After a decade in the music business, the spotlight is now shinning on one of Ghana’s fast-rising music exports, Rison. He has been working vigorously with little support from industry players and stakeholders and in spite of his boundless efforts, the Ghana music industry seems to be turning its back on him.
Legally known as Anthony Rison Enyie Okai, the Afro-R&B sensation, who is based in the United States of America, combines afrobeats and R&B to create soothing melodies for the soul. But most importantly, the singer cum songwriter brings African vibes to R&B.
The After Dark Music (ADM) imprint signee, who has been nominated three times in a row for the prestigious Ghana Entertainment Award (GEA), has collaborated with top Ghanaian stars, including multiple award-winning rappers, Guru and Pappy Kojo.
Though he was born in Ghana, he left for America at the early stage of his life. He said he had no choice but to obey the instructions of his loving mother.
“I relocated to America when I was about 14 years,” Rison says. “I didn’t really have a choice because of my mum.”
He discovered his music gift at the early stage of his life but professionally started ten years ago. He kicked off with R&B, however, as time went on, he switched to afrobeats and eventually fused the two genres.
“I’ve been doing music for 10 years now. I started with R&B in 2009 but then commenced doing afrobeats in 2015.”
Despite the little support he has been getting from Ghanaians, Rison says the media space has been fair to his brand and that nobody owes him anything.
“They’ve been fair. Nobody owes me anything. I’ve not felt neglected. I feel the support and I appreciate them,” he divulged.
He has future plans to work with other top Ghanaian music stars but has no preferences. He wishes to collaborate with everyone at his disposal on different joints.
“Preferably, I would like to work with all of them depending on the song choice and also tap into their fan base.”
Notwithstanding his achievements, it seems Rison is now popping up on the music scene. He doesn’t blame his lingering rise to fame on anyone – he blames it on his genre and style.
“I believe it’s the style of music I’m doing. It’s not a generic afrobeat and highlife,” he explains. “It will creep up a little slower but we getting there and also because I don’t live in Ghana’ it makes it a little slower.”
Rison, who has 10 career songs and music videos to his credit, is preparing to release a new single, titled “Nobody Has to Know”, which comes off of his forthcoming “I Rise” EP.
