The CEO of Mercury Records, Jonathan Saba Kamara popularly known as Jadda Vizzle has blasted Sierra Leone show promoters for prioritizing foreign artistes instead of local artistes.
The producer made a post throwing some hints to Sierra Leoneans show promoters that are bringing foreign musicians. According to his post, he said they should not bring foreign musicians to the country when the local musicians are broke. This post got many reactions from Sierra Leoneans.
“Ar nor sure say man dem 4 still Dae bring foreign artists dem Na salone way we artists dem and d industry broke .. d small money way una 4 use develop am. una take go gi way.. Smh .. u go c d so call big artists dem Bak Dae go perform.. Soso nasty..”, he wrote on his Facebook page
He addressed the issue on a Facebook live. He said he is not against any company from bringing foreign musicians to perform in Sierra Leone as bringing such musicians will help motivate Sierra Leonean entertainers. He made reference to P-Square and Ice Prince. He said they made a huge amount of money when they visited Sierra Leone. He commended them for always mentioning Sierra Leone as a breakthrough country for them.
The producer said Sierra Leoneans are in the habit of blaming each other that they don’t support their entertainers but when time comes to support each other, no one want to be in the frontline. He said he has no problem with people that are bringing foreign artistes to Sierra Leone as they are doing business. Jada said his point was musicians like Innocent, LXG, Kao Denero, Boss LA, Colabo and others can fill up National Stadium. According to him, local artistes make people to enjoy the show than foreign artistes as some of those foreign artistes only have one or two hit song(s) and they cannot fill up National Stadium on their own. He asked investors that are bringing foreign artistes to tell him which foreign artist that have fill up National Stadium than East Vs West Musical Concert.
He urged investors not to look down upon local artistes because they frequently see each other in the streets. He said they can still pay them 7 to 10,000 dollars to boost their careers. Paying the sum of 15,000 dollars to Innocent, it will help him to pay producer like Lordmo 3,000 dollars to produce for him. He will spend the entire money they pay him in the entertain industry again because he will be using it to pay for a video shoot that will benefit the video director like Muctarr. He accused Sierra Leone show promoters of killing the entertainment industry.
He mentioned artistes like Drizilik, Yung Sal and Jooel. He said they have unique talents that need promotion. As most show promoters condemn old school musicians like Dry Eye Crew, Daddy Saj and few others, he asked for the new school artistes that have made money in the entertainment industry than Dry Eye Crew. He also asked for the new school artistes that his/her song that has gone to BBC level like Daddy Saj. He sensitized critics of Sierra Leone artistes to stop criticizing Sierra Leonean artistes as it very difficult to create a song.
Jada also talked about the DJs that are playing foreign music. He said the DJs are the ones making foreign music to look as the best music in the world as they keep promoting them in their radio stations and clubs. The CEO said show promoters can pay 30,000 dollars to one foreign artiste but they can’t spend the same amount to fifteen local artistes.
He blamed the local artistes also. He said they don’t have pride as they can perform for any amount given to them. He advised them to stand up for the right and apply the business side.
He shared his experience when he was trying to breakthrough in the entertainment industry. He said he was working with musicians with or without pay and he was giving them the best production as he was trying to build his portfolio.
He advised bloggers who are only promoting one artiste or group. He said if someone notice that they are only blogging about Noble Squad or Black Leo or RFM, he will never go to that page again. He said blogging for every celebrity will help boost their blogging career. He urged them to go out and get contents that will give attention to their page and not to wait until they are paid.
The producer said when he was in Sierra Leone, artistes grumbled for the amount he used to charge for a beat but when some investors brought Nigerian producer, Tunex he was asking for 1,000 dollars and they were not complaining. He condemned the standard of Tunex’s studio. According to him, they should not pay him 1,000 dollars per beat if they are looking at the standard of the studio as he had only a small keyboard, computer and small speaker. He said they decided to work with him because he is a Nigerian and he speaks Pidgin English.
He commended DJ Boxx for boosting the entertainment industry on his own way by bringing Kallboxx Records and other benefits. He emphasized on those that are not supporting their colleague Sierra Leoneans.
Jada slammed top artistes for not boosting young talents. According to him, since top musicians are not helping young artistes, that has made young artistes not to respect them. He made reference of Tuface and Wizkid. He said even when Wizkid is making successful shows, he still respects Tuface. He commended Kao Denero for being one of the artistes that have helped young talents to shine in the music industry.
He said local artistes will leave their video directors with red camera in Sierra Leone and travelled abroad to shoot videos with foreign directors. He asked them to be supportive to each other. He continues saying that he has helped a lot of producers in terms of fixing their computers and providing software for them. He asked big artistes to do the same to young artistes.
He advised musicians to have a marketing strategy before releasing their songs. He said some musicians don’t even want to share their songs on their social media accounts to promote them. The producer gave credit to Cool J, a Sierra Leonean rapper and actor based in the United States for promoting his songs. He blamed the artistes themselves for not promoting their songs. He urged entertainers to respect each other.