Celebrated Ghanaian rapper, Michael Owusu Addo, popularly known as Sarkodie, has urged the public to be lenient with the criticism on up-and-coming artistes.
In a Facebook post, the ‘Highest’ rapper wrote that while he and his contemporaries had the chance to correct a lot of the errors they made at the beginning of the music careers behind the scenes, the current crop of artistes, faced with the vagaries of media transformation, would have committed the mistakes right in the act.
“My era coming up , we had time to make our mistakes behind cameras and at least work on our approach to this business (how to speak during interviews, stage craft, how to deal with this industry in general) still learning but comparing to these young kings coming up, they literally starting right in front of our eyes ( social, traditional media) they have to learn to correct mistakes at their peak,” he wrote.
They, therefore, made an admonition that these fledgling acts be treated kindly when making assessment of their craft.
“…it’s a lot of pressure and sometimes affect their decisions. It’s not easy at all for them . I would urge we take it easy on them and give them a chance,” he added.
Sarkodie’s comment comes at a time when it is believed some social media commentators, bloggers and the entertainment media in general are overly critical on creatives.
A lot of concerns have been raised about how ill commentary on people’s creative works could go a long way to effect their confidence and creativity.
Sarkodie on several occasions has bashed the media, for example, for sometimes highlighting negative things about artistes.
In September, 2022, he intimated in an interview with Firestick that media people and pundits who have not been on international platforms like the BBC, have no moral rights to criticise Ghanaian musicians for not breaking international boundaries.
Famed as one of the biggest rappers on the African continent, Sarkodie has won a lot of spurs in the music industry, winning both local and international awards.
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