show had called Okyeame Kwame on the phone for his side of the story.

Quophi Okyeame threatened to walk away from the interview if Okyeame Kwame was allowed to make comments.

“If you have called Okyeame Kwame, then I have to stop the interview because that is not the reason why I came here. I don’t know why you should call him. It is very unnecessary.

“I have a project I am promoting so I did not come here to wake up dead dogs. You are asking me about my life. I did not come here to spark a quarrel. You interviewed Okyeame Kwame on this same platform and you did not call me so why do you call him now?” Quophi Okyeame asked the programme’s host.

Though Akyeame broke up several years ago, neither of the two men had come out to say what exactly led to their break- up. They have embarked on seemingly successful solo projects.

Quophi Okyeame is a music producer and video director as well as working as a presenter in radio and television.

Okyeame Kwame has also been working as CEO of One Mic Entertainment, has recorded albums under his name and has won the Songwriter of the Year honour on three occasions at the Ghana Music Awards.

Asked about what led to their break- up, Quophi Okyeame was reluctant to give details of the split. He rather urged the programme’s host to concentrate on his new project.

He, however, explained that Okyeame Kwame was his best pal for about 16 years before they went their separate ways.

“We did everything together. I used to write lyrics for him to rap back in the day at secondary school and I even nicknamed him Wizkid,” Quophi Okyeame pointed out.

As the interview progressed, Quophi Okyeame explained why he had been musically silent for a while. According to him, he had a prophecy that he would stop music for a while and then come back to it.

He stated that though he had not been in the public eye a lot with his music in recent times, he had been busy doing soundtracks for movies such as ‘Love Of A A’, ‘Suffering To Lose’, ‘Good Old Days’, ‘Sinking Sands’ and ‘Ties That Bind.’

When Showbiz contacted Okyeame Kwame about the things Quophi Okyeame had said about him on the programme, he declined to comment. He seemed more eager to talk about his recent collaboration with Nigerian artiste, J-Martins.

P-SQUARE STORMS ACCRA SPORTS STADIUM AHEAD OF FAIRYTALE WEDDING

The Accra Sports Stadium will swing into a frenzy tonight (Saturday, November 16) when P-Square Peter Okoye mounts the stage to do his very last act as a bachelor at the Accra edition of the ‘Glo Slide n Bounce’ Concert.

The Nigerian superstar weds his long-time girlfriend, Lola Omotayo, on Sunday, November 17, barely ten hours after joining a lineup of other top Nigerian and Ghanaian artistes to thrill the city of Accra with exciting music and dance.

Showbiz pundits are already referring to next Saturday’s Slide and Bounce concert at the Accra Sports Stadium as ‘a more than fitting Bachelors’ Night session for P-Square which boasts of an incredibly huge following in Ghana.

Nigeria’s international rap exponent, M.I. is also a major act on the Accra Sports Stadium on Saturday.

Ghanaian stars on the bill include the Simigwa soul originator Gyedu Blay Ambolley, Kwabena Kwabena, Asem and Sherifa Gunu.

Organizers, Glo Mobile Ghana describe the ‘Glo Slide & Bounce’ musical concert as a “thank you package for loyal subscribers over the last eighteen months the network has been in operation in Ghana.

To attend any of the three concerts, subscribers have to recharge GHS 5 on their Glo lines and SMS the name of the concert venue they prefer, such as ‘Accra’ or ‘Takoradi’ to short code 5301 to get invited to the show. The Takoradi concert takes place at the T’ardi Jubilee Park.

Members of the public can port to Glo or buy a Glo SIM and recharge with GHS 5 to get an invite. If you think Kumasi was crowded, then watch for the massive turn out tonight as Accra gets bigger and better!”

I SLEPT WITH SAMINI'S GIRL - SHATTA WALE BRAGS

"Yo! Me I know dancehall be my thing, so if anyone try me, i go diss am ... bush boys" was Shatta Wale's introduction on his new song.

Ahead of their performance at the Guinness Big Eruption Show slated for November 23 at the Accra Sports Stadium, self acclaimed 'Dancehall King', Shatta Wale has shocked Ghanaian music fans as he takes Samini to the cleaners with a new diss song.

Unlike previous dissing songs that Shatta Wale has released, he was emphatic, personal and nasty on this new single titled "Letter 666 to Samini". The song has come out at a time that, most music fans thought that the bad blood flowing between them had ceased but clearly with the release of the song; means there is more to it than we are assuming.

He ended the song with "That's why I f**k your girl. Fool." Check the song out!!!

AMA K ABEBRESE ADMITS SHE IS ‘A TALKATIVE’

Actress?and TV presenter, Ama K Abebrese has a loud voice, loves to talk and enjoys doing that so has no problem at all when people describe her as a talkative. In fact, the Sinking Sands actress aka Ama K confessed to the Graphic Showbiz last Tuesday that she is ‘a real talkative’ (someone who talks too much) and does not regret for having such a trait which she said has “made her what she is today”.

“Being branded a ‘chatterbox’ is no big deal to me. I have heard that since infancy because my mother, siblings and friends would always say ‘Ama you like talking too much’ but that didn’t deter me from doing that.

“There are many people who would seize the least opportunity to make others hear them sing because they have good voices. I don’t have that voice for singing but I can talk and I am proud to do that”.

Ama K debunked the belief that most talkatives tend to be braggarts. “That is not true. Being a talkative is not a bad trait. I believe it could be nurtured to build one’s confidence.

“However, I don’t talk because I need to say something. I have always had the passion to be a TV presenter right from childhood because I knew I had the tool which is talking to help me do that and I have no regrets for that. It has actually helped to boost my confidence and I am proud of that” she added.

Ama started TV broadcasting at an early stage when she was a member of the Youth Culture Television (YCTV) back in London.

“I was drawn to broadcasting like a magnet since then and I guess it is due to the fact that it is one of those careers where I’m able to have a voice and be heard because I have a loud voice and ready to share with as many people who want to listen.

“My new role as a presenter on New Day on TV3 has really challenged me because I am constantly learning and evolving. I am able to adapt to different situations and places without losing my core essence and I think I have aptly put that into practice. My goal when I started my career was not to become a so called ‘star’. Recognition comes with it but that is not my ambition.

She however admitted her most embarrassing moments have been when she had to pronounce local names on air which she is not very familiar.

“Sometimes, I get it wrong and that is not very pleasant. You see, no matter how much you practice, there is the odd slip of the tongue and it has happened to me on a few occasions.

Touched by the need to educate the youth on skin bleaching, Ama said she is embarking on campaign dubbed I Love My Natural Skin Tone to encourage young ladies to be proud of their skin colour.

“All these billboards that project women with fair skin as beautiful are what is driving most of our ladies to bleach their skins. This campaign will imbibe in the black woman the need to be proud of her skin. Our women must know that they are not less human or intelligent because they are black. We are beautiful in our own way” she stated.

The AMAA’s 2010 Best Actress said she is currently working on a number of projects among which is the new movie, Double Cross which also features John Dumelo and Adjetey Annang scheduled to be released early next year.