“Dissing Chicago was childish” – Ex-Doe

A pioneer of the hip life trade in Ghana, Richard Akwasi Siaw Akrofi aka Ex-Doe, has said on ‘Arts and People,’ an entertainment show on Vision 90.9FM in Koforidua that he has regretted having done a diss song in his musical career.

In an interview with host Kwame Dadzie last Sunday afternoon, Ex-Doe said the ‘Maba’ song he did in the late 1990’s to insult his friend Chicago was silly and regrettable.“Those days I was not mature.

I was driven by youthful exuberance to do that but later I realized it was not necessary. It rather brought much hatred between me and my brother Chicago and even among our fans,” he said.

Ex-Doe had done ‘Daavi Mede Kuku’in 1996 with his musician friend Chicago but later, he claims Chicago went about telling people that the song belonged to him and that he wrote the lyrics for Ex-Doe.

This was the major reason why Ex-Doe vented his anger on Chicago with his ‘Maba’ song, and even extended the rage to hip life originator Reggie Rockstone whom he claimed also made a ‘loose talk’ in his ‘Plan Ben’ song that he was ‘Oseikrom President.’

At that time, just like is still perceived by many, hip hop and its variants were seen as songs that gave freedom to free one’s mind by attacking other people. But not satisfied with the harsh lyrics in the‘Maba’ song, Chicago did a ‘rebuttal’ telling Ex-Doe he was an ingrate.

Years on, other musicians in Ghana have also been engaged in feuds and diss songs of this kind, latest of which is Samini’s ‘Pink Sheet’ explicitly directed at Sarkodie and implicitly targeted at another person.

“So what advice do you have for your brothers who are now dissing each other in their songs?” Kwame asked the ace hip life musician. “Right now no advice can change them. At their stage they hardly listen to advice. But you know, the diss thing is not totally bad because it gives you all the hype when people talk about you but in the end you make more enemies,” Ex-Doe said. Some of Ex-Doe’s songs include ‘Yebre,’‘Daavi Mede Kuku,’‘GogoWo Ho,’‘Maba,’‘Comfort’and ‘Good One There.’

In the meantime, he is working on his new single which is surely going to make a hit on the music market