Ghanaian hip-hop musician, Desmond Kwesi Blackmore, popularly known as D-Black, has disclosed that his long break from music was due to the sudden disappearance of hiplife artist, Castro.
He noted that Castro’s situation had a significant effect on him. According to him, he did not think it was right to perform the songs he had collaborated on with Castro since the musician’s body was not found.
“When Castro’s situation happened in 2015 and 2016, I took a break from music because the most popular songs I had were with him; ‘Seihor’ and ‘Personal Person’. I didn’t feel comfortable going on stage to perform those songs when they couldn’t find his body and were still looking and I’m on stage performing. I just felt like it was wrong.”
D-Black
The sudden disappearance of hiplife artist, Castro was on July 6, 2014, in Ada.
D-Black, whose famous nickname, is ‘Enjoyment Minister’, further narrated how he got the name and officially decided to use it.
“So I took a break from music, I went into the hospitality business, I started my night club and event company and a lot of the stuff I was doing was enjoyment… It was a lot of party and enjoyment so my friends started calling me ‘Enjoyment Minister’.
“So when I was coming back to the music and recording my album in 2021 after a six-year break, I did a song with Stonebwoy and Quamina MP and I didn’t have a title for it so I decided to use ‘Enjoyment Minister’ as the title of the song and then use it as my new aka to usher me back into the industry.”
D-Black
The rapper also announced that his record label, Black Avenue Muzik, had reached its 15th anniversary.
In a social media post, the label boss tagged some of his successful label products, including Joey B, Dee Moneey, Wisa Greid, DJ Breezy, and S3fa, and thanked them for producing multiple hit songs and making significant contributions to the success of the Black Avenue Muzik record label.
Many Ghanaian celebrities and fans extended their congratulations to D-Black on his newest milestone and commended him.
Artist Fumes at Music Unions
D-Black stated that if by any means he were to become the Minister of Tourism, Arts, and Culture, he would shut down music unions such as MUSIGA, GHAMRO, and COSGA.
According to D-Black, these organizations are not effectively performing their mandates and require a holistic restructuring.
“First thing we don’t have a royalty collection society that is accountable, so I will shut down MUSIGA, GHAMRO, and COSGA and restructure a new body to take over the role that they are supposed to play because the royalty collection society for musicians and producers in Ghana isn’t doing what they are supposed to do.”
D-Black
“MUSIGA as well…we have seen different presidents come and go but there is nothing we can speak about at the top of our voices we can calp and say this body has done something tangible for musicians in our country,” he added.
The entrepreneur D-Black further noted that he would introduce training and educate industry persons on how best to make the industry successful.
“I will educate the music industry, especially business executives on how the industry has changed over the years. A lot of artists have managers who they trust, childhood friends, a lot of training has to go in that to make our industry viable,” he remarked.
Many artists have in the past complained of receiving unfair royalties from GHAMRO and criticized the organization for its ‘ineffectiveness’.
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