The former ‘Big Brother Africa’ housemate is on to big things as he prepares to launch his album and open his music studio

Have you seen Kwame Bampoe lately? He has evenly filled out and his baldhead is suctioned under a baseball cap constantly. The locks had to go after his dad passed away. In between that and the ‘Big Brother’ buzz ‘Sammi B’ has maintained a guard dog farm, sold cars and is now looking forward to opening ‘Studio B’ in a few weeks to start a new music movement.

Today he feels like junk food so he’s checked into a place next to the gas station at ‘37’ to stretch out for a minute. Sammi’s side hustle as a local publicity consultant for Nokia has also kept him busy and sustained his lust for action. Every once in a while he appears in a funny TV commercial as if to reaffirm his place as another talented stand-up comic slept on too soon.

He orders and reclines into the wooded chair to trade stories and industry gossip. First of all what is it about him being a failed ‘Big Brother’ star after he supposedly messed up a $3,000 a month radio job in Nairobi?

“People will say what they don’t know when you are out there. I did not even get that job in the first place. What happened was that we were invited to Nairobi after the ‘Big Brother’ show and I got a job offer.

When I was ready to start, this person who was going to give me the job would not even show up. Then, my work permit was being sorted out and in between that I was doing a lot of auditions for this radio show even though they knew I already had radio experience. After a while they get into that whole West African coming to take jobs away from Kenyans thing. It’s not blatantly in your face but it’s there. I stayed in Nairobi for six months and I didn’t as much as see this person who was going to let me have the job and through it all my work permit never got cleared so I had to come back to Ghana.”

Not long after, Sammi started ‘233 for Ghana,’ an urban entertainment magazine programme on Channel O. A few seasons later the show folded apparently due to sponsorship difficulties from the network. Gossip had it that ‘Sammi’s ego-tripping had angered the producers and after failing to submit the show’s scripts, Channel O pulled out.

“I don’t know where you hear these things but it’s all not true. You can call Abraham Ohene Gyan to verify. He was managing me then, and after the Channel O rep in charge of the show died, a new guy took over and we were told sponsorship wasn’t coming as expected so the show had to end. That’s what really happened.

The waiter places his food on the table only for Kwame to refuse to eat.

[“But I told you I don’t want mayonnaise and you do the exact opposite. Please take it back”.]

For the record, Kwame says he wasn’t fired from Joy Fm and Happy FM as is being purported. His contract with both stations ended and he just moved on. He actually pulls out his one-year, forty-something million cedi Happy FM contract as proof.

“I’ve been into all kinds of business ventures since I left radio and it’s all been good. So anybody out there saying stuff about me has issues. ‘Studio B’ is my main priority at the moment and I’m also finishing work on my new album, which actually came out way better than I thought.” He adds: “My album is certainly going to be different so I want everybody to look out for it when it hits the streets.”

Outside the gossip and the stories, Kwame Bampoe has maintained his composure as an artiste and taken a bold step towards mainstream stand-up comedy. Through out the next few weeks, Sammi will be a regular fixture at the on going ‘Toli Masters’ show at Biggy’s Pub in Accra. So probably the things that did not kill him will end up in his stand-up act. At the moment his life is anything but average plus he’s looking forward to doing an autobiographical flick.

“After ‘Big Brother’ I got a lot of offers for music and movie deals but everybody wanted to cheat me so I backed out”, he says. “These are people who can afford $500-a-night hotels for weeks but they didn’t want to spend proper money on a movie project.”

Kwame has been in and out of the spotlight over the years, each time reinventing his character to fit a routine he finds comfortable. By now he had finished his plate of greasy food and soda. He reaches over the table for a piece of tissue to wipe specks of ketchup and flour caught in his stubble. A new career might be in the offing for Sammi and everybody is waiting to see what a comedian’s music would sound like.

Jamie Foxx did it with relative ease so maybe Kwame has taken a cue. He squints through the glass partitioning to catch a glimpse of his girlfriend squeezing the glittering X-5 into the parking lot. Even as he walks out the restaurant into the back seat of the jeep, a couple of waiters scream lines from his last TV commercial to which he responds by tipping his baseball cap. The windows roll up and Sammi is off to catch up on some quality time with ‘wifey’.