Before the name Perez Musik became synonymous with contemporary urban gospel, he was “Tinny”, a young Ga rapper carving out a place for himself in Ghana’s secular music scene.
But behind that life, Perez Musik says he was already receiving what he believed were spiritual warnings to turn away from secular music and focus on God.
Speaking on The Career Trail on Joy Learning TV and Joy News, he recalled how those warnings became impossible to ignore after a fire destroyed his recording studio.
“I had been getting prophecies that you need to start doing the work of God and I’ve been stubborn. Because I was enjoying the secular, recording the boys in the area. Article Wan and all. They used to come to my studio to record,” he shared.
As if turning a deaf ear to the warnings was not enough, he decided to expand his recording studio after earning a substantial amount from a project he had worked on.
“I remember I did some work for Anita Erskine, Fashion 101. I was the sound person for that project. Anita paid me. She paid me quite well. So I took the money and I said I was going to buy new equipment for my studio,” he recounted.
“Just when I stepped into the shop, I heard a voice. ‘So this equipment that you’re going to buy, if it catches fire and everything gets burned, what will you do?’ But I still went ahead and bought the equipment,” he added.
Then came December 24, a day he would probably not forget.
“I woke up in the morning; everything was fine. I was just going to pick something. I came back, the studio was on fire,” he revealed.
For Perez Musik, although he was devastated, the loss became a turning point.
“It was painful. But then I sat back, and I was like, ‘OK, God, OK, I hear. You’ve listened to God. I hear. I mean, if you can take this, then you have something better for me,’” he explained.
“It realigned my thinking. It changed my perspective on life. That, you know, material things are not things that you can hold on to. There’s something higher. There’s something greater. There’s something more, which is Christ,” he continued.
From that point, Perez Musik said he became more intentional about his faith, spending more time in church, prayer, and Bible study, with the guidance and support of people who helped him grow spiritually.
“I started going to church. Initially, I would go to church on the 31st or maybe once in a while. Somebody would invite me to some fellowship. But regularly on Sunday, serving in church, no, I wasn’t. My mom was a very prayerful woman, a woman of God. She would give me pressure and everything.
“They used to hold church service in my house. But I had this notion that, ‘Oh, if my mother is praying for me, I mean, I’m fine.’ But you see, the Bible says you should work out your own salvation. So I decided to take God seriously. I quit drinking and smoking,” he expanded.
“There’s one particular woman, Mama Winifred. She calls me her son. And she’s a very strong woman of God. She used to say, ‘Don’t do this; do that. Take your time. Everything will be okay. The Lord will lift you.’ I learned a lot,” he mentioned.
Perez Musik revealed that he had long recognised his prophetic gift, even while living a secular lifestyle. But just like Jonah, he said he was running from the responsibility that came with the calling.
“The funny thing is, I was very prophetic then too. Amongst my friends, we could be sitting down drinking, smoking, and doing all the things. I’ll give them a prophecy. I’ll tell you something, and it came to pass.
“I knew the gift was there. It’s just that I was shying away from the responsibility and the requirement that comes with the gift. Because one of the requirements is that you live a certain way. You subject yourself to the Word of God. I was just not ready for that,” he highlighted.
The spiritual transformation eventually led him into urban gospel music.
“Then I started doing the urban gospel. My first album, Tenacity, was an urban gospel. So that was when everything started. From there it’s been one song after the other,” he stated.
His journey also brought a new identity. After years of being known as “Tinny”, he adopted the name Perez, drawing inspiration from the biblical story of Tamar and Judah in Genesis.
“I was reading the book of Genesis, and you know, Tamar had kids. She was pregnant with twins after Judah had impregnated her. It’s a whole story behind that. And so there were twins in her stomach. One was Perez and one was Zerah. And Zerah was supposed to be the oldest, but Perez eventually came out ahead.
“So Perez is associated with breakthrough. I was in the world, but I have come out of it. So when you mention Perez, you are actually praying for my breakthrough,” he noted.
For Perez Musik, the journey from secular music to urban gospel was therefore more than a change in musical direction. It became what he describes as a personal encounter that redirected his life and his purpose
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