Ghanaian Reggae artiste, Kwesi Baako, also known as Jahbeloved has advised fellow Ghanaian Reggae musicians to eschew any form hate among themselves in order to promote Ghanaian Reggae music.
Kwesi states that since he began his reggae career, he has seen some successes chalked by the industry. However, the constant bickering and internal fights among reggae artistes is forestalling the progress of the industry.
He shared this observation during an interview with Y97.9FM’s Haruna Babaginda on the Reggae Republic show.
“We see Shatta Wale, Samini, and Stonebwoy and acts like that being represented on the international stage. And that is encouraging. But some things are getting worse because internally, there is too much fighting. I don’t care what anybody says because that is the truth. Reggae music in Ghana is a fraternity that has to sit up”, he stated.
Comparing the state of the Ghana reggae music industry to that of Highlife and Hiplife, the latter genres have done well for themselves.
“For highlife and hiplife, a group of young people came up to agree and established a movement which resulted in hiplife and the rest is history. People get paid from that industry. When it comes to reggae music we are still fighting. I am telling the reggae fraternity in Ghana to stop that nonsense and do something. This is because you have something that can be marketed. Let’s push it.”
Kwesi Baako is a Ghanaian reggae artiste based in USA and one of the frontliners of the genre here in Ghana in the early 90s. He is also a former member of a reggae band in Ghana called shirinshirinshi which was based on the Legon university campus
Kwesi managed and worked with reggae artiste like Kente, Rocky Dawuni in the 90s. He is now a solo artiste and has recorded with many huge Jamaican artiste like turbulence on his latest album Titled ‘Awake’.