Musicians and controversies: Healthy or unhealthy

The world these days has become one that does not value good but rather places more value on trivial matters, pushing people to engage in less important things for fame.

The music industry, particularly our own Ghanaian music industry, is no exception, as musicians only receive the needed attention when they 'fake' beefs.

As human beings or entertainers whose work is driven or pushed mostly to the crowd by way of personal relevance, many musicians, on several occasions, take up unnecessary things to thrive in the industry.

These things are sometimes seen in their style of dressing, how they talk and attack their fellow entertainers or even the kind of lyrics they include in their music.

They mostly do this when they are about to release songs, extended plays (EP), albums, and other things.

Has that really helped? The most important and necessary question to ask is. On the surface, it appears to have, and many entertainers who are good at coining controversies have been able to remain relevant for a period of time in their careers.

However, because they only climb the so-called success ladder in their careers through disagreements, they are frequently only recognised locally, making it impossible for such musicians to win international music laurels.

One such thing which seems funny but is widely accepted in the music scene is lyrical beef, which mostly happens between rappers and sometimes dancehall acts.

The Ghanaian music industry for some time now has witnessed “beefs” such as Shatta Wale and Samini, Shatta Wale and Stonebwoy, Sarkodie and M.nifest, Strongman and Medikal, Amerado and Obini, Amerado and Lyrical Joe, among several others.

The most hilarious yet unnoticed part of this is that after the decline of some of these beef regimes, certain artists who were keenly involved are now struggling for attention and even producing good and hit music for themselves.

But for some of them, a clear example being Kofi Kinaata, who, despite being in the industry for over half a decade but has never been involved in any kind of beef, is still relevant and still giving out hit songs and keeps getting the needed attention from the music industry,

In my opinion, I will not completely rubbish that style as it has been argued by several industry players to be one of the key tactics in the entertainment game, but my advice will be for some musicians who always give their all for that to limit it and rather do their right to stay relevant as they desire.

But, while it's considered one of the best ways to stay relevant, let's not forget what happened to two celebrated American rappers, Biggie Smalls, better known as Notorious B.I.G., and Tupac Shakur (2pac), who died at the ages of 24 and 25, respectively, after engaging in a lyrical feud.

Many may argue that such an incident cannot occur in Ghana, but it can since two top musicians, Shatta Wale and Stonebwoy, clashed with gun-pulling at the 2019 Vodafone Ghana Music Awards (VGMAs).

Despite the term "beef" having been in use as an intransitive verb since the late 1880s, Tucker (2013) suggests that it has evolved into an American street slang that essentially refers to deep hatred for someone or something.

The meaning of this is that if not curtailed or controlled, it has the potential to destroy our industry.