Rapperholic 2018: Shambolic Show With Irresponsible Ticketing

By Justice Dzido On Dec 28, 2018

So every 25th of December (Yesu awoda) for the past seven years after the birth of The Rapperholic Album, we go to this festival. This year, the seventh one, wasn’t an exception.

The growth build up is that, Sarkodie’s team hardly do PR for this show in that, there is a huge fan base that will patronize the show no matter what. It is most like celebrated in the corporate ambit where a lot of the middle class move to musical steps from the brand Sarkodie and his friends.

Sarkodie took a lot of things for granted during Rapperholic 2018. Yeah, it was that bad.

It is common practice to find people in a happy mood wherever music is played. One could start some good music in the midst of chaos and have positive feedbacks.

The point in case is, seeing people dance and move around during Sarkodie’s Rapperholic should not cloud the fact that 2018’s show was a poor one in many aspects.

For someone who recently disclosed his plans of wanting a meeting with Ghana’s president to talk some national issues, managing a few thousands of the whole population shouldn’t have been an issue but it was.

Talking about safety, it was shambolic to put in simple terms. The team hired francophone bouncers (in a bid to avoid fans who are mostly English-speaking having their way easily in convincing them as assumed by fans). However, the plan backfired causing overcrowding and choked walkways in the auditorium.

Irrespective of how hopeful a show organizer is of not having a mishap, one can’t have people standing and blocking all the walkways, a mess captured on camera in DSTV’s broadcast of the show.

There are a few issues I will touch on. Pardon for the essay.

This is a show sold out even before it begins selling tickets. To be honest, we have all expressed misgivings on the patronage, the sorry state of selling more tickets than the capacity of the auditorium. This is quite an unfortunate incident. I believe inasmuch as we all want to make money, we must not patronize patrons at their vulnerable states. The SarkCess Event Team should either begin scouting for new event arenas or sell exactly the capacity of the auditorium. My next sub topic is The state of our Auditoriums.

AUDITORIUM

Clearly, we are not paying attention to the Creative Arts Industry. I can’t tell the authenticity of the Obour/KPMG Research Gate and how much revenue this virgin industry adds to the Economy but I believe it cannot be sidelined as always. Our auditoriums are poor, poorly managed and it trails the purposes of these entertaining arts. There was heat in the building, ACs were barely working, tickets became hand air blowers etc. Not a good image for our industry especially when the show was on DSTV 196. Madam Creative Arts Minister, please, find reason to invest in such an infrastructure, you will make money for the state.

SOUND

Hello, this was worse. No, not good but extremely worse. I still find it too much risk (very risky than the Menzgold investment) to have an art in this country as big as Sarkodie (our biggest music export for over a score) perform without an ear plug. It is totally wrong. It means he wouldn’t be able to monitor his Dj and will be shouting ‘the Dj pull up’ nonsense on stage. Very problematic. Mics were very low, it had to affect the Biibi ba performance. Sarkodie played smart, said he had to do the song again because he loved it so much. Yo fam, stop lying, we saw what happened. I’m glad they recongnized it and fixed the mess. Uncle Fred Kyei Mensah is always available to make some few coins.

Dj MENSAH

He is my disappointment. I mean he was my disappointment until I found Angel. Chief, your duty is to fix the art. Your duty is to act as his hypeman because he has non. Your duty is to save his face when he is in a difficult state. Brother, you disappointed your art. Either you forgot your laptop, both of you refused to rehearse well (neither here nor there because, you’ve known him for more than five years, you should know his craft more than anybody) or you had a technical flaw with your laptop. Yiw, wo ne Sarkodie Father Nash no. He is your Charles Finney. You failed to fix him.

ANGEL TOWN

Big man, you failed the entire team. I can imagine your frustrations, your pressure and pain in trying to fix the entire team. Wonua wɔ he, adwuma no so, wo nkoaa ntumi kye damfoɔ, that’s why you have Black Nana with you. If both of you cannot handle the brand alone, employ credible hands, people who believe in the brand and give them room to operate while you monitor and pay them well. The whole night depended on your shoulders. Your art was all over surprising others and helping people, he was losing his voice, you didn’t whip him to rest. You allowed it because it was good for the culture. Yoo.

OTHER ARTS & THE USELESS DISPLAY OF ORATORY BY THOSE IDLE HANDS ON STAGE.
Strongman, I have just one advice for you. Blow and move on to do your thing. If you remain with this brand, people won’t know the real you. Truth is, our system is so corrupt that, you cannot be nominated in the same category as your boss and expect to win except he decides to give it to you. Be good, I still don’t like your rap though.
The La Même group no, kuborlor life nie?
The only group that did well before Sark took over was the DopeNation boys. I don’t like what they do but they tried. The MCs, useless bunch. Noisemakers, where did they come from?

SARKODIE
Hello Chief, we all believe in your brand (I am a latter day saint fan though) and expect you to at least, if you don’t even want to go forward, maintain it But you can’t give us this crap. Your demeanor, facial expression and everything you pulled on the night clearly showed you were not well. Your voice wasn’t the one we are used to. At your best, you flopped. We expected better from you. Next time, insist on an earplug to monitor what you put us through the night. You gave us a stream on DSTV, we expected bigger surprises of your own performances. Disappointed but it’s all good.

Next time, insist on NO miming. We want live band. Your rates aren’t no joke to come listen to the lip singing.

The Surprises of the old arts was splendid. You did well.

MY HUMBLE SUGGESTIONS FOR A BETTER SHOW NEXT YEAR.

I. Scout for new auditoriums. People have suggested FD. If it is alright with your team’s standards, go for it. At least, in the absence of a bugger one from the State, we can make do of this.
II. Please, the year is long. 12 months, this is your climax, you are our current biggest international music export, delegate an entire team Five (5) months before December to plan this well. I know you work with Nabil’s Event Factory, the build up can be great. This is barring unforeseen circumstances. I mean, you must have a Plan B of your Plan B just so nothing surprises you. Employ people like Uncle Fred to do good on your sound, he has the experience.
III. We can stop the plenty MCs. We can do an art introducing an art system on stage.
IV. We must deal with time. You cannot mount the stage by 11:50PM. It is unacceptable. 8PM was the time, start there, let performances begin. Finish early so people can go home.
V. The miming no. Stop it. Your entry to other shows is good, how can you come by here and mime?

I think we all deserve some apology from Sarkodie and his Team. We expected more but got less.

Thank You.