Sarkodie’s Apollo Theatre Concert: Okyeame Quophi is right and wrong

• Posted on August 10, 2015August 10, 2015
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• 1 Comment

Okyeame Quophi of the defunct Akyeame should be applauded for staging a concert at the Apollo Theatre in New York. That is remarkable because in 2000, the fans of Hiplife could be counted on one hand so that alone should go down in the annals of Ghana Music history.

Fine, he had a case for correcting the young generation who had no idea of their presence on that stage. Anyone who had done something and is not being credited would be quick to respond to the details being thrown around. Okyeame Quophi was right for correcting but his approach was totally wrong.

From afar it gives the impression that he (Okyeame Quophi) is ‘hating’ the successful ‘History in the making Concert’ Sarkodie staged at the venue he first stepped some 15 years ago.

“Akyeame Was the first Hiplife Duo to play at the AppolloTheatre to a mix crowd so huge the police came to stop the show.This was in 2000 with daddy lumber.Don’t distort the history. Which history is in the making??” this was Okyeame Quophi’s quick response to the event last weekend.

Great! Let’s clap for Akyeame; pa pa papapa paa! Event titles are very pivotal and it carries enormous percentage of reasons to magnet people to the venue. Sarkodie never said in any interview that he is the first Ghanaian to stage a concert there. The title may have been provocative, neither the Artiste nor the Organizers of the event had told the world that this is the first time a Ghanaian is staging a concert there so what was Okyeame Quophi’s beef with the event and the title?

Racism still has some tracing roots in America and Europe so if the Police came to stop the show in 2000, it is understandable. Black people shaking New York? That is like waiting for a civil war in the next minute so the Police stopping the show is comprehensible.

The Black Americans have acknowledged the efforts Black Artistes are making to the extent of giving them a category in their prestigious BET Awards so the stopping of shows now will be near impossible. Simply put, the new crops of Black Artistes have proven themselves worth the attention given them now.

“Don’t distort the history. Which history is in the making??” This sounds like pure hating like the game puts it. As grown in the industry as Okyeame Quophi, this could have been put in another way which would make his assertion matured. The history in the making is that, since Akyeame staged that stopped-show at the venue, an Artiste from Ghana has given the fans of America a cocktail of Ghanaian and Nigerian Artistes show.

I am a fan of Okyeame Quophi and the whole Akyeame movement but some of the phrases in his statement on social media last weekend was not necessary.

If it was attention he wanted with that, he is successful but if he was really correcting history, he could have put it in a more ‘matured’ way.

Author: Nana Kwesi Coomson (www.233times.net) @nkcoomson on Twitter