Entertainment of Tuesday, 17 August 2010

Source: eugene osafo-nkansah/peacefmonline.com/

“Too Much Juju In The Music Industry”- 2Tuff

Hip life duo made up of Richard Ogoons (aka “Ogoonskele”) and Aldrich Addy (aka Red Eye) together known as 2Tuff believe that the biggest challenge in the music industry in Ghana is the use of supernatural powers or Black magic, locally called ‘Juju’, by some musicians to promote their album.

The duo who are currently back in Ghana after a long break in the US, disclosed this in an exclusive interview with peacefmonline.com. According to Ogoonskele, the out-spoken one between them, since they arrived from America a few months ago, they have observed that a lot of very talented musicians have been subdued by these supernatural powers, and now the airwaves are flooded with disposable music.

“Since I came, I have realized that, now in the music industry, we no longer hear of the good old talented musicians. Because the upcoming ones and some old musicians are not talented and thus fear competition, they go for Juju to protect themselves and destroy any musician who is a threat to them”, Ogoons emphasized.

Asked if he has any evidence to prove that some musicians use Juju for money and fame, Ogoons said: “Now most of the musicians are desperate to make it, but they don’t believe that God’s time is the best.

We started doing music from the early 90s with VIP, Tinny, Tic Tac, Buk Bak, X-Doe and others on ‘Fun World’. But it took us over ten years to be able to release our first album. But now musicians are not ready to sacrifice for all these years and wait for God’s own time, so they go for short cuts. This is a very serious issue; Ghanaians should talk about, because it is killing the industry”.

He added that, he doesn’t need to mention anybody’s name to prove what he is saying, because they know themselves and a lot of people in the music industry are aware but have refused to talk about it. “They have brought juju and other bad spirits in the music industry, thinking that, they will influence DJs and Radio Presenters to play their songs.

They do bad music with profane lyrics, but before you realize the song is a hit and everybody is singing and dancing to it. You can never understand how that happened,” he disclosed to peacefmonline. He also alleged that most of the leaders fronting events and Associations in Ghana, like MUSIGA and others, always sabotage the young musicians if they get the opportunity to choose musicians for national events or even international events. 2Tuff released their first album titled “Oblayoo” in 2005 and was nominated for “Best Discovery” at the Ghana music Awards, with their hit song “Ye Ba Bra” which featured Castro de Destroyer.

They followed it up with their second album titled “Odom u nsem sem” after which they left for America. They are currently in Ghana for good to continue their music, with a new album, a new record label and a new recording studio.

They brought equipment to establish a new ultra-modern recording studio, under ‘Loyal Entertainment’ Label, at Madina where he is based with his partner, Red Eye, who is also the resident engineer in the studio.

They are almost done with their third album titled “2-Tuff is Back Again” which is being recorded in their new studio and due to released a few months. The album features Kwaw Kesse, Bandana, S.K Blinks, Adam and a host of other artistes.