Black Sherif: The stellar rise of Ghana's young music prodigy
Many young underground musicians in Ghana have tried all they know and can to breakthrough in Ghana's saturated music industry but always hit a snag either due to management issues or their own inconsistencies.
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It takes one with a lot of patience who understudied many role models to be able to show his craft and get accepted by the listening populace who are sometimes hard to please when it comes to music.
However, one of Ghana's young sons has managed to carefully raft a superb aura around himself and this has pushed him quickly into the high-ranking musicians in Ghana.
This artiste is none other than Black Sherif, who is now a beacon of hope for other young talents who want to chart a path for themselves in Ghana's music industry.
Source: Instagram
Sudden Rise
Black Sherif, born Mohammed Ismail Sherif, has managed to rise very quickly to the surprise of many music lovers and entertainment critics, judging by how long he has been in the music industry.
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The young musician, before releasing his viral First and Second Sermon songs, had already dropped some songs, but they had not received so much attention like the former.
Many people have tried asking how he got noticed so suddenly and how he managed to meander his way into the lips, minds and hearts of music lovers and A-List musicians across the globe.
Ghanaians started realising the young talent after he appeared for an exclusive interview with ace radio personality, Abeiku Santana.
It was on Abeiku's show that many Ghanaians got to hear of the musician who soon after won many hearts.
On the show, Abeiku Santana indicated that after listening to the young talent's music, he would not be surprised if he manages to enter into mainstream music and give the veterans a run for their monies.
Setting Records
True to the radio presenter's words, Black Sherif started gaining traction with his First Sermon and he quickly followed that up with the Second Sermon which caught 'greater fire'
The Second Sermon, after its release on YouTube garnered a whopping 1 million views in under one week; a feat many artistes including the A-Listers struggle to attain.
From then on, the young artistes who juggles school with his career in music, was 'all over the place' with many people looking to enter his circles.
Black Sherif managed to break barriers with his songs, especially the Second Sermon which made the young musician adjudged as the most streamed artiste on YouTube in the month of August 2021 beating the likes of Sarkodie, Wizkid, Shatta Wale, Omah Lay, Yaw Tog, Diana Hamilton and Mona4reall.
In that list released by Charts Ghana for the month of August, Black Sherif garnered 2.35 million views on YouTube with the closest on the list to him managing a little of 1 million views.
First Sermon's official music video on YouTube garnered some 1.9 million views.
The official music video for Second Sermon which was posted on YouTube on July 15, 2021, already has over 5.6 million views in 2 months.
Gaining both national and international recognition
Quite recently, Grammy award-winning Nigerian artiste, Burnaboy, gave Black Sherif massive props as the Twice As Tall hitmaker was seen jamming to the Ghanaian's song.
Following that video which went viral, Burnaboy went on to play Black Sherif's Second Sermon in England as he jammed with Manchester United star, Paul Pogba at a concert.
Many have asked how Black Sherif managed to attract for himself all of this fame and glory within a short time.
A number of reasons however account for this:
- First of all, the media space in Ghana played a pivotal role in giving Black Sherif, also famed as Kweku Frimpong, massive push. He was hailed by many radio presenters and had DJ's putting his song on repeat throughout the day.
- Black Sherif received many endorsements from Ghanaian musicians and even international ones. Multiple award-winning rapper, Sarkodie, gave Black Sherif a huge push after he tweeted about the Second Sermon crooner. On the international stage, it has been already mentioned that Burnaboy has supported "Killer Blacko", so has Tiwa Savage.
Criticism
Black Sherif, despite chalking all this success within a short time, has also been attacked by entertainment critics who have sought to throw some dirt on his hardwork.
Following the release of the official music video for his Second Sermon, some music critics called out the singer claiming that he was portraying violence after the video showed a young man carrying machetes in the background. This forced the musician to come out to respond to the backlash and said it was an artistic impression and had nothing to do with violence.
Again, some people made reference to the young artiste's mention of 'marijuana' in the Second Sermon song and said it was 'adult content' owing to the fact that many kids under the age of 18 were free to listen to the song. This criticism is yet to be addressed by the musician and his team.
Despite the critics, many people have shown support to Black Sherif, especially the public and they have given him some golden advice to help him stay relevant.
Caleb Boye of Starr FM had this piece of advice for Black Sherif when YEN.com.gh reached out to him for a comment: "I think Black Sheriff must maintain the aggressive style. It is enviable. It is marketable. It will catch global attention.
Also I think he should pay critical attention to his production. The sounds I mean. Once the brand starts growing we must see change in sound quality so it meets the standard.
Also he must have a dedicated team to do his bidding. Not errand boys."
Source: YEN.com.gh
