Last week, cheeky chappy rap-mbalakh star, Attack Gaye, caused a bit of a stir with his new diss track aimed at ST aka Brikama Boyo. The song disoriented ST who otherwise appears unruffled most times and left his fans still nursing the pains.
And to add insult to injury, Attack was on cause to beat him to the most coveted gongs. Upon realizing this, on the eve of the Wah Sa Halat Awards ceremony, ST cut and ran by withdrawing from the Awards. The excuse advanced was lame and not believable.
What surprises me is why he didn’t withdraw from the music awards years ago when Jizzle pipped him to the biggest prize. One Sunday morning whilst going through my Facebook feeds, I came across a barrage of insults and demeaning remarks directed at Jizzle from ST fanboys and girls, urging ST to withdraw from future Wah Sa Halat events. Jizzle’s only crime was winning, and those negative remarks have dented his confidence since.
Comparison is not uncommon in showbiz and there will be many more to come. Attack measuring himself up to ST is a credit to him (ST) as his competitors are using him as a yardstick. Instead of his fans seeing the positives, they threw hissy fits.
Take Youssou Ndour for an example. He has been making raves across Europe since around the age of 24. According to The Daily Telegraph, it was in the summer of 1984 that Youssou met his friend and mentor Peter Gabriel after his first show in London and they immediately started working together. The rest, as they say, is history. In the first MTV Europe Music Awards held in Germany, Youssou Ndour won the biggest prize of the night. Upon returning home, he was being compared with Aliou Casse who was virtually unknown outside the Senegambia region. Throughout his career, he was compared with Omar Pene, Aliou Casse, Alioune Mbaye Nder, Ndongo Lo, Pape Diouf and lately Wally Seck. He handled it with grace even though some of the comparisons are insulting to his stellar career. ST and his management should learn a lot from You.
New and upcoming artists threatening the established stars always excite music lovers. And people generally tend to align with the underdog. Nigeria’s superstar Kizz Daniel was selected by FIFA to perform at the fans’ festival in Doha, Qatar ahead of more established Nigerian stars. It doesn’t mean he is better than them, it is a recognition of his achievement this year.
Two words/phrases Gambians bastardized are “Legend and Greatest of All Time (GOAT). How can a few annual shows qualify one as a legend or GOAT? Albums that no one buys. None of the current young artists qualify for such titles.
I cannot end without bringing Tombong Saidy lookalike Hussain Dada into the equation. He was quoted saying he is now No. 2 and ST is No.1. Quite odd. Artists would normally say they are No.1 or say nothing. Dada is a clever businessman by being a passenger in ST’s vehicle to carry him along. Since he has a little fanbase, he knows that statement will endear him to ST’s large fanbase thereby making his upcoming show an easy sell.