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Black Sherif: Global hitmaker from a small city

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The Ghanaian music space has revolutionised over the years with the country’s deep-rooted highlife genre serving as the bedrock and paving way for the amalgamation of several genres to create world-class masterpieces revered across the globe.

From the early days of Mercury Dance Band which gained notability with their classic hit, ‘Kai Wawa’, Honny and Bees Band to Osibibisa, a Ghanaian-British rock band with a Caribbean flavour who derived inspiration from the motherland touring and raising high the Ghanaian national colours on the global stage to the fusion of highlife, disco and funk which resulted in burger highlife in the 1980’s and Hiplife, the Ghana music space has enjoyed an impressive streak.

In 2019, there was a cry in the wilderness – a ticking time-bomb who was in his formative years lashing out soothing melodies waiting to explode.

From a small mining city in the Ashanti Region called Konongo, the teenager at the time was looking to see his ripples felt in the greater depths of the regional capital, Kumasi.

Black Sherif’s unique sound blends was the differentiating factor with highlife as its bedrock, his adept tendency to communicate real situations with his sentimental ballad style grabs one’s attention on the first listen.

Songs such as Destiny, Ankonam, Money, Ade Akye  and Mariana were his earliest armour during his formative days.

He was tipped as one of the young artiste to look out for with an impressive trajectory as prescribed by some digital streaming outlets due to the numbers he was amassing on their platforms.

The 21-year-old’s story is rooted in grit, hard work and free will with the knack to churn out songs which carries the hope and aspiration of his people.

Following the release of the 1st and 2nd Sermon installations and subsequently, ‘Kwaku The Traveller’, Black Sherif’s global appeal was on the ascendancy attracting a following from both the UK, US and Caribbean market with features from Stormzy, Arrdee, Tory Lanez, Popcaan, Bas among others.

The street preacher dropped his maiden album, ‘The Villain I Never Was’ last year, his self-styled autobiography, a definitive moment in the career of this young genius cementing his name among the greats in Africa.

The album peaked No.12 on the Billboard World Albums chart, No.9 on the UK Apple , the album spent 5 months on the Nigerian Apple chart, and No.27 on the US Apple album chart. It was No.49 on Fader’s top 50 albums in 2022 among others.

The album has amassed millions of streams across digital streaming platforms and shared his art on several big stages such as the MOBO Awards 2022, Soundcity MVP’s, and Afrimma Awards 2022 with a nomination on BET Awards 2022 for the ‘Best International Act’.

Black Sherif performed on the maiden edition of Wireless Middle East, Abu Dhabi last month —sharing a stage with Travis Scott, Roddy Rich and Central Cee. He billed to perform on Pharrell William’s ‘Something in the Water’ festival slated for April 28, 2023, at the Virginia Beach,  Afronation US, as well as, his US debut at the Palladium, Times Square- New York City on May, 20, 2023.

With a record 11 nominations at the 23rd Vodafone Ghana Awards including the ultimate Artiste of the Year category, Black is shooting for the stars.

He is also in the running for Most Popular Song of the Year, Best Reggae/ Dancehall song, Best Hip Hip Song, Best Afro-Pop Song, Album/EP of the Year, Songwriter of the Year, Best Video, Best Collaboration and Best Hiplife/Hip pop Artiste respectively.

With all these categories in the bag, the line have been drawn.

If talk on the digital and traditional media is anything to go by, music lovers will be witnesses an unprecedented spectacle on the night of May 6, 2023.

Since the voice of the people is the voice of God, will VGMA be the night that the youngster who was once at his ‘downest in life’ finally sits atop the hill?

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Peter Okoye reacts to alleged song ownership by twin brother

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Iconic Nigerian singer Peter Okoye has responded to allegations made by his twin brother Paul over ownership of a new song “Winning.”

Peter Okoye shared a detailed account of the song’s creation, clarifying his role and collaboration with others, including Ghanaian producer Vampire and songwriter Calypso.

He questioned Paul’s claims, citing their agreed-upon creative process and Paul’s removal of his (Peter’s) vocals from joint songs.

Peter also addressed his temporary break from music, stating he took time to recharge before returning with “Winning.”

He wrote on X: “If you have followed my journey as a solo artiste and even before, you will notice that I give people their due credit where necessary as I am a firm believer in teamwork; I know my strengths, where I need assistance or guidance I am not afraid to ask or work with those who are strong in the areas I am not; this includes the process of creating music, executing concepts and ideas etc. I will always credit people for their contributions to my projects.

