Zapp Mallet is a renowned music producer
Renowned Ghanaian music producer, Zapp Mallet, has called on Ghanaian artistes to stop fixating on the Grammy Awards and instead prioritise building genuine local and regional audiences.
In an interview with Graphic Showbiz, Mallet expressed concern that many artistes enter his studio focused solely on creating “Grammy-worthy” songs, often at the expense of their core fan base.
“My advice to every artiste, especially the young ones, is that your first point of call should be your audience, not the Grammys. It’s not bad to win one, but your real worth should not depend on it.
“I would also be pleased to win a Grammy, but I don’t want our musicians depending on it as if without Grammys, they are not worthy,” he stressed.
He questioned the fairness of how African artistes are treated by the Recording Academy, noting that they rarely feature in the major categories and are typically relegated to the ‘Global Music’ slot.
“Nothing has changed with how African artistes are treated. Which African artiste has ever been nominated for the major categories?
“They always box Africans into collaborations or the Global Music categories. The only change over the years has been renaming ‘World Music Album’ to ‘Global Music Album.’ And that’s what African artistes keep celebrating,” he stressed.
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