Sunday 17 June 2018

DON’T OVER RATE YOURSELVES: 237 ANGLOPHONES ARE YET TO ACCEPT SHOWBIZ CULTURE


           
A lot of water has passed under the bridge over the past few weeks within the entertainment industry. For all this time I didn’t write a blog post for one reason only: I wanted to get the feel of all that was transpiring in order to put my thoughts together. This notwithstanding, I did a few Facebook posts and as I have always known, no one but for a few persons saw the esoteric underpinnings of such posts. Many, I presume saw in them only the negative and concluded that they were not worth considering for insightful decortication. This erstwhile mentality of reading an individual rather than the idea pronounced by the individual is what has fuelled the canker worm of self-sufficiency, conceit or pride, “I know all more than the others”, “am already a celebrity”, I am rich”, “the rest of y’all are haters” and all the negative personality traits you can imagine. All of these negative attributes have invariably led to what I will term “Over Rating Ourselves” which to me is the springboard on which our failure within this industry is based.   
            Over rating yourself as an entertainer, promoter, blogger or whatever role you play within this budding industry or what some have termed “Facebook Entertainment Industry” LOL is the colonialist mentality that is stifling our growth. Until we graduate from such a misconceived, misrepresented, half-baked and kwashiorkor mentality, we are heading nowhere. We shall only be executing the “Bafia Dance” which takes you one step ahead and twenty five steps behind. It saddens my heart to see what we have turned this industry into, an industry that is still crawling and struggling to find its feet. All the same, I guess there are some people who believe that because they have made it, the situation should remain in this stasis and inertia so that they can get all the shine. Unfortunately for you, even the sun has to go down for the moon to shine.
            I was fortunate last Friday night to watch a few comedy shows over TV. These shows were organised or produced by some Anglophone comedians. I was thrilled and laughed out my lungs to some of the jokes. I must confess that I was shocked that we had such good Anglophone comedians. Unfortunately, a couple of things kept cropping up my mind. As a result, I asked myself a few questions: 1) why choose to organise an all English Comedy Show in Douala? 2) Why rent a 500 sitter hall for such a show and end up with less than 100 people? Why put out entry tickets at 5k and up to 50k or more? And many more of such questions kept ringing bells in my head. I said to myself “I know your families need a meal but for sure but you need to chill” (a line from my upcoming rap song LOL). As I fought with these conflicting thoughts in my mind, I said to myself, these guys already have it imprinted in their minds that they are celebrities so they can afford to make such moves. What baffles me is the fact that they failed to realise that Anglophone Cameroonians are yet to accept or buy showbiz culture and everything that goes with it. These "celebrities" in their “church minds sure believed that the venues for their shows will be jam packed with “fans” and therefore they saw no need to even advertise such shows. For crying out loud, did these comedians ask themselves why will somebody who is yet to understand and accept a phenomenon as showbiz want to buy a ticket at 50k for an event? Why will someone incur traveling and lodging expenses and still pay for a ticket in order to attain a show in Douala or Yaoundé? And how many people who may have been interested will be able to afford a ticket to the show?
           
The above questions could not have been considered since those involved had surely over rated themselves and being "celebrities", all would have been fine. Rather, from a contrary perspective, I would have advice that such shows should be made affordable for all and in a modest location with wide publicity- in order to minimise cost of production and maximise attendance. I insist on maximising attendance because, having a crowd means more people are aware of what you are offering. In the best case scenario, if this multitude goes back home thrilled and satisfied, I bet you, your next show will be saturated. Furthermore, as more people gain awareness of and enjoy what you are serving them, they will sure gladly purchase tickets at 10k and you can then hire bigger halls for your shows, your profit will sure increase and everyone goes back home satisfied.
            To me, selling showbiz culture and getting Anglophones to accept and buy it should be primordial. Also, getting sponsors (businessmen, companies, TV houses, advertisers and others) is without doubt the foremost thing entertainers should focus on. Without these, we are heading nowhere. The talent is there but again, how do we sell it to the public is what matters. In one of such comedy shows, a comedian referred to the famous Nigerian comedians and decried the fact that they in Cameroon were unable to garner even half the cash those guys get from shows. He was right but I laughed. I laughed because seemingly he had failed to realise that the guys he was referring to had already sold the culture to their people and they had accepted and bought it. Consequently, it is not uncommon to see a Nigerian buy a ticket for 1.5 million Naira for a show.
            Comedy aside, I have release with awe how young artists have been caught in the false belief of overrating themselves. An artist comes to your DM and drops a link to their new release and expects you the promoter to jump into promoting. Even if one is to do free promo, there should be some courtesy involved don’t you think? I am saddened also by the vile and sly language of some of these artists on social media platforms.  They will not hesitate to insult, block your ass or threaten bloggers and promoters with lawsuits if your criticism doesn’t tie with their self-imposed statuses. Unfortunately within such brouhaha, I see a lot of ignorance and or neglect of what is the normal channel of doing things. All of this amounts and accrue from the fact that these overrated artists, producers, record label owners are misguided by their “small small” change that trickles itself into their sorry bank accounts. I ask myself, why would an artist, a record label that is already “established and professional” do things that show no professionalism and standard. Again, it boils down to “self-overrating” and the belief that “I can do it all”.
           
