“I had a bag full of CDs and I had to trek from town to town to promote my songs. At a point I had to borrow slippers to walk long distances.”
The above is a statement by celebrated hiplife artiste, Gasmilla as he gives a detailed account of his journey to fame.
Contrary to reports that he comes from an affluent home, the artiste, known privately as Odartei Milla Lamptey, disclosed that he had his fair share of struggles.
At the time when contemporary music was unpopular, Gasmilla had to ride on the Azonto wave to produce a hit track.
However, he added that it seemed the song will forever be played solely in their studios, as promoting became a huge hustle.
For this, he said he devised a plan to sell his CDs for GHS1 per copy, and daily he made not more than GHS 10, which would have been his transportation back home.
Even so, he decided to trek from Osu to his home at North Kaneshie, so as to distribute his songs to drinking spots along his route.
“I would walk, and when I get to the drinking spots, I would give one of the CDs to the owner to play my songs. I assured them that the singer is my artiste and if they help promote, I would come see them after the song become a hit,” he recounted.
Gasmilla also added on Adom TV’s Ahosepe Xtra with Sister Sandy that he developed a rapport with mobile DJs to hype his song during street shows.
And that was how his first track, Aboodaatoi gained momentum on the streets, and later, radio DJs were forced to join the trend on their airwaves.
Subsequently, he had a fairly smooth ride in the entertainment industry, releasing back-to-back Ga hits tracks; ‘Telemo’, ‘Akensomoshi’ and Letter to the Government.