I almost gave up on music due to financial difficulties — MOG reveals

Ghanaian gospel musician Nana Yaw Boakye, known by his stage moniker MOG Music, has recounted his journey to mainstream.

He said he almost gave up on his music career due to how difficult things became for him financially.

On the E-Vibes show with Joy News’ Becky, the award-winning singer said he went bankrupt after his first two studio albums flopped on the market.

"It got to a point where I was worn out and felt that this was not the right thing for me to do. After recording my first album, which worked or didn’t really work, the second album totally didn’t work.

"I spent money, and everything went down the drain. I decided to do a third album, that’s "Better Me," he recounted.

He continued, "During the project, I literally gave everything that I had—I emptied my savings account, my investment account, all of my accounts were at zero. It couldn’t finish the project.

"I was there thinking about how to raise money for the mixing and mastering because I was not getting any freebies again; everything had to be paid for."

MOG revealed that he once worked as a security guard in a certain European country just to raise money to support his then-suffering career.

"I realised I had a 3-month visa to one of the European countries in my passport. So I called my dad, and I took a loan from him and went to that country and went to work for two months as a security officer," he told Becky.

Things became so dire to an extent that he said he deleted all his songs from his laptop to call it quits, but thanks to his personal assistant (PA), who encouraged him not to give up because people like his craft.

"And around this time, I was not getting invitations; nobody was calling me for programmes here and there. I was just sitting at home. I just called my PA and told her to go to my office, pick up my laptop, and delete every song on it.

"I didn’t want to hear any music. She asked me what was wrong, and I told her I don’t want to do music again and that I think I am going to look for a job and then settle quietly somewhere. She was like, you have no idea the inspiration your music gives us, and that was the ice breaker for me," the award-winning vocalist disclosed.

His final success and continued relevance in the industry, he said, "was just God’s mercy. God proved that when you are about to give up, that’s where he comes in."