Ghanaian Reggae/ Dancehall musician, Ras Kuuku, has shared his opinion on the current state of Reggae music in Ghana. Contrary to popular beliefs, he maintains that Reggae music is “not dead”.
Ras Kuuku made an appearance on Joy FM’s Showbiz A-Z last Saturday, during the discussion, ‘Is Reggae Music an endangered genre of music in Ghana today?’ where he opined that reggae is distinct from other types of music. “Reggae is not a TikTok song that would just come and boom up the whole place like two to three weeks and it’s gone”, he said to Host George Quaye.
The ‘Wo’ hitmaker, while refuting the notion that reggae music is dying in Ghana, wondered, “Reggae comes and stays forever, … for people to say that there is no reggae song or reggae artist or reggae is dying in Ghana… if you say that then I don’t know, anyone who says that is a hypocrite”.
Ahuma “Daddy Bosco” Ocansey, Director of Communications and projects at the Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA), weighed in on the matter, buttressing Ras Kuuku’s point that Reggae music is not dying. “It has rather metamorphosed into various spheres of the industry… look at my girl Adina she is not a reggae artist but she did a classic song and it will continue to be like that till thy kingdom come”, he revealed. He also quizzed, “Rihanna is not a reggae artist but you remember [her song] man down?”.
Ras Kuuku however acknowledged the effort Reggae artists put into promoting their music, admitting that the genre requires extra work to make it on trends. “Ghanaians love to dance more, so should a reggae song drop today, and a dancehall [song] drops today, definitely they would all go towards the dancehall”, he explained.
He used the opportunity to reiterate that there’s a need to separate the Reggae and Dancehall genres. “We’ve always said that they need to split that reggae dancehall thing, you need to have reggae song of the year, and dancehall song of the year”, he said.
Ras Kuuku believes that doing so will aid in the recognition of real reggae artists.
Source: myjoyonline.com