Nabil Alhassan is an event organiser
Renowned event organiser and CEO of Events Factory, Nabil Alhassan, has revealed that the very first Rapperholic concert was not originally meant for Sarkodie but was initially built around bringing Jamaican dancehall star Vybz Kartel to Ghana.
In a sit-down interview with Kwame Dadzie on JoyFM on October 4, 2025, Nabil recounted how he, Bullgod, and promoter Ken had secured an agreement with Kartel’s team, designed teaser artwork, and scheduled logistics, only for their plans to collapse when it was time to make the payment.
“The first Rapperholic event was not related to Sarkodie. It was I, Bullgod and Ken; we were bringing Vybz Kartel to Ghana. So the main concept was Vybz Kartel in Ghana.
“We had contacted his team, and all was sorted. But on the Monday we were going to pay his appearance fees, we got the news that he had been arrested over the weekend.
“But we had already set the date and made a teaser artwork, though we hadn’t revealed the artiste,” he said.
According to Nabil, during a lunch meeting with Bullgod, he suggested headlining Sarkodie instead.
“We had a big debate about it, I and Bullgod. Bullgod objected; he was like, ‘Have you seen any young guy headlining a concert before? Let’s do MI.’ But I said, ‘No, let’s do Sarkodie,’ because he was the hottest musician in Ghana then,” he added.
Our creative industry has everything except sense – Bullgod
He continued, “They got in touch with Sarkodie’s team, moved the venue from Tema to the Dome in Accra, shifted the date from December 24 to December 25, and brought on board music director Kwame Yeboah.
“Around 6 p.m., while we were still setting up, our head of hospitality, Confidence, called me to see something outside. I went, and I saw the long queue stretching from the Dome entrance to the conference centre. That was when it dawned on me that this was something big,” he shared.
Thus, Rapperholic was born, growing into an annual event that helped cement Sarkodie’s place as one of Ghana’s biggest music acts.
ID/MA
