Rapper Kofi Mole is wondering why Azonto, a genre once celebrated as a national identity, is now being dismissed and mislabelled.
In an interview on Luv FM, the musician reacted to comments suggesting he should stop making Azonto music.
“Someone said I should stop doing Azonto music. I asked: Why is Azonto suddenly ‘Indian music’? That’s our identity,” he said.
Kofi Mole believes Ghana missed an opportunity to push Azonto to the global stage, blaming the industry and listeners for abandoning it too quickly.
“Azonto could have been our global sound,” he stated. “That was our identity and we put it in the trash.”
According to him, the culture of rushing to the next trend has hurt the growth of local sounds.
“We move on too fast,” he said. “Before a sound can grow, people say it’s old and force artists to chase the next thing.”
He compared Ghana’s situation with other countries that have successfully established signature genres.
“Nigeria is known for Afrobeats. South Africa owns Amapiano. Jamaica owns reggae,” he explained. “But Ghana? We don’t have that one sound the world knows us for.”
Kofi Mole also spoke about the emotional impact online criticism has on artistes.
“You can work all day in the studio, then someone wakes up online to trash your work,” he said. “That alone can make artists abandon the sound.”
