'Gambian music is wasting my time'

“Gambia music is wasting my time,” Gambian Rap-Mbalah singer Gee told local show Fila TV, “because Gambian music is not paying my bills, can't pay my daughter’s school fees, can't get me a live band and can't get me the proper contacts I need. So why should I still waste my time in Gambian music.” 

Earlier this year Gee, whose real name is Gibou Balla Gaye, announced he is bringing his music career to an end. It’s time, he said, to venture into new things.

The announcement comes after Gee was voted Artist of the Year 2014 in an award ceremony largely criticized for being “below standard.”

“Besides, the disrespect in the music scene is too much,” Gee continued. “No end of promises, I'm a person if I don't see many changes for quite a while in anything I'm doing I move on. I'm not growing any younger and no time.”

He said even the most popular show organised in The Gambia, Open Mic, does not pay artistes well to say nothing of other shows. “This ‘chicken change' could not meet all my demands as an artist and now I wanted to venture in to other businesses because if not my daughter’s future would not be bright,” he said.

Gee then called on cooperate companies to venture in to Gambian music. He said most companies do not pay attention to Gambian music and most of the time they sponsor only by providing a radio advert or billboards. They will never use an artist as an ambassador and pay him or her decent money unlike in Nigeria.

“Look at Nigeria as an example, an artist is paid recently over 80, 000 dollars to be an ambassador to a company,” Gee noted. “These are some of the things I am talking about. So when I saw that companies were not willing to do that in The Gambia and promoters and event organisers don't want to pay much, I felt Gambian music was a waste of time.”

Asked whether he will come back he said only miracles can bring him back to music.

He revealed he has 50-plus yet-to-be released songs which he could sell if his decision to quit were linked to monetary issues.  “That’s it I’m out. Only miracles can bring me back. I’m doing business instead,” he concluded.

Originally published in The Voice