Ghanaians, Africans and the world as a whole have once been entertained by talented celebrities especially by some popular music partners.
Today, we are going to use just 3 minutes of our time to read about some of Africa’s best entertainment groups which can no longer be found anywhere in the world of entertainment and why their groups collapsed.
As they say, “charity begins at home”, we will talk about collapsed Ghanaian celebrity groups and why their group collapsed.
Our first on the list is 4×4.
4×4 was a Ghanaian trio singing group back in the 2000s which includes, Captain Planet (Sylvanus Dodji Jeoffrey), Abortion who is now known as Coded (Raphael Edem Avornyo) and Fresh Prince (Prince Tamakloe).
Ghanaians last heard of this group back in 2014 when they dropped their banger, “Dance” featuring Davido and since then, not even jingle has been dropped by them, they have been individually releasing songs yet they have denied all claims that their group is dead.
Per our observations about 4×4, the group after the release of the track in 2014, that same year Captain Planet got married to his wife, Uche Ofodile.
Could Captain Planet’s marriage to Uche be the reason behind their inactiveness? Let’s try to figure it out here, A few days ago Captain Planet disclosed that as a man you need to listen to your wife’s advise because he, (Captain Planet) was once told by his wife to stay away from friends. Now think about this.
PRAYE
Before we continue, let’s try and explain the meaning of their name, ‘Praye’ which is translated from Akan to English as ‘broom’. Broom is a true symbol of unity. But one may ask what happened to that unity between these artistes?
Without any doubt, Praye thrilled Ghanaians in the 90’s and 2000’s and was later named winners of the Nescafe Africa Revelation, Ghana Edition in 2004.
The trio continued dropping hits music until Cartel Big Jay and Eugene announced that their partner, Praye Tintin had left their team.
A few years later, Eugene, one of the remaining two got married to an actress by name Beverly Afaglo. After Eugene’s marriage to the actress, their group did not last a year before it collapsed.
However, around 2017, two members of the group decided to resurrect their team but Eugene refused and according to Praye Tintin in an interview, Eugene’s refusal to rejoin the group is because of his wife’s influence.
ANTWI NE ANTWI
Made up of two brothers David and Michael Kofi Antwi – thrilled music lovers with several hit songs including Sekina, Congo Soldier, and Uncle Ebo.
After five albums, which include, Dwene Wo Ho (2000), Sekina (2002), and Uncle Ebo (2003) to their credit, David, who is now an Evangelist, explained that he gave his life to Christ after he fell sick in 2006. How the the great duo parted was was extremely shocking but a good move considering the fact that they did their best to entertain everyone.
“It all started since 2006 when I got sick and it took me two years to be healed by a man of God. A prophecy came that it wasn’t just a sickness; God was calling me so through the healing I had to give my life to Jesus Christ as my Lord and personal savior and I have been in it since 2008. So I am now an evangelist and I am working as man of God,” he narrated.
He added that his calling to do God’s work has affected the fortunes of the group and in spite of that, they tried releasing an album after their split, a mission which has became a daunting one.
“We tried to come out after the healing but it seems God had already picked me out of the group, we have shot about three video but, all [have not] been successful because God just wants to use me. He doesn’t want me to work as Antwi Ne Antwi anymore,” David disclosed.
He has been preaching for three years now and admits “the work of God is so difficult, I don’t want people to think that if you come into the house of the Lord, blessings will be showering on you. You will go through fire before you become what you want to become.”
David however lamented that he misses being the old ‘Antwi Ne Antwi’ but “the hand of God is no more in the name Antwi Ne Antwi,” so a reunion will be impossible.
Asked whether he felt he was a sinner during his days with the group, he stressed that, “doing circular does not mean you are a sinner, doing gospel does not justify that you are a good person or Christian” and that it depends on the message the song carries.
Aside being a minister of the word at the Jesus Generation Ministry in Accra, David said he will be releasing a gospel album soon but will precede it with a motivational song, Victory For Ghana, to inspire Ghanaians.
He has also set his sight on helping his brother repent to join him to do God’s work.
David joins the likes of Hiplife musician Lord Kenya and Hi-life musician Ofori Amponsah who have publicly declared that they have given their lives to Christ.
AKATAKYIE
The duo of Akatakyie is made up of two brothers, Prince Kwabena Budu Asumaning (Kobby Culture) and Ebenezer Kwasi Okyere Asumaning (King Pharoah). They recently released their 5th album and managed to enjoy massive airplay even after almost a decade since their debut. They came out with their maiden album Odo Esisi Me in 1999 which won them the Best Hiplife Song award in the maiden edition of the Ghana Music Awards organized in 2000.
Subsequent to their first album they came out with Ghana Nbaa, Odo Esikyire, Yedi Aba and their latest album “Esi�and these albums all had remarkable hit tracks on them. All their albums when released in their particular year were nominated for Ghana Music Awards.
Since their appearance on the Ghana music industry they have never jumped from one record label to the other, management and their style of music has also not changed. Taking hiplife back; one can say they have really contributed a lot and some call them the real inventors of hiplife that is the fusion of highlife and hip pop. Their style of music has been the trend many hiplifers has trended on.
