EL– Talent Alone Won’t Take Ghanaian Musicians to Billboard

Ghanaian rapper  EL has identified inadequate financial investment as one of the major obstacles preventing Ghanaian musicians from making significant breakthroughs on international music charts such as Billboard.

The award-winning musician believes Ghana has enough talented artistes capable of competing on the global stage, but the financial commitment required to achieve that level of success remains a major challenge.

Speaking in an interview shared on social media by Ameyaw Debrah, EL explained that the country’s music industry was growing but needed to move at a faster pace to maximise its potential.

“I don’t think anything is lacking. I think it’s growing at its own pace,” he said, adding that greater financial support could help accelerate the industry’s development.

Addressing suggestions that musicians need approximately $1 million to push their songs onto major international charts, EL indicated that such an amount could significantly improve an artiste’s chances of achieving the feat.

“If you have a million, you will definitely end up on the Billboard. Yeah, if you want it to,” he remarked.

Beyond financial investment, EL also expressed concern about the growing emphasis on branding, publicity and the entertainment side of the music business.

He argued that the industry has increasingly shifted towards image-building and marketing, sometimes placing less attention on the actual musical contribution of artistes.

“These days it’s become a lot more smoke and mirrors. It’s become a lot more about the showbiz aspects as opposed to what the talent is bringing to the table,” he explained.

Meanwhile, EL revealed that Bow Legge, a song from his collaborative project Dancing Machine with rapper D-Black, is currently his favourite track.

He also spoke about efforts to revive Azonto, explaining that although the popular Ghanaian music genre never completely disappeared, he and D-Black were working to bring it back on a bigger scale.

On his personal music preferences, EL mentioned legendary American entertainer Michael Jackson and British singer Sam Smith as two artists he enjoys listening to.