It shouldn't be a hustle
The fuss over the NAMAs and who deserves to be nominated made me remember words spoken by a dear friend who said Namibian artists must learn to cheer each other on and put their differences aside.
Perhaps some artists are deemed arrogant and divas feel they can justify their behaviour judging from the likes that they get or the following they have on Instagram or Twitter, but we can surely learn a thing or two from bigger industries such as South Africa and America. During the funeral of South Africa liberation stalwart Winnie Mandela we saw Simphiwe Dana singing along with Judith Sephuma and cheering her on. This kind of solidarity is absent in Namibia.
Namibian artists do not root for each other and certainly allow very little space for each other. One wonders if this kind of attitude could be what keeps Namibian artists from growing into global brands. Very few Namibian artists have truly made it onto the real continental entertainment scene and yet they act like divas, ready to compete with legends such as Michael Jackson or Whitney Houston. Speaking of Whitney Houston, these two legends were basically each other's BFFs. We do not have that here. All of this I mentioned above has been proven by conversations I've had with a few artists who all believe there is zero unity.
Maybe now with the NAMAs at hand, we must ask why there is so much anger and so much beef amongst artists. What is this beef about? Is this rivalry even justified? It is sad that our very infant entertainment industry is smothered by the egos of very little-achieved artists.
Of course beefing is everything, it's on Instagram and pops up early morning on Twitter, but can our artists afford to be so preoccupied with beef? I think not. Should our time not be better spent on improving our brands, checking ourselves and the size of outfits before we take to the public stage?
Perhaps our artists must become responsible and not expect to be treated like divas after dropping one fabulous album, or not. This makes me wonder if the media could be blamed. Should we give airtime to every artist that knocks on our doors without seeing for ourselves how the public find their music? Have we created this monster where everyone with a microphone fancies himself an artist deserving of quarter-page reviews in our entertainment pages? Someone must draw the line. It could be you, me or someone else but it must be drawn.
June Shimuoshili
[email protected]
Perhaps some artists are deemed arrogant and divas feel they can justify their behaviour judging from the likes that they get or the following they have on Instagram or Twitter, but we can surely learn a thing or two from bigger industries such as South Africa and America. During the funeral of South Africa liberation stalwart Winnie Mandela we saw Simphiwe Dana singing along with Judith Sephuma and cheering her on. This kind of solidarity is absent in Namibia.
Namibian artists do not root for each other and certainly allow very little space for each other. One wonders if this kind of attitude could be what keeps Namibian artists from growing into global brands. Very few Namibian artists have truly made it onto the real continental entertainment scene and yet they act like divas, ready to compete with legends such as Michael Jackson or Whitney Houston. Speaking of Whitney Houston, these two legends were basically each other's BFFs. We do not have that here. All of this I mentioned above has been proven by conversations I've had with a few artists who all believe there is zero unity.
Maybe now with the NAMAs at hand, we must ask why there is so much anger and so much beef amongst artists. What is this beef about? Is this rivalry even justified? It is sad that our very infant entertainment industry is smothered by the egos of very little-achieved artists.
Of course beefing is everything, it's on Instagram and pops up early morning on Twitter, but can our artists afford to be so preoccupied with beef? I think not. Should our time not be better spent on improving our brands, checking ourselves and the size of outfits before we take to the public stage?
Perhaps our artists must become responsible and not expect to be treated like divas after dropping one fabulous album, or not. This makes me wonder if the media could be blamed. Should we give airtime to every artist that knocks on our doors without seeing for ourselves how the public find their music? Have we created this monster where everyone with a microphone fancies himself an artist deserving of quarter-page reviews in our entertainment pages? Someone must draw the line. It could be you, me or someone else but it must be drawn.
June Shimuoshili
[email protected]
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