Ghanaian Hip-hop/Afropop musician Linford Amankwaa, professionally known as Ko-Jo Cue has lamented the state at which musicians are being compared and judged in the Ghana music industry.
Speaking on the Big Conversation show on 3Music, Ko-Jo Cue questioned why most artistes are being rated based on their achievements instead of their music just being enjoyed. He insisted that veteran artistes never went through the same scrutiny as the new artistes and thus the pressures they face are unfair.
“I have a problem when a new album drops and somebody is like ‘Is this what you want to use to get a grammy?’ Why has it become about all these extra metrics as opposed to you just enjoying the music?
“Now the achievements matter more than the music and they are using that to rate the artistes. I don’t wake up in the morning ever thinking of why Daddy Lumba didn’t play Madison Square Garden,” he quizzed.
He added that artistes pressure themselves to score all the necessary achievements and do not need the fans to do that for them. He thus advised the fans to just patronize the music released by the new artistes and critique the songs based on their preference and not on their performance on international rating charts.
“Don’t judge the songs just by how you feel, just be a fan. If I drop something, just be a fan. If you don’t like the music, you can tell me that. If you don’t like the music on a quality basis or on how it feels to your basis, you have a right to tell me. But don’t say, ‘Oh, I won’t even listen to this Ko-Jo Cue album because pitchfork or Billboard didn’t even catch him’,” he suggested.
The BBnZ Live artiste has many songs to his credit including ‘Best Paddy’ and Everybody Knows’.
Source: www.ghanaweb.com