Popular Ghanaian Highlife artist, Kuami Eugene, has opened up about the mental toll of being exposed to wealth at a young age and how public criticism affected him.
He expressed feeling mistreated by critics who, he believed, should have taken his youth and newfound wealth into account.
“I made a lot of mistakes when I was young; blowing up as a young guy wasn’t easy. At the age of 19, they should have considered the fact that ‘Oh, he is a young boy,’” he stated.
Kuami Eugene explained the rapid transition from having nothing to suddenly having substantial wealth, including being paid for shows and driving a Range Rover.
“To move from not having anything to taking this amount for a show, to driving a Range Rover. I’ve never had all these before, all within a very short period. That wasn’t fair on the side of the public. They didn’t reason that he is a young boy and he is getting all this money,” he said.
Kuami Eugene catapulted to stardom at the tender age of 19 with the release of his debut song, “Angela,” in 2017. He went on to release various other hit songs, including “Ohemaa”, “Wish Me Well” and “Open Gate,” while signed on to Lynx Entertainment Records.
In October 2022, Kuami announced that he had signed on to the American record label “Empire Records” amid rumors that he had left Lynx Entertainment. Lynx, however, stated that he hasn’t left the label and that the new signing with Empire was part of a “strategic partnership”.
Sarkodie; the lyrical prowess
Kuami Eugene stated that Sarkodie is his go-to choice whenever he has tough things to say in his songs. He explained that Sarkodie has the lyrical prowess to articulate the needed message.
The Ghanaian highlife artist revealed that Sarkodie is the type of person who doesn’t shy away from saying what is on his mind and would speak up in a song.
“If I want to say something to the public and I want it to be a feature, I’ll call Sarkodie. anytime I want to say something to the public and it’s dear to my heart, but I want to come hard, I’ll go and knock on Sarkodie’s door. Because he can speak. When he has something to say, he’ll do a song,” he said.
Kuami Eugene and Sarkodie have had collaborations including “No More” which was released in 2019, and “Honey” which was released in 2019.
Their last song together, “Happy Day” faced controversy when it was tagged as supportive of the NPP party, Kuami Eugene had claimed that he was not aware of the endorsement.
“I still don’t know the idea behind the whole song. I am just uncomfortable that I can’t just defend myself because I have no idea,” he said.
Kwami Eugene indicated that Sarkodie only sent him the first verse of the rap. After getting the first verse he understood the concept of the song was praises to God and thus did his verses to reflect that.
He further added that after he got his version done and met Sarkodie for the video shoot, he realized the rapper’s verses were with political messages.
It can be recalled Sarkodie released a new song titled ‘Happy Day’ which features Kuami Eugene on Monday, November 2, 2020.
While the ‘Happy Day’ song can be generally described as a track to praise God, the versatile rapper was able to infuse political messages in it as he praised Akufo-Addo and urged him to continue ruling.
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