They’ve had hits like Ghana mmaa, Agoo, Odo esikyire, Sinsima, Esi, Meyare, Masan aba, Oman baapa, Odo ye musu anaa, and Sie sie obaa no featuring Okyeame Kwame.
Hiplife duo, Akatakyie, made up of King Pharaoh and Kobby Culture, has revealed that there were away from music because they were broke.
Speaking in an interview with KMJ on Daybreak Hitz on Hitz FM, they noted that they had nobody to aid them after the sudden collapse of their record label, Sole Records.
“Financial crises have kept us away from music. We have been totally broke for the past four to five years and I won’t lie about it, things went so bad.
“We were trying to resurrect but people would not allow you to, even those that have the money to support asked so many questions,” the duo revealed.
According to them, unlike the situation now, “we were making money then but not to the extent of how musicians are currently making money.”
Asked what lead to them losing all their money, King Pharaoh explained that; “Well, I will say we never got much. We were going through a lot of problems even with the record company, Sole Records.
“We needed to change the label but when you complain they never listen, they rather listened to [outsiders].”
According to Kobby Culture, “Sole Records is one of the powerful producers we have ever had in Ghana because [the owner] has all the artistes and musical ideas.
“However, they did not get the right people to manage the company which brought the fall of Akatakyie. We sometimes had to do things all by ourselves…”
The ‘Odo Esisi Me’ hitmakers revealed that, even though they never signed any agreement with Sole Records, they remained loyal to the label.
They were therefore surprised when the owner decided to take a break from music production and management.
“We had no idea so we had to go by it and later regretted what we did,” the duo said.
They added that; “we did not have any producer who [could] aid us in our releasing our music as coming out as an artiste is not an easy task. We could not afford to go to the studio, record or do our own video…it was hell.”
AKYEAME
Akyeame is made up of Okyeame Quame (Quame Nsiah Appau) and Okyeame Quophi (Daniel Quophi Amoateng). They are both solo artistes now. Quame was a DJ at Fox FM, 97.9 and Quophi at Luv FM, 99.5 (both in Kumasi) during a hiatus when they concentrated on other careers than music.
Okyeame Quophi is one half of the famous hiplife dynamic duo, Akyeame (with Okyeame Kwame). He is also known as the Track Quilla. His real name is Daniel Quophi Amoateng and was born in Kumasi to Mr. Daniel Quophi Amoateng and the late Mad. Harriet Quayson. He is married to TV star Stacy Amoateng (Music Music fame), and the two have a child while running EMKLAN entertainment.
Kofi Amoateng went to Methodist Secondary School in Kumasi met Kwame Nsiah Appau in 1990 while studying after-hours at the Kumasi Polytechnic. They started rapping at street battles and anywhere they could show their talent. Okyeame Quophi was a writer and had written a story book called ‘Rings don’t marry’.
They decided to name themselves Akyeame by taking something from the palace. Akyeame means linguists – as rap linguists – they were going to be a link between the king and his people and interpret ideas to the people through music.
Kofi became Okyeame Quophi, and Kwame became Okyeame Kwame. They looked for producers and met Andrew Opoku Amankwah (Easylink) who was a record executive from London. He helped them record Brebre Obaahemaa in 1997. They were produced by Mark Okraku Mantey. The title track became a hit and Akyeame had arrived.
In 1999, they released Nkonsonkonson which had the hit track called Mesan aba featuring Yoggi Doggi and Nana Quame. They went on to record the Nyansapo, Ntoaso and Apam Foforo albums before splitting in 2004.
During their times together, Okyeame Quophi was a radio presenter for Luv FM in Kumasi, a sister station of Accra’s Joy FM. While he was in the US at the turn of the millenium, he studied sound engineering and videography. He eventually left Luv FM to work for a rival station in Kumasi called Fox FM.
They are famous for their hit, Mesan aba, which was the first hiplife song to win a major Ghana music award. They are two of the most respected rappers in Ghana.
They have since come together to say they are not beefing and Okyeame Kofi produced a track on his new album. They had plans of coming out with an album again in late 2008.
Some of their popular songs include Bra yen tina, Adonko, Sankofa, Ene yebeda okyena, Brebre, Sick with love, Obanyansafo, Damirifa due, Di asa, Asa a aba so, All I got, Akuaba (remix with Kojo Antwi), etc.
When okyeame Kwame was asked about the reason behind the split, his part Okyeame Quame sees things differently. ?Akyeame is still around, it’s just that I have recorded a solo album but I am making sure that Akyeame still remains a group?. Actually the whole plan was that we would both release solo albums and come back together again so Akyeame is still very much together and I am making sure it stays that way.”
But he seems to agree with Quophi when he says that they have separate interests. According to him Quophi seems to have a different focus than he does. He doesn’t feel the hunger that I feel for hiplife anymore, he has other interests so his interest for hiplife seems to have waned?.
Since we both have individual interests and he does not seem to be ready for what I have in mind, I also cannot sit still and wait until he is ready. Adding jokingly Quame said, “I will be nearing my mid-life crisis very soon so I have to secure myself before it hits and I cannot sit down and wait forever?.”