“Sometime in June 2022, I stumbled upon a producer based in Ghana named Vampire, and my team and I also personally reached out to him via DM, that I liked his work and was interested in working with him. Before getting him to Lagos, I presented the idea of this producer to my twin brother and our team, getting their buy-in before I got him flight tickets and flew him to Lagos.“

It was when he got into Lagos I asked if he would be open to working on P-SQUARE’s next album project, that the 5 songs I had penned down from my end to be presented to our A&R team for the album project were: JAIYE, WINNING, FIND SOMEBODY, LEGENDARY, and ATTENTION, based on tracks he had produced.

“We started with my own 5 songs that needed to be submitted for PSQUARE’s album, which he produced for me: The idea for WINNING came from one of his beats that I discovered. I came up with the idea of changing the chord progression from the original version to what it is today with my own producer Goldswarm who is the co-producer of the song WINNING.

“I had also engaged a songwriter known as CALYPSO who wrote and composed the song WINNING and sent it to me on the beats through a voice note. And we started working on the song. Mind you, he worked on some other songs that were to make the album as well, so my brother was aware of his input to the production as we were all in the studio during this period.

“Then when my twin brother heard the song WINNING, which we had already created the hook/chorus for, he then wanted to start creating a verse. Our agreed-on process for each song presented by us was: arrange the song, leave a verse for the other person, then we both harmonise the chorus and refrain bits together. He wasn’t supposed to until Calypso and I finished it as part of my own song submission to the LEGENDARY ALBUM.

“After that, we finished and shared verses among ourselves. I do not wish to get into details of why the album didn’t see the light of day till date but it takes a different level of psychosis for one to steal what is theirs already; as since the release of this song, I have been labeled and called all sorts online and they have even gone as far as asking for the song to be taken down on various platforms, to what end?

“It was never part of his 5, now 6 (according to him) songs for submission, yet when he felt I was not interested in making music because I chose my sanity over the constant berating and drama that seemed to come up over creative direction in the group.

“If it were his song, why do I have all the music data including initial conversations and picture/video evidence on the above-mentioned titles/songs? Which of his songs do I have its data in my possession in that case? All because he was hoping for me to quit music. Even when I learnt that he had removed my vocals on songs we did together, suggesting that he sing the entire songs including the ones that he planned to present for the album without my input (a very absurd idea as we both make up the duo not just the one), but we both perform them on stage, I begun to have a rethink of the entire situation. Let me leave this here.

“Maybe because I was not posting anything music-related on my social media page for over 4 months. He believes I have lost interest in music. I took a breather to get my mind and head in the right space and when that was done, my epiphany was WINNING!”.

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DNA test more important than naming ceremony- Don Jazzy

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producer and executive, Don Jazzy, has urged men to prioritise the paternity of their children, stating that it is more important than a naming ceremony.

On his Instagram story, Don Jazzy emphasised: “DNA test is more important than naming ceremony.”

His statement comes amid ongoing debates about the necessity of DNA tests, fuelled by recent high-profile cases of paternity fraud.

Don Jazzy known in real life as Michael Collins Ajereh is the founder of Mavin Records – through which he has signed artistes including D’Prince, Rema, and Ayra Starr.

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Pastor Love jailed 48 months in hard labour for stealing

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Pastor Hammond Love, widely known as Pastor Love, has been convicted of theft and sentenced to 48 months in prison with hard labour.

GBC Ghana Online reports that Pastor Love, a former husband of gospel musician Obaapa Christie, was found guilty of the offence after seven years of trial. 

Before he was sentenced, Pastor Love pleaded with the court for mercy, adding that he was willing to pay any fine that would be imposed on him. 

The court presided over by Isaac Addo, took into consideration the fact that the convicted Pastor Love was a first-time offender.

The court held that as a Pastor, he was expected to hold a high level of integrity, especially in matters of trust, and therefore handed him the 48-month jail term as a fair deterrent. 

The facts of the case as presented by ASP Frimpong was that in 2016 one Samuel Amankwah, a resident of the US, shipped a 4×4 vehicle into Ghana and tasked Pastor Love to clear it from the port. 

The convict cleared the said vehicle with his money, after which the complainant told him to sell it for US$50,000 and deduct the amount he paid as duty.

Later, the complainant told Pastor Love to hold on with the sale of the vehicle as he would travel to Ghana and refund his money. 

In April 2017, the complainant arrived in the country and contacted Pastor Love for his vehicle, but he could not produce it despite several demands. 

The complainant complained with the Police and Pastor Love was arrested in May 2017. 

During interrogation, the convicted Pastor Love told the Police that he secured a loan of GH¢40,000 with 20 per cent interest to clear the vehicle and was accruing more interest, so he sold the vehicle at GH¢80,000 without the consent of the owner and paid GH¢70,000 to the loan company.

Meanwhile, Pastor Love was unable to lead the Police to the said loan company to verify the claim and could not also tell who bought the vehicle. 

The Judge said the convict was dishonest to the Court.

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