The Ghanaian music scene has witnessed a lot of instances of rivalry among musicians.
Usually, these petty squabbles have stemmed out of the quest for supremacy.
Artistes in the centre of these controversies would convey their messages in their songs, throw salvos during media interviews or take to social media to vent their spleen.
Ghana Weekend has put together ten (10) Ghanaian music beef of all time.
Criteria: This compilation is premised on the magnitude of the excitement the beef generated and the buzz they got from the general public.
1.Stonebwoy vs Shatta Wale
The Stonebwoy and Shatta Wale ‘beef’ will go down the history of Ghana to be the biggest and fiercest the country has ever witnessed.
What started as personal animosity and disagreements between the two artistes later resulted in an altercation that landed them in the docks.
The two dancehall artistes who were once friends fell out – a situation which tickled down to their fans, dissipating animosity among their followers as well.
In an interview on Hitz FM in September 2018, Stonebwoy expressed his displeasure at claims by Shatta Wale that he (Stonebwoy) was responsible for his mother’s death. This escalated into further attacks and counter-attacks from both parties.
There were instances both acts had mocked each other with their physical appearances.
While Stomebwoy had referred to Shatta Wale’s mouth as ‘big’, the latter also riled Stonebwoy’s disability (limping leg).
The height of the beef was on May 19, 2019, at the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards where Stonebwoy had to pull a gun to ward off Shatta Wale and his fans on stage.
After Stonebwoy had mounted the stage to take an award, Shatta Wale and his crew also followed them to the stage.
This resulted in an altercation – a situation that halted the awards ceremony.
Later, the buried their differences but the matter is still in court.
2.Strongman vs Medikal
In 2019, Rappers Medikal and Strongman got everybody including non-rap lovers talking with their lyrical battle.
Medikal started with ‘To Whom It May Concern’ – a song which took a swipe at some of the rappers in Ghana.
Strongman then responded with his own diss song titled ‘Don’t try me.’
Unfazed by the reply, Medikal came back with another diss song titled ‘The last burial’ on the same day.
Then, Strongman flexed his muscles some more with “Immortal”.
As music fans followed the battle with bated breath, the two rappers were at each other’s throat for over 48 hours.
Just as Stonebwoy and Shatta Wale, they also patched up later and did a song together.
3.M.anifest vs Sarkodie
Sometime 2016, there was another fight. Yes! It was fierce.
Ghanaian rappers: M.anifest and Sarkodie brought a lot of attention to rap.
That was the first time most Ghanaian music lovers had been seen are heard analyzing the lyrical content of artistes rap verses.
After Sarkodie had released his song ‘Bossy’, M.anifest who probably felt the song was directed at him responded with ‘God MC’.
Sarkodie returned with ‘Kanta’ – and that was it!
People began to punch holes in Sarkodie’s lines especially his usage of the expression ‘pro bono’.
He was also bashed for running down M.anifest for his love for ‘kaba’ and African print GTP.
This dominated discussions on both social media traditional media for a couple of weeks.
4.Shatta Wale vs Samini
It looks like Shatta Wale is the only artistes who probably has ‘beefed’ every artiste in Ghana before.
The first person he had always had a problem with was Samini. Moreso because before he would be accepted back onto mainstream music in 2013, he had been like any ‘underground’ artistes.
One of his targets was Samini who was then the biggest thing in Reggae/Dancehall.
To unseat, him Shatta Wale started picking fights with him.
He did a series of diss songs for Samini. Samini also did ‘Scatta Bad Mind’ and ‘Vex Mad’ for him.
As of now, they are no longer at loggerheads. They did a song titled ‘Celebration’ in December 2019.
5.Daddy Lumba vs Nana Acheampong
Perhaps this is the oldest major ‘beef’ in the Ghanaian music industry.
Former members of Lumba Brothers, Nana Acheampong and Daddy Lumba, after they went their separate ways, were not on good terms.
Although it is not clear what brought about the bad blood between them, grapevine information suggests that Daddy Lumba refused to give Nana Acheampong his share of some money they both worked for at the incipient stages of their music career when they were a group.
They have since released a lot of ‘akutia nnwom’ for each other.
6.Chicago vs X-Doe
The advent of hiplife music came with its culture; one of which was self-politics.
The major music ‘beef’ that greeted the genre was the battle which ensued between X-Doe and his friend Chicago.
It was hot!
It was spiky!
In 1996 X-Doe featured Chicago on ‘Daavi Mede Kuku’, a smash hit song that got a lot of rotation on the radio by then.
But Chicago came out to claim he wrote the song for X-Doe. They later traded insults at each other in subsequent songs.
7.Obrafour vs Lord Kenya
This is one of the beef that eluded a lot of people.
Obrafour and Lord Kenya played the game so clean that most people did not realize they were ‘beefing’ each other.
These were the two biggest rappers during the 2000s, and typical of any hip-hop related genre, they had to clamour for supremacy.
8.Obrafour vs. Okyame Kwame/Obour
In 2009, Obrafour dissed Okyeame Kwame and Obour in his ‘Kasiebo’ song wich featured Guru.
He took a swipe at Okyeame Kwame’s ‘The Game’ which featured Obour. That song suggested that hiplife was dying and needed resurrection.
He asked in the song how hiplife can be saved with ‘Atopa Jenjen,’ a song that was earlier released by Obour.
They also jabbed Okyeame Kwame for claiming he is the Best Rapper Alive.
9.Sarkodie vs Asem vs Shatta Wale
A few weeks ago, during the lockdown in the coronavirus season, there was one sizzling hot ‘beef’.
Asem’s first jab at Sarkodie was in his song ‘Last Fylla’ in 2012.
Asem had mocked Sarkodie for saying during a BET cypher that ‘Irish Cream’ is an ingredient.
Then recently, Asem started releasing a video, casting hitting at the ‘Highest’ rapper. Asem, in the freestyle on Instagram on April 5, 2020, warned Sarkodie to be careful.
A few hours later, Sarkodie released ‘Sub Zero,’ a song that was not only targeted at Asem but all his critics.
He suggested in the song that Asem’s career was dead and that he needed hype to come back.
In the song, he also fired shots at Shatta Wale, who had been on his case for quite some time. The two had also had their own beef to the extent that Sarkodie had to do ‘My Advice’ for him. Shatta Wale, a few months ago, record a diss song titled ‘Little Tip’ for Sarkodie.
After Sarkodie released ‘Sub-Zero’, Asem followed up with a series of freestyle verses, directed at Sarkodie but he did not fight back.
10. Eno Barony vs Sista Afia vs Freda Rhymz
The lyrical beef among some female rappers in Ghana is getting murkier.
This is the current beef grilling on the Ghanaian music scene.
Eno Barony released a song titled ‘Argument Done’ a few days ago, to seal the current fight for supremacy among these acts.
It all started when Sista Afia, typically a singer released a diss song titled ‘WMT’ to cast aspersions on some artistes.
Freda Rhymz and Eno Barony joined later with individual replies.
Unfazed, Sista Afia released another song titled ‘You Got Nerves’ to put Eno in her place.
But it appears, the singer ‘struggling’ to be a rapper isn’t gonna have it easy with the King of the Queens.
Eno’s ‘Argument Done’ is already putting her in the lead even after Freda Rhymz came back harder with ‘Point of Correction.’
But in the meantime, Medikal who earlier said he would not waste time on any beef has in a series of tweets thrown salvos at Eno, claiming he won’t waste time onEno who looks like a corpse.
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By: Kwame Dadzie | ghanaweekend.com