                  If you are that professional, rich, talented, and established, why not get public relations officers who will do press releases for your art, your label or make official statements when controversial issues arise. Well, because you are carried away by what you think you have in the bank, you now have the well withal to drag bloggers, promoters, and other stakeholders to the precincts in order to have them intimidated, humiliated or incarcerated. To me this is so low to say the least and to imagine that a bloggers post that overtly said the blogger will investigate an issue landed him in front of well known thugs in police insignia. By saying that the incident will be investigated ip so facto meant the info had some doubt which could only be cleared through investigations. I guess being overrated got the better half of such minds that believe they now govern our “Facebook Entertainment Industry”. Don’t overrate yourselves, if you think you are that high, then do things the right way and shit won’t bother you and your brand.
           
Another very lame and sick incident of the week just ended is a so-called artist faking his own death as a publicity stunt. Why in heaven will someone think of doing something so disgusting, lame and stupid? It still boils down to overrating of selves. I guess he believed his death will bring a lot of buzz, vibes, and hype on him yeah? But again, what impact does that bring to your art? Unfortunately, such a stunt came at a very wrong time. A time when thousands of lives are being lost on a daily basis in the two Anglophone regions and from whence this so-called artist probably hails. Yes! Agreed, people did talk about you for a few hours and after that, what next? What did you achieve out of your own death? To me, it is sick and lame because such artist’s brain has been thwarted by celebrity falsehoods. Until such individuals talk through their art in order to create an impact and make ladies develop goose pimples when listening to their songs, then their deaths to me are worth no more than dung trampled upon along cattle tracks on Fulani hills.
            In the same light, another lame incident involved a so-called artist who shamelessly posted a picture of a vagina on twitter last week. Earlier the same guy had used a naked picture for the cover art of his single or whatever it was-how far did the single or album go? Question for the gods. I guess all of this was for the same reason of generating buzz. This kind of buzz is negative buzz and in a country that functions normally, such an artist should be sanctioned with a ban of at least six months within which he should not be seen performing in such places as schools or public parks etc. but again when a country has an uncultured minister of culture, what do we expect apart from fighting over royalties with artists left and right or creating and demolishing music corporations and agencies day in day out.
           
 After all is said and done, what we need is to find ways in which we can sell showbiz culture to our people and get them to buy it. I vehemently castigate and deny all forms of negative promo and pornography as publicity stunts for all will only lead us nowhere. Overrating ourselves, falling into the doldrums and abysses of celebrity falsehoods will without doubt only lead us to stagnation and stasis whether we accept it or not. In an age where people corporate in order to succeed, we here want to corporate in order to denigrate our own brothers with sour tongues and hate speech. We rather refuse to collaborate so as not to share the shine with our brothers or sisters. We rather threaten each other with lawsuits in order to show wealth rather than see where we ourselves have faltered or genuinely discuss in order to find a way forward, my dear brothers and sisters, we shall remain in this state of stasis and stagnation. In as much as we consider criticism and critics as haters, “bad belly” people, we continue to swim in ignorance and Africa will continue to laugh at us. Whether or not you as an artist or entertainer accepts it, in this business, there will always be paparazzi and good or bad news will always circulate. Rather, we should learn from it , accept our faults and correct them. Inasmuch as you believe you are unreachable because you are a "celebrity", because you are already making "change" and the rest are beggars, we are going nowhere. For the umpteenth time, LET US NOT OVERRATE OURSELVES, let us rather SELL SHOWBIZ CULTURE & ENCOURAGE OUR PEOPLE TO ACCEPT AND BUY IT. THIS IS THE ONLY WAY THROUGH WHICH WE CAN OVERCOME AND MOVE FORWARD.

BONUS: “YOU CAN NEVER SHINE ALONE, YOU NEED THE RUNGS OF THE LADDER TO CLIMB TO THE TOP” Quotes by Jay Boo

#KwataVibes

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