Rapper and singer Denning Edem Hotor, known in showbiz circles as Edem, has disclosed that some companies wanted to pay him less because he is an Ewe-speaking musician.
Hailing from the Volta Region, the Nyornuviade rapper bemoaned that his region and its people are “undervalued” when it comes to closing deals.
Speaking on Daybreak Hitz, he said: “No radio person knows that, I have walked to meetings where companies want to pay me less because I am an Ewe-speaking artist.”
This comes after the rapper urged the media to pay more attention to him and what he has to offer, irrespective of his tribe and the local dialect in which he raps and sings in.
Although it may seem Edem is complaining about “lack of attention,” according to him, he just wants the media to be “fair” in working with talents from the Volta Region and other “maligned” regions in Ghana.
Speaking of being “maligned”, the VRMG artiste recalled a time when he [Edem], and Dagbon-hailing artiste, Sherifa Gunu were paid less for being the then-faces of the Glo Network, as compared to artists from the Greater Accra Region.
“And I can tell you right now, that when I closed my deal with Glo, Sherifa Gunu and I were the least paid artistes as compared to Tinny and Asem,” Edem told Andy Dosty on Hitz FM.
Furthermore, the Ma Cherie rapper went on to observe that organizers of music reality shows do not cast their nets in the Volta Region during auditions.
“It has never crossed anybody’s mind that when they are doing Stars of the Future, they never do auditions in the Volta Region,” Edem noted. “And it has never crossed your mind that I have even spoken on TV3 Mentor as to why they do not go and scout for talents from the region,” he continued.
For this reason, he believes the media “marginalize” budding talents from the region even before they go through the hurdles to becoming mainstream musicians.
On the heels of that, Edem went on to admonish the public to cross-check with facts, rather than concluding with “perception”.
His sentiments, according to him, are because he is “speaking from experience”.
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